Rua Rí announces debut album, releases single ‘Johnny Workman’

Rua Rí, the project of county Cork musician Seán Damery, has announced his debut album, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, and released the new single ‘Johnny Workman’.

The release follows Damery’s 2023 single ‘Wonderland’, and his 2021 debut EP, Shepherd’s Delight.

‘Johnny Workman’ was produced by Kean Kavanagh, who released his own “stellar” debut album last spring, and mastered by James Trevascus. The song was released with an accompanying music video directed by Nicole Delarge of Lighter Music and shot in Damery’s hometown of Cobh.

The song, written during a period of unemployment for Damery, stems from a childhood game: he would stand in front of the fireplace, saying “I’m Johnny Workman, looking for some work”, (a refrain that is repurposed in the song’s chorus), and mime jobs for his family to guess. He describes the finished song as “a book full of pictures being flicked through really fast – just flashes of memories, all out of order.”

Damery’s debut album, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, is out on May 1st via Soft Boy Records, the independent Irish label home to artists like Kean Kavanagh and rapper Kojaque.

Watch the music video for ‘Johnny Workman’ now: