Rua Rí — the musical project of Cobh singer-songwriter Seán Damery — has announced his debut album, Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life, due 1st May via Soft Boy Records. The announcement arrives alongside a new single and video, Johnny Workman.
The track began life as a brief instrumental interlude before expanding into something more substantial. Its origins lie in a childhood game in which Damery would stand in front of the family fireplace, declaring, “I’m Johnny Workman looking for some work,” before miming different professions for his family to guess. Years later, during a spell of what he calls “extreme unemployment” around Christmas — handing out CVs around town — the phrase resurfaced as a kind of mantra. Rua Rí describes the finished song as “a book full of pictures being flicked through really fast – just flashes of memories, all out of order.”
The accompanying video was directed by Nicole DeLarge and cinematography by Shane Joyce.
Stream: https://bfan.link/johnny-workman
That sense of fragmented recall runs through the album as a whole. Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life is anchored to specific locations — Cobh, Cork City, nearby fields and familiar streets — and to the emotions that accumulate in places you know too well. These aren’t polished pastoral scenes; they’re lived-in settings shaped by drinking, boredom, friendship, and the small moments that only acquire weight in hindsight. It documents a local, personal world where emotional resonance comes from familiarity rather than grandeur.
Fully produced by Kean Kavanagh, the album sits at a crossroads between wanting to move on and being inextricably tied to where you’re from. Damery has been building a reputation on Ireland’s folk circuit, having supported Amble, Joshua Burnside, Kavanagh himself, and Sam Amidon, and is steadily carving out his own space in the country’s vibrant contemporary folk scene.
Rua Rí plays a headline show at Christ Church, Cobh on April 25th. Tell Your Mother I Saved Your Life releases on May 1st via Soft Boy Records.
Pre-Order: https://bfan.link/tell-your-mother-i-saved-your-life