Away over in Ireland, Dughi worked and played, laughed and sang, ate and drank, and chanced his cards, with a number of highly respected musicians , including Arty McGlynn (guitar), Damian Evans (double bass), Danny Healy (trumpet), Brendan O'Regan (mandolin), Johnny Moynihan (voice, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, accordion, tin whistles, tennis rackets, canoes, crossword puzzles...), Andy Irvine (bouzouki, mandolin, voice), Mick Hanley (guitar, voice), Frankie Lane (guitar, dobro, voice), Cathal Hayden (fiddle), Michael Buckley (tenor saxophone), Noel Lenaghan (mandolin, flute, voice), Frank Hall (fiddle, double bass, voice), Nick Stillman (fiddle, foot-stomp), Fergus Feely (mandola, voice), Frank Killkelly (guitar), Poor Bill Whelan (five-string banjo), Ken Hall (drums), and the immortal Peadar Browne (kazoo!).
Influences
Influences? Hmm. Dangerous question. How 'bout inspirations that come to mind after too much coffee and too little sleep: The Georgia Sea Island Songs (Bessie Jones, John Davis, Peter Davis, Henry Morrison, Willis Proctor . . . as recorded by Alan Lomax in 1960), Sleepy John Estes, Roscoe Holcomb, Francois Villon, James Baldwin, Bessie Smith, the Carter Family, Billie Holiday, Woody Guthrie, Langston Hughes, Tom Waits, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now), Emmett Kelly (hobo clown), Buster Keaton, Bob Dylan, Blind Alfred Reed, Johnny Moynihan, John Prine, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Townes Van Zandt, Arty McGlynn, Fats Domino, Georges Brassens, Marcel Carné (Les Enfants du Paradis), Blind Lemon Jefferson, Furry Lewis, Sonny Terry, Blind Willie Johnson, Tommy Johnson, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Sir Robert Johnson, the Masked Marvel (Charlie Patton), Charlie Chaplin, Charlie Christian, Charlie Parker, Charles Bukowski (when he's sober), Charles Mingus, Patrick Kavanagh, John Kennedy Toole, Clarence Ashley, Uncle Dave Macon, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Ben Webster, Louis Armstrong, Tim Lyons (traditional singer, songwriter from Cork), Memphis Minnie, Peggy Seeger, Flann O'Brien, Jimmie Rodgers, Leonard Cohen, Leonard Peltier, John Coltrane, Fats Waller, Mae West, Sarah O' Loughlin (Irish hula dancer), Gabby Pahinui (Hawaiian slack-key guitarist, singer), Kurt Vonnegut, Honoré de Balzac, Gil Scott Heron, Tennessee Williams, Frederick Douglass, Carl Sandburg, Johnny Cash, Groucho Marx, Angela Davis, Miles Davis, not Jefferson Davis, but rather Doc Watson, Hank Williams, J. S. Bach, Bertolt Brecht, Bill Hicks, Margaret Barry, Jeannie Robertson, Curtis Mayfield, Joe Boske (painter, composer) and, last but not least, Matt the Hat (artist technician). That's enough name-dropping for one afternoon. Get back to you, later tonight....
Sounds Like
Like no one you've ever heard. He's the genuiiiiine article!
STEVE EARLE: "Chad's got everything a folksinger needs to ply his trade: a thumb like a jackhammer, a voice like a hobo's prayer and an encyclopedic knowledge of American music."
ANDY IRVINE (Sweeney's Men, Planxty, Patrick Street): "I've done a few Woody Guthrie shows with Chad. Always found him to be keen as mustard, sharp as a razor and ready for battle!"
JOHN PRINE: "Catch this guy now - he's going places."
SIOBHAN LONG of the IRISH TIMES: ". . . a musician who stands on ground as firm as any acre that fed Woody Guthrie, and yet as fluid as any waterway that Mississippi John Hurt navigated."
P. J. CURTIS (author, broadcaster, record producer): "In Chad Dughi we witness a stunningly talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and live performer. With influences ranging from Blind Blake and Big Bill Broonzy to Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Dylan, Chad is a 21st century troubadour-bard in the finest tradition - that of the poet-musician-entertainer. A not-to-be-missed musician, singer and performer, either live or on record."
Honolulu-born guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter Chad Dughi has been immersed in archive recordings of American folk music, blues and jazz, since his youth. His repertoire encompasses a diverse range of styles that were popular in the United States, during the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Songs from Woody Guthrie, Memphis Minnie, the Carter Family, Sleepy John Estes, Billie Holiday, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Alfred Reed feature in his performances, and it is from this well of tradition that Dughi's own writing draws its flavor. All the songs featured on this site are his own.
