Q&A with Toronto-based singer-songwriter Terry Donaghue, reflecting a range of styles encompassed in the blues genre

"The blues speaks to pain, loss, hope and love, universal experiences that anyone can relate to. It can be structurally simple but musically and emotionally complex."

Terry Donaghue: Shades Of Blue

Terry Donaghue’s newest release, Shades Of Blue (Release Day: February 24, 2023) is a collection of 13 original blues and blues influenced songs reflecting a range of styles encompassed in the blues genre. From his early encounters with the country blues of Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, Lead Belly and others during the ‘60s folk revival to the electric sounds of Howlin’ Wolf, BB King, John Lee Hooker, Buddy Guy, Paul Butterfield Blues Band the blues in its many forms has long been a major musical influence. He has gotten to hear and know a variety of contemporary Canadian performers some of whom have contributed to Shades of Blue. The new album features a myriad of guest musicians, including Al Cross, Rick Fines, Paul Reddick, Jenie Thai and others. “I’m particularly proud of this recording from the quality and range of the songwriting to the terrific musical talent that brings the songs to another level", says Donaghue. "I think it’s the best work I’ve done."                                      (Photo: Terry Donaghue)

Terry began playing music in his teens in the ’60s first playing folk and bluegrass on the banjo in a couple of different groups in his hometown of Sault Ste Marie. Later he took up the guitar and more recently the mandolin. He has been writing songs for the past 20 years or so in a variety of styles: folk, bluegrass, roots rock, rockabilly, blues, R&B influenced and reggae influenced. He currently resides in Toronto; is the founder of the Olde Stone Cottage Songwriters’ Circle and for the past 18 years or so has been playing guitar and mandolin in the band Vintage Debris, adding vocals as well over the past five years. He has released two previous solo recordings of original material: Songs of Love and Longing in May, 2020 and Northern Reflections in January 2022.

Interview by Michael Limnios                    Special Thanks: Sarah French Publicity

How has the Blues & Folk music influenced your views of the world and the journeys you’ve taken?

Blues and folk music opened my heart and mind to the broader world, people and places that existed outside my own small world in a 1950s Northern Ontario small city. At the same time, it has put me in deeper touch with my own feelings and emotions

How do you describe your sound and songbook? Where does your creative drive come from?

My sound and songbook primarily derive from the wide range of music I was hearing on the radio during the ‘50s and ‘60s from the country, gospel and pop of local stations to new sounds pulled in on an old tube radio my brother and I had from distant places like Detroit, Chicago and Wheeling West Virginia. I call this my “musical DNA".

Why do you think that the Blues music continues to generate such a devoted following in Canada?

The blues speaks to pain, loss, hope and love, universal experiences that anyone can relate to. It can be structurally simple but musically and emotionally complex.

What moment changed your music life the most? What´s been the highlights in your life and career so far?

A big musical moment for me was hearing the Paul Butterfield Blues Band live around 1970. Up to that point I was a folkie but was losing interest in the music I was hearing. It was lacking something that suddenly became clear to me hearing the power of full-tilt Chicago electric blues. A highlight for me is hearing from a cousin who has some serious medical problems that when she’s in pain and feeling low she gets lost in the first CD I released, and it lifts her up.                                        (Photo: Terry Donaghue)

"Listen and learn from others but follow your own heart, your own muse. Music is both universal and highly personal. There’s something for all of us. Live a creative life. Keep your ears and mind open."

What do you miss most nowadays from the blues of the past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

I can’t say that I miss anything of it since it’s still very much with me. The musical and lyrical simplicity yet eloquence still resonates very strongly with me and forms part of what I do and I hear younger folks maintaining and building on the tradition. What I fear most for the future is the economics of the music business. It’s getting harder and harder to make a living as a musician.

What is the impact of music on the socio-cultural implications? How do you want the music to affect people?

Music brings people together, breaks down the walls that keep us apart. I want music to make people think, feel something new, sing or dance together.

How did the idea of Olde Stone Cottage Songwriters’ Circle come about? How do you understand the spirit, music, and the meaning of life?

I had been writing songs in isolation for a few years and was looking for some feedback on what I was doing and how to improve what I was doing. I knew a couple of guys who were writing and performing original material and suggested we get together monthly at a local pub. We gradually expanded and now have a very tight group who all have somewhat different styles but work together very well and have performed live together. The meaning of life?! Well as far as music goes it’s reach out and touch someone, move someone. Good music moves you emotionally, intellectually, spiritually or gets you moving some body part.

What are some of the most important lessons you have learned from your experience in the music paths?

Listen and learn from others but follow your own heart, your own muse. Music is both universal and highly personal. There’s something for all of us. Live a creative life. Keep your ears and mind open.

(Photo: Terry Donaghue)

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