pic: by Kevin Byrne
ODD, perhaps, that a songcycle delivered by the songwriter and his guitar about Limerick – ‘Just Another Town’ – should have universal resonance, be that Naas, Castlebar or New York. Yet when Johnny Duhan takes his 17 sung stories about his home town on the road, a kind of hush and empathy comes over the house. Full houses too.
Talking to Arts page having been troubadour to an Offaly audience, Duhan invokes an observation by Pascal, that wisdom returns us to youth: “The reason we go back is to rediscover who are. I wrote ‘Just Another Town’ about Limerick and my growing up there, having also read a lot of Jimmy Joyce’s work which was very autobiographical. I thought I might do something similar through the medium of song”.
Writing began a long time ago in the early years of marriage, in exile from the music business after perilous years with Granny’s Intentions and the St James Gate (aka Guinness) band. He was farming quietly. It was a time to nurture the soul, taking time for his abiding inclination to poetry, the classics and wordsmiths like Joni Mitchell.
Johnny Duhan was playing tracks from ‘Just Another Town’ over in New York one night when a guy, not Irish, walked over to him and said “that song you are singing, that’s about my town”.
“If you write the proper way, have a proper focus, avoid the sentiment, it works…I drew inspiration from the songs I used to hear in the pub with my father, ballads and folk. Also from classical music, poetry, church music. There are at least three songs on the album influenced by hymns.”
The Lime Tree concert on Friday 25 is him with guitar, the age-old simplicity of stories set to music that lure the mind and ear. “It’s about melody and the words and I want people to focus exclusively on that”. We will.
Friday 25, 8pm, www.limetree.ie
