World-renowned musician Paul Brady talks about his life in music

Undoubtedly one of Ireland’s leading singer-songwriters and a musical luminary on the world stage, Paul’s musical journey has taken him from summers in Bundoran to the bright lights of Dublin, through turbulent times as part of The Johnston’s and Planxty, before finding himself as a solo artist. That journey, and much more is detailed in his cracking new autobiography, ‘Crazy Dreams’.

As the Zoom call connects, the picture reveals the man himself; smartly dressed and looks which belie his 75 years. As soon as Paul greets me with a jovial Strabane, “How ye doin?” the nerves settle.

The first and most obvious question is, “Why now with the book?”

“Well, I mean I felt that I’m in my mid-70s so most of it is about looking back,” Paul begins.

“The reason I was tempted was the realisation that I had a very interesting life in many ways. Musically, I managed to cover a lot of very different ground, which not many could do and I covered many different situations, emotionally and socially which were a bit out of the ordinary. To be honest I’ve never fully understood who or what I am so I figured ‘why not write it down’ and I might be able to make more sense of it…”

Attempting to figure out ‘who he is,’ the first few chapters in the new book cover Paul’s home life, growing up in Church Street in Strabane with his parents Sean and Mollie, brother Barry and sister Anne as well as his ancestry. Despite Paul being from the town, he says that his schooldays in Sion was more formative for him.

“The problem with me and Strabane was: I didn’t go to school there. I went to school in Sion Mills, only three miles away but that distance was crucial in terms of who I met and the children I met. It was an integrated school; Catholic and Protestant, boys and girls and as a child of five you grow up thinking that’s the norm.

“It was established by the Herdmans, a Quaker family, but the school had a unionist outlook.

“I wasn’t integrated much into the town’s (Strabane’s) kid structure. I knew my neighbours in the Bowling Green and such but that was it. Integration wasn’t the normal thing back then but the fact that I was educated with different religions helped me in not seeing them as someone with two heads, as it was.

“My parents were blow-ins (Sligo and Belfast) and I do love Strabane and have very fond memories of it. But being educated in Sion meant I didn’t know many (people), although I’m still a Strabane man at heart.”

Summers and holidays were spent visiting his family in various parts of Ireland like Fermanagh, Sligo and Bundoran and it was in Bundoran that Paul found a penchant for performing.

His father Sean’s one-man shows at the Holyrood saw Paul eventually join his dad on stage before getting his own summer gig.

Paul remarked, “My dad was involved heavily in the arts, putting on plays in St Pat’s Hall a lot. I thought he was brilliant, very sociable and frequently had audiences in the palm of his hand when on stage, all of which really rubbed off on me in terms of performing.”

A boarder at St Columb’s in Derry, Paul’s time there was punctuated by bullying with pupils known as ‘yaps’ the prime target. However after passing three A Levels he progressed onto college, going to UCD when the Queens Arts course wasn’t open to him. “It was a strange time. I’d never been to Dublin in my life; I hadn’t even been to Belfast before. I went because my parents wanted me to go to college – I certainly didn’t want to be there – but I began going to gigs and thought ‘this is what I want to do’ which was just as well because I was never going to get that degree!”

Paul immersed himself in the social scene, finding a musical disconnect, admitting that, “I didn’t know where to aim myself,” but he was determined to throw a fist at the likes of trad music, blues country and rock.

After a few years of trying things out, just like buses, two offers came in at once. Paul was offered the chance to join The Johnston’s, a group flying high in the booming folk scene, or Sweeney’s Men.

“Paul admits in the book he would have preferred the latter but had already given his word to The Johnston’s. The choice proved to be a smart one at the start as the Johnston’s were one of the hottest bands of the time, as Paul says, “We were flying high, on TV and making plenty of money, times were very good.”

Paul stayed with the band from 1969 till 1974 by which stage the band were in America, penniless and enduring management problems. Things got so bad that Paul ended up working in a bar just to make ends meet. Did he ever consider packing it all in? I get an emphatic answer.

“No, absolutely not. The band was going through a bad time, but there was nothing else I could do, nothing else I wanted to do. I would have hated teaching – I’m a doer not a teacher… I’ve no regrets; the mistakes you make in life are just as important as the things you get right. I was extremely lucky I had Mary in my corner by that time. She gave me the strength to hold on through the rough times and is still doing so almost 50 years on.”

A two-year stint in Planxty saw Paul’s star rise again back home, where he worked with another Irish musical titan in Christy Moore. Paul was recruited initially because he was told that Christy, who Paul describes as a ‘larger than life figure’ was leaving, yet he stayed for another six months.

Following his departure from Planxty, Paul decided it was time to strike out on his own saying he “wanted to try writing songs in the styles of music I knew before trad.”

His first solo album, ‘Welcome Here Kind Stranger’ kicked off a solo career and purple patch spanning 15 albums including ‘Hard Station’, ‘Back To The Centre’, ‘Trick Or Treat’, ‘Primitive Dance’, ‘Say What You Feel’ and ‘Hooba Dooba’. It spawned worldwide smash hits like ‘The Long Goodbye, ‘The World Is What You Make It’, ‘Nobody Knows’ and the beautiful haunting ballad ‘The Island’ among many more.

Paul’s career as a songwriter also took off. In terms of collaborations and covers, his tunes were being sung by luminaries including Mark Knopfler, Bonnie Raitt and Tina Turner.

“My solo career has been wonderful for me and I’ve gotten some massive breaks. I cherish all my collaborations and each one brings its own sense of joy, every song and association is different. It’s a wonderful feeling to collaborate with someone of whom you’ve previously been in awe. I was able to write with Carol King, one of the best songwriters of our generation and heard Bonnie Raitt and Tina Turner sing my songs.

“I was never a global name but my albums were passed round the musical community and that was better for me than having the paparazzi on your neck, ye know?”

I ask if there’s anyone left he wanted to collaborate with or anyone he’s missed out on and Paul’s answer is instant.

“Maybe the opportunity to collaborate with McCartney and I’d certainly loved to have collaborated with Lennon!”

Paul has worked steadily on different things, including a ‘Songbook’ series of concerts at Vicar Street, corralling 30 different artists from all over the world for a celebration of music, something Paul describes as ‘great craic and worth all the pain but logistically, it was hell!’

Closing the interview, Paul speaks of a sense of honour that his music touches so many.

“The thing I find about my music is that people who get into me, get into the whole package. I get messages from people who say that they’re still listening to my music all the time and how my music has gotten people through a hard time.

“ To me that means so much more because it really shows how many people the music has touched.”

With a career that has spanned over 50 years featuring singing, song writing acting and family, I close by asking Paul, “Anything left to do?”

“No, but I’m very glad I did the book. I’ve not a lot of energy to do anything musical right now but we’ll see what happens when this book is out of my system!”