A fascination with the origins of American folk song drew Dughi to Ireland in the late '90s, where he was soon recognized as an accomplished songwriter and performer of the traditional songs of his own country. In 1998, he appeared in Galway and Dublin, with Mick Hanley, Andy Irvine and John Faulkner, in a series of sold-out concerts organized as a tribute to the legacy of Woody Guthrie. Over the next years, he met and performed with many of Ireland's most respected folk musicians, among them, Arty McGlynn, Brendan O' Regan, Johnny Moynihan, Poor Bill Whelan and Peadar Browne.
In July 2003, Chad was invited to play at the “Arty McGlynn: A Celebration” concert at the Galway Arts Festival, appearing on the same bill as Matt Molloy, Frankie Gavin, Paul Brady, Martin O' Connor, John Prine and many others. He performed on BBC Northern Ireland with Arty McGlynn and took part in the Project '06 in Galway, reciting his songs alongside the award-winning Galway poet, Rita Ann Higgins.
Dughi’s three albums, Down Home Blues, Freedom Fries, and Phoenix Song Dogs, have received favorable attention from radio presenters, music journalists, and respected songwriters such as John Prine and Steve Earle. He has sung and played at various folk clubs and festivals in Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain, the United States, and Canada, and performed at the Woody Guthrie 40th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Belfast, with Arty McGlynn and Johnny Moynihan.
Having returned to the United States towards the end of 2008, Dughi is completing work on an album.
Ah yes, the Hair Of The Dog, a strange place it was indeed. Come back and do McGrory's in Culdaff Dughi, all the best and thanks for finding me, love your music xx
thanks for the message chad. its freezing today and floods all over of biblical proportions. a great deal worse than ever before in ireland kinvaras ok but gorts got it bad shops shut schools closed people airlifted out of their homes the good news is the suns just come out and w,ere lucky and warm here at home im chuffed you like the songs so thanks for that. hope all is good for you. tony
Hi Chad! hows life back in the states?? misserable rain rain rain here haha. we're all great though expecting our second april 24th. Marian and Johnny are off in Dublin now,there always off somewhere!! hope everything is well!
Hi Chad. Nice to hear from you. I think you are better off over there right now. Half the country is under water right now. Half the population is unemployed and the other half are on strike. What a great little country!
Hi Chad Thanks for adding me and for the lovely message. This music on your player is fantastic. Hope things are goin' good for you in Colorado. Best wishes Gerry
Hey Chad!! how are the mountains?? sounds gorgeous out there. We could do with being on higher ground here ourselves with the floods.. supposedly the worst since the 60's.. but, as you know, they like a bit of a drama out in them there villages!! Hope all's going well and you're getting a chance to bless people with your incredible songs on a regular basis as is befitting a troubadour of your calibre Sir Dughi.
We're good here, Spirit of Voice was.. hmm well it was ok for the 15mins we got on stage! buy hey ho! another day, another gig (one hopes!).
Keep good, well and happy. Everyone says Hi and waves a big hello from the flooded misty isle
Thanks very much, Chad, I enjoyed listening to your music too. You sure have that good old sound. Looks like you've had some very cool adventures out there, best wishes for many more!
yeah, Chad - i listened to your songs- and it's true- we're walkin' the same musical path- great stuff- excellent acoustic playin' and "straight from the heart music"- love+ respect Beige Fish
A Friend Is Like A Four Leaf Clover: Hard To Find And Lucky To Have! Have A Great And Wonderful Week! Hope Everything Goes Well ! A Big Hug For Your Friendship!
Apparently TW has never been convinced by the movies adaptations, even when he had worked on them... I like a lot his world. A sort of dreamlike vision of realism - like an exacerbation. In this play, he talks about the other, this different, about the fear of this difference. During a long time in France TW was played only by private theaters. But this year, 3 compagnies from public sector have decided to work on TW's plays. It's new. We ordered a new translation from Jean Michel Déprats and Marie Claire Pasquier, too very good translators... cause the last translation dated from the 50 ies and was obsolete... The new one will be published with Gallimard Editor, a good publishing, in a very good collection La Pléiade. If it can help to recognize TW here... He was a great author. Everybody here know him but as someone old fashioned, we have to take him out from these clichés about american naturalism... He's universal ! Have a good sunday ! M
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