My Holidays: Finbar Furey

What's your earliest holiday memory?When I was nine my late brother, Paul, and I went to Sunshine House in Balbriggan for a week. It was where all the poor kids were taken on holidays. But it was one of those praying places – we never got off our knees. After two days we'd had enough of it. We knew the railway line would bring us back to Dublin and started to walk, but the cops picked us up and brought us home to Ballyfermot.

What was your worst holiday?I went on a golf trip to Spain that was like Butlins for grown-ups with no place to go – we were trapped. I like to be able to do what I want on holidays.

What was your best holiday?My best holiday was when I left The Fureys, in 1994. Our last gig was at Carnegie Hall, and I told the band I was going to leave. Nobody believed it, but I had made up my mind.

My wife Sheila’s mother, Marie, had never been to America, and I was already there with a heap of money from the tour. I said, To hell, I will blow it. I phoned Sheila and asked her to meet me in Tampa, in Florida. I organised a white stretch limo, with pink champagne and oysters, to pick them up at the airport. When they opened the door I was sitting there and said to Marie: “Welcome to rock’n’roll.” She replied: “You wish.” After that we drove to Miami in the biggest open-top Cadillac I could find. We went then to New Orleans, where a friend of mine owns the Hilton, and my mother-in-law met her hero clarinet player, Pete Fountain. I arrived back skint but with my head totally clear.

If budget or work were not a restriction, what would be your dream holiday? If I had a chance I’d love to go back to Lanzarote, where I recently played. Sheila and I had a wonderful time – the people and food are fantastic, and it is the closest thing to planet Earth when it began.

If you had your pick, who would you bring on holiday with you? My wife, Sheila – who else?

What's your favourite place in Ireland?Connemara – for sheer culture, holding the tradition and keeping the lovely language alive.

Your recommended holiday reading?I take a pen and paper with me and write. If I have a few jars and get an idea I put it in my pocket. I take it out the next morning and say, That was great!

Where will you go to next?I'm going to Sweden to record an album. I'll record one with Johnny Logan which I wrote – I had always heard him singing in my imagination. The studio is in the mountains near Gothenburg; working with Swedish musicians will give the music a different feel.

• Finbar Furey performs at the Button Factory, in Dublin, on January 30th as part of Temple Bar TradFest

• In conversation with Genevieve Carbery