From lockdown to hoedown - with a difference - for Derek Ryan

The last time I spoke to Derek Ryan, it was in the Glenavon House Hotel in Cookstown, just hours before he went on stage, and we huddled in a room filled with tables and chairs, over a couple of cups of coffee.

It was a dark Friday evening in November, and Derek wore a beanie hat for the duration of the interview, his softly-spoken, relaxed, demeanour, making him an absolute pleasure to talk to.

This time, due to the current social distancing restrictions, there’s no coffee or face to face chat, but he’s as down to earth as before, laughing as he related how lockdown brought out his inner chef.

“It was nice to be off for a while without any pressure, if you know what I mean,” says the Carlow country star, who has been in the music business for more than a decade now, and is one of the biggest names on the Irish country music scene.

“There were no deadlines, and for those first few weeks, I’ll be honest with you, I did nothing. I just exercised every day, and my dinner became a big thing!

“I had never really had a massive appetite, and than at the age of 36, it suddenly just grew.

“And now I’m really conscious about going to the butcher’s and buying nice meat, whereas before it would have been whatever packet was in the local petrol station!”

For the former D-Side singer, lockdown was a curious experience; he and his band had just finished a tour in Ireland, and were heading on the ferry to England, when his home country went into lockdown.

“England was business as usual for a few days after that, so we did four gigs over there, which was rather surreal, as normally, we would do a meet and greet after the shows, but this time, we just couldn’t do it.

“We just did our gigs and literally got out of there. We came back here the day before St Patrick’s Day and went into isolation.”

The remainder of his summer gigs were cancelled, and after taking a few weeks out, Derek eased himself back in to his music.

“I did a few Facebook Live sessions, and started to do the vocals for my next album - I’d been writing songs back in October and February so all the music was pretty much done.

“I was doing that, and writing songs for people and doing demos, so I was busy. Then I did a series of duets with friends of mine such as Lisa McHugh, Cliona Hagan, and Sharon Shannon. So that took a bit of work and I was connecting with people that way.”

He adds: “It’s funny how you do appreciate the break from the gigs, as it can get fairly relentless and noisy, and much as I love it all, it was nice to get a bit of peace and quiet.”

He says that the rest of this year is very much “up in the air” in terms of gigs and tours - save, of course, for the Farmers’ Bash Country Drive-In next month - but something he is looking forward to is the release of his new album.

From a song writing point of view, he says, the material is “kind of the best I’ve been doing.”

He adds: “As a songwriter you hope to get better with age. How I’m going to actually get out there and promote the new album I’m not sure, but we’re going to have to adapt, I suppose. And I would do acoustic gigs every year where we have an intimate crowd and a smaller band, so even if we have to do that in order to get the music out, we will.

“Hopefully though, it won’t be too long before the dances are back. It would be hard to social distance at a disco!”

The name of Derek’s new album came to him when he was out for a walk near Dingle in Co Kerry, of all places.

It’s called Soft Ground, and its meaning is entirely open for interpretation.

Derek laughs: “I wish I could say I was like Bob Dylan, and the name was really deep or something. But it just came when I was walking along in Dingle back in August last year.

“Beneath my feet there was a patch of ground that was just beautiful - soft ground - and I thought, that’s a great title for an album.

“Then I was in Tyrone in October and I co-wrote it with Donna Taggart.”

He adds: “The name of the album could basically be how anyone describes their other half, or their child, or anyone; it’s saying, whatever road you go down, I’ll be your soft ground. I’ll be here when you need me.”

**A third date has been added to the Farmers’ Bash Country Drive-In. Log onto www.wegottickets.com to secure your chance to see Derek perform on Sunday July 5.

‘It took a few weeks to do the single - it was really worth it’

Isolation and loneliness are issues that Derek Ryan feels are serious in rural Ireland, hence the Carlow singer’s enthusiasm about doing something positive to help those affected by them.

Last month, he teamed up with the ‘Queen of Country’, Tyrone born Philomena Begley, to record a song that would raise funds for charity during lockdown.

All proceeds of It Won’t Rain Forever, which was released on May 15, went to Age NI and Alone Ireland, two charities which work to support elderly people.

The collaboration has proved hugely popular, but Derek reveals that it was “kind of nerve wracking” sending his offering to the Pomeroy legend. “One night I was sitting watching The Late Late Show, and she had been on chatting about isolation, and how she was missing her grand kids.

“It gave me the idea to write the song - and then I wasn’t sure what to do with it, so thought maybe I should get her on board, as she had inspired me.”

Relief flooded through the former D-Side singer when Philomena gave his hit her seal of approval.

But even then, due to lockdown restrictions, it was a slower process than it normally would have been to get it produced. “It took a good few weeks to get the vocals done at home and correspond with her, get the shots we needed for the video and so on within our 5K radius, so there were a lot of logistics to it all.

“But it was worth it, because we obviously were doing it for charity as well.”

He continues: “I suppose really, when you’re sitting at home and your friends are going out to work on the front line every day, you sit and wonder what you can do. So as small a contribution as it is, at least it is something I could do - write and record songs, and put it out there, and whatever we raised would be something.

“Isolation is something that I’ve always been conscious of, and the fact that many people were going to lose that visit to the local shop, which was their social outing, or that trip to the pub once a week just to get out of the house, would just magnify that. This song highlights that.”

Next month, Derek will join Philomena on stage at the Farmers’ Bash Country Drive-In at Ballymena Showgrounds to perform the hit song.

He’s excited about getting back to performing - even if it is to a sea of cars and tractors, as is the format of this innovative, socially distant event - and feels privileged to be part of history in the making.

“It’s something we can tell the grand kids in years to come,” he smiles. “The dynamic of the gig is going to be interesting - I’ve never sung to tractors before! But even though regular gigs haven’t kicked back in, this is still connecting to people who want to listen to live music.”