Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life is the name of the Cobh singer-songwriter’s debut album.
Cobh singer-songwriter Rua Rí (Seán Damery) has announced his debut album Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, due May 1st via Soft Boy Records, sharing new single and video ‘Johnny Workman’ alongside the news.
The track has an unlikely origin – a childhood game where Damery would stand in front of the fireplace at home, declare “I’m Johnny Workman looking for some work” and act out professions for his family to guess.
Years later, the phrase resurfaced during a period of unemployment around Christmas while handing out CVs. Damery describes it as “a book full of pictures being flicked through really fast – just flashes of memories, all out of order.”
The track recalls the timbre of the Carlow folk songwriter Seamus Fogarty.
The video is directed by Nicole DeLarge.
Produced by Kean Kavanagh, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life is rooted in specific places – Cobh, Cork, nearby fields and familiar streets – and the emotions attached to them. Not romanticised landscapes but lived-in settings, with drinking, boredom, friendship and small moments that only feel significant in hindsight. It’s a coming-of-age record that captures the tension between wanting to leave and being deeply tied to where you’re from.
Rua Rí plays a headline show at Christ Church, Cobh on Friday April 25th with support from Sarah Hickey – tickets here. Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life is out May 1st via Soft Boy Records.
Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life Tracklist
1. Johnny Workman
2. Easy On The Eye
3. Snow
4. Not so brave now are ya
5. Sitting on the wall beside you
6. Fields Of Glass
7. Wonderland
8. Makeover
9. Fish Go Deep
10. There’ll be liners floating down The Holy Ground
Follow Rua Rí: Instagram | YouTube
Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
