Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life

Cobh singer-songwriter Rua Rí, aka Seán Damery, with his acclaimed debut album Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life.

Rooted in childhood memory, lead single “Johnny Workman” began with a game Damery played in his family home in Cobh, where he would stand in front of the fireplace and announce, “I’m Johnny Workman looking for some work,” before acting out different professions for his family to guess. Years later, during a period of unemployment and while handing out CVs, the phrase resurfaced and became something of a mantra.

Rua Rí describes the track as “a book full of pictures being flicked through really fast – just flashes of memories, all out of order.”

That collision of memory, place and everyday life runs throughout Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life. Produced by Kean Kavanagh, the album is deeply rooted in Cobh and Cork City, tracing familiar streets, fields, friendships, drinking, boredom and the seemingly insignificant moments that take on greater meaning with time.

Warm, witty and quietly introspective, the record captures the tension between wanting to move forward and remaining deeply connected to where you come from. Across its ten tracks, Damery turns the ordinary into something deeply personal, creating a coming-of-age portrait grounded in the places and people that shaped him.