Davy Lyons is an Irish songwriter, musician, poet, and actor. Family gatherings in his childhood, where music was always vital, are the root of his creative endeavours. His first dream was to become a professional footballer. Having completed Masters degree in law at University College Dublin, Lyons abandoned the gavel for the guitar and began a spiritual journey across Europe that brought him to live and make wine in a Tuscan castle and stay for four months in the mythic Parisian bookshop, Shakespeare & Co.
In 2016, he moved to Barcelona where he began playing on the street. His live shows developed a reputation as intense, binding, and unique experiences for the audience, an intimate journey where words and melodies come together, where silences are allowed to reverberate. Sound poems written with the fountain pen of Lyons’ soul with brushstrokes of folk, jazz, and gypsy added by his band.
In 2019 he released his first album, Evidence. ’Amen’ is the first offering from his second record, ‘The Human Factor’ produced by compatriot David Duffy, released in Feb 2023 with Dutch label King Forward Records.
He has now released a new live Single ‘Clay (Live at Underpool)‘. The full record is called “Live at Underpool, Yes!” and is out on September 6th with King Forward Records.
On the writing of the song, Davy says:
“When I first moved to Barcelona, I played on the street in el Gótico and the neighbourhood of Gràcia three, four, five times a week. It was my office job, a tremendous education in how to project your voice, what works in a song, and also a good way for a guiri to meet new people. I experienced great generosity. Satisfying too was to witness the enjoyment of the music, to watch little kids dance without a care in the world, their eyes full of wonder.
After a couple of years doing that, the difficult side of busking – not making much money, trying to keep it fresh among problems with police and neighbours (water, eggs, insults, and once, a bag of shit have been thrown at me while playing) – had worn me down and taken away the joy of playing music. I went to Carrer d’Astúries one mid-week April afternoon but didn’t want to be there. I tried to sing a few songs (including Standing In The Shadows of Love by The Four Tops, I remember but half-hearted doesn’t cut it. I watched people pass, chatted with a few I knew. I was despondent and feeling sorry for myself.
Then I suddenly started strumming an A minor chord with the capo on the fourth fret, hammering on and off as I did so. Some light went on, and I stood there for minutes playing the same chord over and over again, inspired. I took out my phone and started recording it. A melody came and I mumbled it into the recorder. After about ten minutes, in better spirits, I decided to pack up and go back to my flat in Poble Nou. Stepping onto the platform at Fontana Metro, I saw a teenage boy sitting on the stone bench on the other side, tapping his thighs to the rhythm of the music he was listening to through white headphones. Something in that image made me take out my journal and record it, and I continued to write down what I saw on the journey home. So intent on doing so, I missed the stop at Placa Catalunya to change to the red line to Marina, got off at Liceu instead and decided to walk the rest of the way.
This song is a document of that journey from Gràcia to Poble Nou on April Wednesday 18th, 2018, and this live version features the improvisation talents of Oriol Roca, Toni Saigi, Juan Pablo Bacázar, Nacho López and Ivette Villà. Mix by Juan Rodríguez Berbín and master by Victor Garcia.”