Evening of songs with US troubadour David Dondero at Crane Bar

Date Published: {J}

Whatever’s in the calendar for Thursday, September 29, clear it. Because that’s the night when David Dondero, an American songwriter of genuine class, plays The Crane Bar. The show is part of the monthly Musical Mayhem series, a night hosted by the Galway-based band Mikey and The Scallywags.

David Dondero has been a solo artist since 1998, in which time the folk/rock singer has picked up a fair share of praise along the way. He has also toured alongside acclaimed Americana artists like Jolie Holland, Bright Eyes and Willy Mason.

Dondero has spent 10 of the past 12 months on the road, but it’s a touring cycle that he’s used to, and loves. At the time of this interview, he’s in the middle of another US jaunt. So, how have the shows been going?

“They’re going good, mostly good,” he says. “It’s highs and lows. Some are better than others, last night was really great. I was really happy with last night, in Denver. I’ve had a run of good shows this week. For the most part, it’s going pretty well.”

In his song The Living and the Dead the narrator recalls driving ‘14 hours / Just to play to the sound guy’. Did this actually happen, that nobody was there, except his own sound man?

“Yeah, it’s true!” says David. “That song was written in Detroit. I had driven 14 hours [just] to play to the sound guy and the bartender. That’s what inspired that song; that was years ago. A couple of people showed up eventually, though. I wasn’t going to [do the gig], and then they showed up. Now, it’s not like that so much.”

He might not have to worry about playing to empty rooms any more, but Dondero’s dedication to his craft remains. His lyrics show an eye for detail, and are delivered with an impassioned preciseness. Does he write the words separately from the music?

“Well, sometimes it’s all together at once,” he says. “Sometimes it comes together slowly, building over time. It depends on the song. It’s different every time.”

“What’s the longest time he’s spent working on a piece?

“Jeez, probably 10 years, 12 years, on one song,” he muses.

“Anything from two minutes to 10 years!

“I can’t think which one it is,” he says of the one that took a decade. Then his memory kicks in. “The One that fell from the Vine – 10 years! I like the pedal steel part in it, but I’m still not happy with it.”

One of Dondero’s most arresting numbers is a song called Rothko Chapel, a song he wrote after a trip to Texas.

“I was down in Houston,” he says. “There was a chapel down there made by Mark Rothko, the artist. And it’s just a temple representing all religions, and non-religions and Taoists and mathematics, so it basically represents everybody. It’s a real peaceful place; I was inspired by it so I wrote that song.”

Many of the current news stories in the Irish media about the US, document the economic and political woes of a once-mighty country. Given that he spends so much of his time touring America, has David noticed a change in the national mood?

“I think it’s a little different,” he says. “I think a lot of people are disillusioned; I think it’s probably necessary. Over the years, people have been living beyond their means in America. And that finally . . .the bubble popped, a reality check.

“I think it could be a good thing for America, I’m no expert on economics but it seems like it could be a good thing, eventually.”

For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.