- Music
- 26 Sep 01
Broadcaster and writer JOHN KELLY started out as a fan and later became a friend of PAUL BRADY
“Growing up in Enniskillen I became aware of this guy, Paul Brady who came from Strabane,” Kelly recalls. “He had relations in the town so I would have known cousins of his. My first introduction to his music would have been through songs like, ‘Arthur Mc Bride’ and ‘Lakes of Pontchartrain’. I remember my father remarking about this guy’s voice, which was in some ways connected with Paddy Tunney, a traditional singer from Fermanagh who had influenced Paul’s singing style.
“Later on when Hard Station came out I got into songs like ‘Nothing But the Same Old Story’ and ‘Crazy Dreams’ and when I started going to University I would go to see him playing regularly. By that time he was doggedly pursuing his rock thing and refusing to play stuff like ‘Arthur McBride’. I would have been one of the people shouting up for those songs but I understand in retrospect why he didn’t want to do them. You need to mean it when performing songs like that, and if he wasn’t in the mood there wasn’t much point.”
Kelly recalls eventually meeting Brady through a mutual friend – Belfast singer, Davey Hammond – and an eventful session one evening in Hammond’s kitchen, which included Brady and Arty McGlynn, among others.
“They were doing jigs and reels as well as songs like ‘Frankie and Johnny’. I thought I was in seventh heaven! Later I did a long interview with him for BBC TV and by the time I’d moved to Dublin I knew him fairly well. Actually he kinda took me under his wing when I first arrived in Dublin and I suppose we’ve become good friends since then; he’s recently become a godfather to my daughter.”
According to Kelly there are many disparate sides to Brady’s musical approach and legacy. It’s what makes him such a complex and interesting figure.
“There’s the rocker that came out of playing in the soul bands and R& B groups in the late 1960’s. There’s the folk/trad thing of course and then there’s the other side to him that is unashamedly pop. It’s my impression that it’s only in recent times that he’s come to terms with the various musical styles he’s been through. In some ways they are strangely compatible, mainly because he’s one of the brightest musicians around. I don’t think there are any guitar players like him. And what a singer. Not just a great voice but a great singer. He’s open to anything musically and he goes to a lot of gigs. He’ll turn up in Whelan’s and if there’s a party going somewhere he’ll be the first to get the guitar out.”
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However, Brady has one major character flaw, as Kelly reveals. “He’s a Manchester United fan, which is unfortunate – he even has a picture of Andy Cole stuck to his fridge. He’s also very Tyrone. I’m not entirely sure what that means but people from that part of the world will probably understand what I’m saying.
“Favourite songs? There are lots of them... ‘Lakes of Ponchertrain’, ‘Nothing But the Same Old Story’. ‘Crazy Dreams’, ‘Nobody Knows’, ‘Beautiful World’. He hasn’t always been served well by producers over the years and I would love to hear him do a pared down, rootsy album with Arty McGlynn and the boys.
“I think it was tough for him in the ’80s. He went from being a megastar on the folk scene to dealing with record companies and that whole industry thing. I think he was probably a bit late coming into what he was doing in terms of record company interest. I suspect that if he’d started doing it earlier it would have been easier for him. My impression now is that he’s come to terms with the fact that people want to hear all of the sides of what he is, which is why he’s doing these gigs at Vicar St.
“It’s an extraordinary thing to attempt to do but it’s actually happening, which is great. The trad thing has me fired up in a big way, the thought of seeing him with Andy Irvine and those guys. People forget how cool they were.
“This month will prove his stature; he’ll be embarrassed by all this attention but he deserves it.”