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Chad Dughi

About Me


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Honolulu-born guitarist, harmonica player, singer and songwriter, Chad Dughi, has been immersed in archive recordings of American folk music since his youth. His repertoire encompasses a diverse range of styles that were popular in the United States, during the 1920s, '30s and '40s. Songs from Woody Guthrie, the Carter Family, Sleepy John Estes, Mississippi John Hurt and Blind Alfred Reed feature in his performances, and it is from this well of tradition that Dughi's own writing draws its flavor. A fascination with the origins of American folk song drew Dughi to Ireland in the late '90s, where he was soon recognized as an accomplished songwriter and performer of the traditional songs of his own country. In 1998, he appeared in Galway and Dublin, with Mick Hanley, Andy Irvine and John Faulkner, in a series of sold-out concerts organized as a tribute to the legacy of Woody Guthrie. Over the next years, he met and performed with many of Ireland's most respected folk musicians, among them, Arty McGlynn, Brendan O' Regan, Johnny Moynihan, Cahal Hayden and Poor Bill Whelan. In July 2003, Chad was invited to play at the “Arty McGlynn: A Celebration” concert at the Galway Arts Festival, appearing on the same bill as Matt Molloy, Frankie Gavin, Paul Brady, Martin O' Connor, John Prine and many others. He performed on BBC Northern Ireland with Arty McGlynn and took part in the Project '06 in Galway, appearing with the award-winning Galway poet, Rita Ann Higgins. Dughi’s first two albums, Down Home Blues and Freedom Fries, both received favorable attention from radio presenters and journalists and respected songwriters such as John Prine and Steve Earle. He has sung and played at various folk clubs and festivals in Ireland, England, Scotland, France, Italy, the United States and Canada. Phoenix Song Dogs, his third album, a collection of fifteen songs on the subject of homelessness, was released in Galway in April 2007. Dughi performed at a Woody Guthrie 40th Anniversary Celebration Concert in Belfast on 7 October, with Arty McGlynn and Johnny Moynihan. P.J. Curtis (author, broadcaster, record producer): "In Chad Dughi we witness a stunningly talented singer, songwriter, guitarist and live performer. With influences ranging from Blind Blake and Big Bill Broonzy to Woody Guthrie, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Dylan, Chad is a 21st century troubadour-bard in the finest tradition - that of poet-musician-entertainer. A not-to-be-missed musician, singer and performer, either live or on record."

My Interests

Music:

Member Since: 10/22/2007
Band Members: In recent years, Dughi has worked and played with a number of different musicians in Ireland, including Arty McGlynn (guitar), Damian Evans (double bass), Danny Healy (trumpet), Brendan O'Regan (mandolin), Johnny Moynihan (voice, mandolin, bouzouki, guitar, accordion, tennis racket...), Frankie Lane (voice, guitar, dobro), Michael Buckley (tenor saxophone), Frank Hall (fiddle), Poor Bill Whelan (five-string banjo), Cahal Hayden (fiddle), Noel Lenaghan (voice, mandolin), Frank Kilkelly (guitar) and Ken Hall (drums).



Influences: Influences? Hmm. Inspirations: Quay Street Nora (her mad eyes, her whiskers), Woody Guthrie, Ma Rainey, Sleepy John Estes, Roscoe Holcomb, Francois Villon, James Baldwin, Bessie Smith, Aunt Molly Jackson, the Carter Family, Billie Holiday, Langston Hughes, Tom Waits, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now), Emmett Kelly, Buster Keaton, Bob Dylan, Blind Alfred Reed, Johnny Moynihan, John Prine, Ramblin' Jack Elliott, Townes Van Zandt, Arty McGlynn, Charlie Christian, Georges Brassens, Leonard Peltier, Lenny Bruce, Marcel Carné (Les Enfants du Paradis), Blind Lemon Jefferson, Furry Lewis, Sonny Terry, Blind Willie Johnson, Tommy Johnson, the Masked Marvel (Charlie Patton), Patrick Kavanagh, Clarence Ashley, Uncle Dave Macon, Thelonious Monk, Duke Ellington, Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Mumia Abu Jamal, Lorraine Hansberry, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Tim Lyons (traditional singer, songwriter from Cork), Memphis Minnie, Flann O'Brien, Noam Chomsky, Jimmie Rodgers, Leonard Cohen, Seattle Jim Page, Wally Page, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Fats Waller, Mae West, Sarah O' Loughlin (Irish hula dancer), Gabby Pahinui (Hawaiian slack-key guitarist, singer), Kurt Vonnegut, Honoré de Balzac, Gil Scott Heron, Tennessee Williams, Frederick Douglass, Carl Sandburg, Groucho Marx, Charlie Chaplin, Angela Davis, Miles Davis, Doc Watson, Hank Williams, Bertolt Brecht, Bill Hicks, Margaret Barry, Jeannie Robertson, Little John Nee (actor, comedian, playwright: The Derry Boat, Country And Irish...), Joe Boske (painter, composer) and, last but not least, Matt the Hat (artist technician). That's enough name-dropping for one morning. Get back to you, later this afternoon.
Sounds Like: Like no one you've ever heard. He's the genuiiiiine article. Steve Earle, says, "Chad's got everything a folksinger needs to ply his trade: a thumb like a jackhammer, a voice like a hobo's prayer and an encyclopedic knowledge of American music." While that may be stretching the truth, it gives you some idea of what he doesn't sound like. He can't quite get the hang of Tibetan throat singing, for instance.
Andy Irvine (Sweeney's Men, Planxty) says, "I've done a few Woody Guthrie shows with Chad. Always found him to be keen as mustard, sharp as a razor and ready for battle!" OK. So he doesn't sound like Pavarotti, either.
John Prine says, "Catch this guy now - he's going places." As we speak, he's on his way to Tigh Neachtain, in Galway City.
Siobhan Long of the Irish Times says that Dughi is "a musician who stands on ground as firm as any acre that fed Woody Guthrie, and yet as fluid as any waterway that Mississippi John Hurt navigated."

Type of Label: None