[8] His parents, Mick and Bridie, both came from families of singers, musicians and storytellers and encouraged a love of Irish culture and tradition in their seven children (Mary, the eldest, then Hugh, Ben, Colum, Eugene and Anne.

[10] Their Céilidh house on the Ryan Road, in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains,[3] was a focal point for Catholic and Protestant neighbours from nearby farms to enjoy music and craic.

[8][3] Sands initially attended college to study theology and philosophy, but dropped out and began to walk the 120 miles home to concentrate on his music career.

('Newry Memoirs – Pride of Mayobridge')[9] The Sands Family (Tommy, Eugene, Ben, Colum and Anne)[3] started public performing in local halls and pubs, then they won a 'Folk Group' contest in "Old Shieling Hotel" in Raheny, Dublin.

[8][3] One notable highlight was performing in Moscow's Luzhniki 'Olympic' Stadium,[6] Tommy was the prime songwriter with the Sands Family, whose repertoire largely consists of their own compositions as well as traditional Irish songs.

In the aftermath loyalist paramilitaries "prowled round the Ryan Road" for a Catholic to kill in retaliation; ironically, the man they selected, Sean O'Malley (name changed), had been a good friend of the Protestant victim and also of Sands.

As many Members sang with him on stage David Ervine, the leader of the Loyalists remarked "Tommy Sands is the only man, without a private army, who can intimidate me."

[6] In September 2008 Tommy Sands was invited to perform at the Library of Congress with his daughter Moya and son Fionán, as part of the Rediscover Northern Ireland Program.

[14] In the same month, New York rabbi Regina Sandler-Phillips wrote a blog about the same conflict in The Times of Israel titled 'Singing in a Strange Land of Trauma', quoting from Sands' song 'There Were Roses' alongside Psalm 137 and American abolitionist Frederick Douglass.