Hugh O'Doherty
Falmouth, Massachusetts, United States | Established. Jan 01, 2012 | SELF
Music
Press
“Hugh’s lyrics speak to the frailties of the human condition. He pokes good and kind hearted fun at our shortcomings in some songs, and makes a plea for justice and personal harmony in others." - Hurdy Gurdy, the South Shore Folk Music Club newsletter
"Hugh is a really neat songwriter. He tells stories about real people and their lives. He’s full of good humor and will make you smile. Just a moment later, he’ll make you think.” - - Phil Shapiro, host and founder of Bound for Glory, North America’s longest-running live folk concert broadcast.
"He's a musician! He's a pilot! He's a Renaissance Man! ... I HATE him!" - Christine Lavin
Discography
"A Lot Like Me (Have I Got A Guy for You)" · Hugh, with Mark Dann
CooP - Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 1, No. 5)
Traditional Music Revisited
℗ 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1982 Fast Folk Musical Magazine
"I'm Confused" · Hugh, with Dennis Pearne
Fast Folk Musical Magazine (Vol. 6, No. 6)
Boston Revisited
℗ 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1992 Fast Folk Musical Magazine
Photos
Bio
Brief:
A veteran of New England, California, and NYC songwriting
communities. Hugh's live performances take the audience from romance
to satire, and from riveting emotional issues to downright self-deprecating
silliness. He lives in, and sings about, the real world. Hugh puts the
frameworks of human connections into perspective with songs of: love, humor,
childhood, friendship, marriage, blended families, justice,
environmental issues, and other contemporary topics.
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Expanded:
Hugh was raised in a family in which music was as essential as oxygen.
Listening to it, dancing to it, playing it. In Hugh's case, that meant singing,
and playing piano and banjo (and guitar, when his brother, Liam Tomas
O'Doherty, wasn't looking). In high school, he sang in acoustic groups with Liam and other friends. Like Liam, Hugh started
writing his own songs, and acting in the school plays. Hugh continued acting
in college, while playing many of the campus coffeehouses in the Middle
Atlantic States. He then carved a career, flying rescue aircraft, from hangars along American and Canadian shorelines. Meanwhile, he conducted the parallel artistic pursuit of playing for the
acoustic audiences of many of those regions, and engaging in California, New
England, and NYC songwriting communities.
His live performances take the audience from romance to satire, and from riveting emotional issues to downright self-deprecating silliness. Hugh lives in, and sings about, the real world. He puts the frameworks of human connections into perspective with songs of: love, humor, childhood, friendship, marriage, parenthood, blended families, justice, environmental issues, and other contemporary topics.
Has performed at places such as:
The Sacramento, Los Angeles, & Santa Barbara Songwriter Showcases
Club Passim, Cambridge, MA
South Shore Folk Music Club, Kingston, MA
Wintertide Coffeehouse, Marthas Vineyard, MA
Coffeehouse at the Mews, Provincetown, MA
WERS-FM, Boston, MA
WUMB-FM, Boston, MA
Eisteddfod Int'l Folk Festival, Univ of Mass Dartmouth, MA
Soule Homestead Summer Concert Series, Middleboro, MA
World Folk Music Assn Showcase, Silver Spring, MD
The Troubadour, Morristown, NJ
Folk City, NYC
Speakeasy, NYC
Greenport Songwriters Festival, NY
Bound for Glory, Ithaca, NY
Godfrey Daniels, Bethlehem, PA
Lansdowne Folk Club, Lansdowne, PA
Stone Soup Coffeehouse, Providence, RI
Rambling Conrads, Norfolk, VA
Eptek Center, Summerside, Prince Edward Island (PEI), Canada
Country Days (festival), Charlottetown, PEI
Summerside Gallery, PEI
West Isle Theatre, PEI
Finalist - Rose Garden Coffeehouse's Performing Songwriter Competition.
Has opened for:
Michael Cooney
Bob Franke
Paul Geremia
Jack Hardy
Greg Kihn
Christine Lavin
Bernice Lewis
Rod MacDonald
Cosy Sheridan
Noel Paul Stookey
Cheryl Wheeler
Brooks Williams
******************
Hugh is available for media interviews.
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He is ready and willing to facilitate workshops in the following areas:
"Monday night, Jack's apartment" - Writers discussing their experiences in songwriting groups, exchanges, or circles. Upsides. Downsides. Lasting lessons and impressions. Playing some of the results.
"Inconvenient Tunes" - Songs that address the preservation of our earthly habitat.
"Translating? ... or Interpreting?" - Players provide their perspectives through others' songs.
"How did you come up with that crazy song?" or "The Humor Mill" - Writers explaining the process (or lack thereof) of recognizing the inspirations, and then executing the creation of humorous songs. And then, they perform the product(s)..."Apply Topically to the Ears" - Songs addressing issues of current, public interest.
"Songs of the late Jack Hardy" - The cowboy, the bard, the hilarious,
the sad, the mysterious, the witty. A circle of singers, courageously
attempting to capture the essence of Jack's catalog, within an hour...
Cover photo: Kim Moberg
Profile photo: Gordon Nash
Band Members
Links
