I have been doing radio interviews and working on the story and will be doing
some new videos in the next few weeks which I will share.
The Good Old Days
The Voyage Variation
Hello out there on these very troubled and difficult times. I hope you are all keeping well and surviving with COVID 19 and all the hardships that this has brought us. I like everyone else who has been laying low and trying to catch up on things in my life, and I was inspired many years ago by a story which I came across when I was living in Ireland about the time of the Irish Famine in the 1850s. As we are now living in a terrible time this story, is very appropriate, and I am sharing this tale with you, which was also a sad and shocking time in Ireland. I have been working on this musical as we all have had a lot of time on our hands and I’m hoping that my time spent on this project with have been worthwhile. I will be sharing many snippets of the beautiful songs from the musical, with a view to getting a big momentum going, so we can get the musical “off the ground” and on the stage. Please be patient and for the next few weeks I will be sharing some of the storyline and plenty of the original songs for you to enjoy! Please share with your friends’, let us get this musical sailing, and when this terrible blight that we are in, ends, we can see this musical “live” on stage at a venue! More coming soon. Stay tuned!
“It all started when I was off with a camera crew and they were filming a music video in the West of Ireland, in Kerry. We were invited to go onboard a ship, a replica of a frigate called the “Jeanie Johnston”. I went on board the ship and to my surprise, the story behind this barque was incredible. (You can google the Jeanie Johnston, Ireland). It was used as a cargo vessel to bring hardware and goods from Canada to a wealthy Irish merchant in Kerry, and he had this for many years, however, when the potato blight hit Ireland, in the 1850s, it was used as a ship to help the poor and distressed people to start a new life in America. At that time the population of Ireland was eight-plus million, (England had twelve plus million) This Famine caused the most severe devastation ever in Ireland. Ireland was a poor country under British rule and the potato was the main food substance of the Irish people, and as the blight destroyed Ireland’s main nourishment coupled with the poverty, it was consternation. Over a million people died and over a million people fled the country to America, Australia and England. Ireland would never be the same again and the Irish influence in America, Australia would be huge!”
“So here’s the plan, I am sharing a taste of two of the songs today, “The Jeanie Johnston Overture” and “And the Ship Sails On”, to give you a taste of the musical. On Friday I will share two more of the songs and some more insight into a musical, so in order to get this project off the ground, I need you to share this with all your friends, and please send me an email at howard@howardcollins.com that you have shared and I will send you the full songs of the day, instead of the snippets for you to enjoy. They are all original songs. My goal is to get a momentum going so I can organise a stage show of the musical with live actors and Irish dancers, and myself as the narrator.”
“My story starts in rural Ireland, around 1821, in a small coastal town in the West of Ireland in Kerry, on the sea. It is a normally quiet place with both rich and poor living together and a happy place to be in. A handsome would-be farmer arrives and soon falls in love with the lovely Jean O’Sullivan, and the scene is set in, where else, the local pub, the most important place to be, to drink, to meet, to have what we call the “craic”, in Gaelic, which loosely translates as “fun”.
I did another interview to promote the Jeanie Johnston on Triple U in Nowra and will share it with you in the next several days. I have also done three new Jeanie Johnston videos and also will be sharing with you in several days. I have been recording new music for the musical. Here is a sample;
Jeanies Lament
You Made Me a Better Man
The storyline is also coming along! I have been buying props and am looking forward to be able to tell you when the “Ship will sail on it’s Maiden Outing”, for all to see!
Radio interview on Triple U FM Nowra.
The Jeanie Johnston Overture
The Voyage
Moments of Time
So here is the second installment of the “Jeanie Johnston Musical”, with “Moment in Time”, a love song with James Johnston, who has come to Kerry from Glasgow, to start a new life and meets the woman of his dreams! He’s singing to Jean O’Sullivan, at the start of a happy and beautiful love story! The next song, The voyage is about to get under way and the narrator and the cast sing this song!
Just Sail Away
