Notes from the Boneyard: Materialising without thought

This week’s Boneyard comes from Belfast, where I currently just landed to play some geet on a record by my friend Arborist.

Then at the weekend it’s way down south to conduct an on stage interview with another friend Bren Berry.

I tried to tell Bren that I’m not the man for the job.

I can’t string a sentence together at the best of times, never mind in a room full of people.

The night before, the person conducting his interview is Tommy Tiernan.

“I’m no Tommy Tiernan,” I tell him.

But he is insisting it be me.

“You’ll be grand. Just treat it like one of our phone calls,” he says.

I reluctantly agree, if only to share a Guinness with him in one of my favourite cities.

Today’s venture to Belfast comes after being sent a song by Arborist a month ago.

I couldn’t play on it at the time as I was deep somewhere in Arizona.

And when I got home, my studio was in chaos as I’m currently moving it to a bigger venue.

“Can I just come up to yours and do it there?”

I asked him last night.

And now here I am.

I still haven’t gotten the proper time to dive in and wrap myself around the song yet.

But I’ve familiarised it in my brain after a few listens and, as always with him, the song is sublime as it is.

I’m apprehensive to add anything to what already sounds like a beautifully-finished piece of music.

But he assures me he has an idea and a direction he wants to explore.

So I pack my guitar and off I go.

Who knows, maybe something else may form in ways of song while working on this.

That often happens.

Ideas emerge from thin air and materialise without thought.

It’s good to dive into that river and see what you might catch in there.

Maybe nothing. Maybe something.

It’s always worth the swim.