Song Spotlight: Seánie Bermingham – "Don't Be Worryin About Me"

There are certain songs that quietly step into your life exactly when you need them to. Tipperary folk artist Seánie Bermingham has a gift for creating those exact kinds of moments. His beautiful new track, "Don't Be Worryin' About Me," officially released on February 13th, has already quietly gathered over 16,000 plays. But for me, the story of this song stretches back a little further.

I first heard this delicate, traditional track back in 2024 at the When Next We Meet festival. I actually still have the recording of him performing it live sitting on my phone. That weekend happened to mark exactly a year to the day since my own grandmother’s passing. As you can imagine, it was an incredibly heavy few days. I had just started taking my first steps into my music photography career, and in all honesty, I was struggling. It was hard to let myself be happy, constantly wishing my Nanny was still around so I could tell her all about what I was doing and hoping I was on the right path.

Standing in that crowd, listening to Seánie play this song, felt like a direct sign. I was so close to tears. It was exactly what I needed to hear, exactly when I needed to hear it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SmhkD1RXIHs

"..and its the longest journey

but its the shortest road

and if you walk in circles

you've got nowhere to go"

The absolute beauty of Seánie’s songwriting is how he captures a universal, sprawling love for a grandmother through hyper-specific, everyday stories. You can practically smell the apple tart in the kitchen or hear the slap of the cards playing poker. His delicate, traditional arrangement creates a warm, intimate atmosphere that perfectly carries the emotional weight of his storytelling. It’s deeply personal to his own life, yet somehow leaves the door wide open for the listener to step in with their own memories.

Seánie has an extensive well of musical knowledge and is also a genuinely lovely guy, so it’s no surprise that his career is flying at the moment. He recently joined Amble, and is playing some massive international tour dates with the lads.

But amidst all that global momentum, it’s the quiet, serendipitous moments that stand out. Alongside a recent performance of the track on his socials, Seánie shared how his nanny would have loved to hear all the stories of his adventures with Amble. Beautifully, he noted that the very first gig he played with the band was in Ballykeefe Amphitheatre, the exact townland she was from, on her second anniversary. As he put it: "Who's to say, maybe she has a hand in it all."

The track eventually fades out on a gorgeous, touching voiceover of Seánie’s nanny that will catch the breath in your throat.

I’m not going to lie and say that listening to this song is any easier today than it was standing in that festival crowd two years ago. But it’s tracks exactly like this that remind me why I love music. It takes an extraordinary artist to help you genuinely process your own emotions and find comfort in the grief.

Absolute magic. Well done, Seánie.