Cowboy's mission to cheer
Published 13 Jan 2012 09:30
Johnny Gauld is - his fans are convinced - the uncrowned poet laureate of both Barrhead and Neilston, and as we shiver through what Robert Burns called "Januar's cauld blast" he's determined to cheer us all up.
"January is depressing enough without suffering some of the stuff you come across at this time of year," says the self-styled Caledonian Cowboy - who's about to publish his latest book of verse - "because let's face it, some Burns' Nights are so sad you'd almost want to slit your throat."
Johnny, a dab hand with the bagpipes, is a past master at the art of laying on Scottish nights with a difference, never taking anything too seriously but at the same time bringing passion and pride to his work.
His "act" aims to be welcoming, "drawing people in" so they feel part of the action from the word go, rather than the "me and them" approach taken by artistes at some traditional performances where the audience just listen then applaud.
One self-deprecating verse pithily sums up his pitch:
"I'm neither prophet, poet, writer,
Jester or a clown,
I'm just a storyteller,
Who tells stories from this town..."
"As a country we seem to be great at celebrating things in a gloomy way, or else looking to Ireland, or down south, for inspiration," he says, "whereas if you look around you, this part of Scotland is fantastic - there's so much right here on our doorstep."
As he contemplates the launch of another volume of characteristically wry Scottish verse at the start of what's already shaping up as a busy year Johnny is aiming to bring one of his key performance achievements to a still wider audience.
"It's a five minute Scottish Night," he says. "I was approached by the National Theatre of Scotland to do it last year, it's very entertaining, and after several cracks at it I finally managed to get the script to run to exactly four minutes and 59 seconds."
Normally, of course, the five minute show takes place in theatre venues, but one lucky Barrhead man has won a competition giving him the privilege of having it performed for him personally - at home.
Inevitably, a large dose of fun is guaranteed, but Johnny - an accomplished piper for many years in Neilston Pipe Band - is much more than either just a poet or comedian.
His art is a recitation of the glories and iniquities of everyday life in Scotland, replete with ordinary Scottish language everyone can understand.
"There might be the odd word that creeps in that's particularly local to the Glasgow area, like 'cludgie'," he says, "but nobody in Scotland would have any difficulty understanding what I mean."
Johnny is on safe ground there, because his works have been snapped up by enthusiastic readers in the USA and Canada, where his totally Scottish but never stereotypical material goes down a storm.
The new volume of poetry is called "Son of East End Mammy, Southside Daddy", following on from the original Mammy/Daddy book, and refers to the areas his own parents came from.
That in turn gives him an excellent grasp of what makes Glasgow tick, to which he can add his close personal knowledge of life in Barrhead and Neilston.
Forthcoming gigs include a charity fundraising for the Erskine hospital for disabled service personnel, to be staged in March - not to mention numerous performances at private functions large and small.
You can find out more about Johnny - and order his books - on his website at www.caledoniancowboy.com.
This article appeared in Barrhead News 13 Jan 12
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