CROONER Joe Dolan’s hits are set to go extraterrestrial — in Chris O’Dowd’s new alien TV show.
But his family aren’t too shocked, with his proud nephew telling The Irish Sun: “His old recording contract said the deal covered Joe’s music throughout the world and the solar system.”
The clan expect a major boost from Little Town, Big Story showcasing his music 16 years after his death.
The Sky series features aliens blasting out Joe hits from their spaceship as they buzz over the fictional Irish midlands town where it is set — with even more Joe tracks heard throughout the six episodes.
Creator Chris, 45, said he wanted Joe hits “wall to wall” in the show, with classics like You’re Such a Good Looking Woman playing in the UFOs’ spaceship.
Joe’s nephew Adrian Dolan told us: “We should have known this was coming because Joe’s old recording contract said the deal covered Joe’s music throughout the world and the solar system.”
And his dad, Joe’s surviving brother Ben, 90, declared: “What would Joe think of aliens in spaceships listening to his music? He’d love it.
“Joe is 16 years dead now but he’s never been more popular. So it wouldn’t surprise me if extraterrestrials were listening to Joe too.”
Speaking to Patrick Kielty on The Late Late Show, O’Dowd previously revealed why he wanted Joe hits on his follow-up to Moone Boy. He said: “There is more Joe Dolan that you could imagine. It’s beautifully epic and almost operatic.
“He brings the stakes so high, and that’s what we wanted in the show.”
And Adrian, who toured with Joe from 1985 until his death in 2007, believes the Mullingar showband legend would approve.
He recalled: “We’d be in the van coming back from gigs. I remember one night Joe stopping the van so we could all get out and look at Halley’s Comet in the sky.
ALIEN FEATURE
“There we were up looking at the stars but we had an even bigger star in the van with us, Joe!”
The Dolans are thrilled with the decision by writer Chris to use Joe’s songs in Small Town, Big Story.
Adrian said: “We’ve never met Chris but we had a guitarist who was from Boyle, his hometown, who knew the O’Dowd family. There’s no show like a Joe show, or in Chris’ case a UFO show. We are thrilled that Small Town, Big Story might take Joe Dolan to new frontiers like Captain Kirk.”
Comedian Chris decided to feature aliens into his show as his home town of Boyle, Co Roscommon, has been dubbed the UFO capital of Europe — with 40 alleged sightings of UFOs over the last 30 years.
And quizzed if Joe himself believed in UFOs, Adrian told us: “Joe loved comics. Fans would give him comics. So it follows Joe was into science fiction and the outer limits which is where he is now.”
‘PART OF FOLKLORE NOW’
The Dolan family say aliens are more than welcome at any of their Remembering Joe live dates, which finish up at The Helix, in Dublin, on May 3 — just as brother Ben, who plays in the band, turns 91.
Ben told us: “Joe is part of folklore now. There’s a new Joe Dolan Road just opened, a bridge named after him, and a statue of Joe in Mullingar. Now there’s aliens flying around in spaceships listening to him”.
While Joe’s family could not have predicted he was heading for new galaxies, they suspect someone else did, as a new Joe Dolan diamond collection of his hits is set to be released in the coming months.
Small Town Big Story follows Wendy Patterson, played by Mad Men’s Christina Hendricks, as a local girl who found success as a TV producer in Los Angeles, but when she returns to her hometown with a film crew in tow she is forced to confront a secret from decades ago – visitors from outer space.
Joe’s family said he would love it[/caption]
