Daily Discovery: Johnny Gallagher, “Sarasota Someone”

ARTIST: Johnny Gallagher

SONG: “Sarasota Someone”

HOMETOWN: Wilmington, Delaware

CURRENT LOCATION: Brooklyn, New York

AMBITIONS: To keep creating the things I want to create and stay true to myself and strive to improve wherever there is room. 

TURN-OFFS: Pretension, inflated egos, bitterness, entitlement, mind games.

TURN-ONS: Courage, kindness, humility, openness, fun, honesty, rock and roll.

DREAM GIG: Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted to play on Austin City Limits. 

FAVORITE LYRIC: Pretty much any line from any John Prine song.

SONG I WISH I WROTE: Thunder Road by Bruce Springsteen.

5 PEOPLE I’D MOST LIKE TO HAVE DINNER WITH: Tom Waits, David Simon, Anthony Bourdain, Chris Blackwell, Jeff Bridges. 

MY FAVORITE CONCERT EXPERIENCE: I saw The Avett Brothers at the Belly Up Tavern near San Diego in 2008. I got there early so I could be in the front row. I sang along and jumped and danced and laughed and cried. It was one of the most fulfilling and varied concerts I’ve ever seen.  They ran the gambit. It was totally punk rock despite the fact that most of the set was played acoustically. They were still on an independent label and playing with a smaller ensemble than they tour with now but they were so fiercely connected to their music and the crowd that I knew they were going to be huge.

I WROTE THIS SONG BECAUSE… I was feeling a bit blue and alone. I was talking to someone from Sarasota, Florida and the title came to mind in a flash. I wanted to write something that dealt with despair but masqueraded as a peppy pop song. It is about escapism and the notion that, if you could only just get to this other place, everything will be ok.