Singer/songwriter brings his talent to Monroe’s triple-header
It doesn’t matter if it’s an open-air festival, a packed hall or the bedside of a dying man – David Hope will play his music where he can and when he can, as a form of therapy for both himself and his audience…of hundreds or just one.
The Clare-born singer/songwriter is one of the most underrated talents on the Irish scene, but that doesn’t stop him being one of the busiest artists around.
He’s one of a trio of acts coming to Monroe’s Live Backstage next Thursday, September 24, along with Longford singer/ songwriter Laura Jo and Dubliner Stephen Gormley who performs under the stage name Moon Looks On.
“We’re all going to do a set, and I suspect we’re all going to come together and do a couple of songs at the end of it. I’m really looking forward to playing with Laura Jo and Stephen,” says David.
“They’re both really great musicians and writers and I think it will make for a really interesting show and a really good night of music.
“Sharing a stage with people like that is a great thing – because you don’t quite know what’s going to happen.”
And being on stage is what keeps the blood flowing for David Hope, whether it’s a triple-header like this, a solo gig at the Galway Folk Festival last summer…or bringing his music into hospitals and nursing homes just to offer respite to patients with a little bit of musical entertainment for a short while.
“It’s not music therapy because that’s a profession in itself; it’s more than I’m working in healthcare playing music,” he explains.
“We offer music to people beside the beds, in wards, in hospitals – and the side-effects may include therapy.
“I think music is a very healing thing and very therapeutic, particular for us Irish because we have songs and stories in us – and it’s a lovely thing to give music to people and see what comes back. That’s the same performing on a stage as it is performing at a bedside.
“I’ve always listened to songs to help me deal with life – I’ve written songs to help me deal with life. So music therapy is a universal thing for me, but in this instance, it’s best described as a pseudo-professional space.
“We’ve done it in ICU, we’ve done it for people who have passed away or are passing away – and that is one of the greatest privileges you can have as a human being, let alone as a musician,” he says.
Music has helped him cope with the peaks and troughs in his own life – the same swings and roundabouts that we all face – and one of his finest songs is based on the last words his father said to him before dying.
He told him he loved him to the moon and back – and To the Moon and Back is one of the many outstanding tracks on David’s last album, …And the Sea, which was recorded before Covid but released afterwards; a sliding door that inadvertently gave him space.
“My dad passed away in 2018 and then Covid happened and the album got delayed because of the pandemic,” he says.
“And I was kind of glad of that in fact, because the challenge of singing songs that I am so emotionally invested in, the actual physical ability to sing them would have been a hell of a lot more challenge if the album had been released on time,” he admits.
“But time passes and while you still appreciate the sentiment of the song, the time that has elapsed allows you to smile a bit and maybe remember why you wrote it and allow it to be what it.
“The price you pay for love is the hurt you feel afterwards and the grief in that song is universal – some people have it early in life, some have it later – but either way you have to remember the good times and the fun you had with them.”
He’s a big man with, by his own admission, a penchant for sad songs – but there’s much more to David Hope than that.
And with Laura Jo and Moon Looks On, he’s looking forward to a special night in Monroe’s next Thursday – even if he’s happiest to leave the dynamic evolve naturally on the night.
“I love the feeling of being slightly unprepared for what I’m going to do. Having a good set list is a great thing but having a little bit of a tightrope walk can really keep you on your toes too.
“That’s the drug we’re all hooked on really,” he says.
■ Laura Jo, David Hope and Moon Looks On play at Monroe's Live Backstage next Thursday night, September 27, with doors open at 7pm. Tickets on sale now or on the door.
Pictured: Back in town...David Hope on stage at last summer’s