For close on two decades, Hugo Duncan has been driving the 180-mile-round trip from Strabane to Belfast and back five days a week. Most people would recoil at the thoughts of such a journey day after day – but not Hugo. He loves driving and, of course, his 90 minutes behind the microphone at the BBC headquarters in Belfast.

Back in 1998, the BBC asked him to present a weekly show on Radio Ulster.

“They told me it would be for six months. After almost 19 years I am still here, doing five shows a week, Monday to Friday from 1.30pm to 3pm. I absolutely love radio and the intimacy you can generate with your listeners.

“I am blessed with tremendously loyal followers who tune in day after day, not just in the Ulster region but in various parts of the world through the internet. I would like to think that the success enjoyed by my show has helped to play a major role in the huge revival of country music across the province over the last decade or more,” says Hugo, affectionately known as The Wee Man from Strabane.

Demon days

Hugo began his career in the band business back in 1971. He was 21 and the first time that the public encountered Hugo Duncan and The Tallmen was at a carnival gig just over the road in Newtownstewart. His recording of Dear God made it all the way to No three in the Irish Top 10 in 1971 and his most successful chart years were in that decade.

Success on the stage brought its own demons and chief among them was the familiar showbiz refrain, playing by night and pubbing by day. Hugo had a good decade of that lifestyle, rattling the drink down and having a carefree time. He recalls a night in Glasgow when he went on the batter with a chap from Downings in Co Donegal.

“We were drinking treble vodkas and I was so drunk I could not find my suit for my stage performance that night. I rambled out in my jeans and sang The Town I Loved So Well and then decided to sing it all over again. It’s a long song. I was physically hauled off the stage that night and locked in the dressing room until the show was over.”

A new chapter

Since the early 1980s, Hugo has been off the drink. He was one of the lucky ones who managed to shake off the shackles and find a new life. And then the breaks came his way.

In a short time, he managed to transform the 1.30pm to 3pm slot into one of the top audience segments on BBC Radio Ulster. For many years, he came on air immediately after the legendary current affairs presenter David Dunseith brought his massively respected show to a close.

“David was an absolute gentlemen with a wonderful outreach to all sides of the community up here. It certainly was not easy at times.

“He died back in 2011, just six weeks after retiring from the BBC.”

The BBC has been good to Hugo Duncan. He has also hosted and co-presented a number of televisions shows for BBC N1 as well as a series which saw him visit some of the southern states of America where he met with a number of legendary country stars, including Tom T Hall.

Paul Evans, an executive producer with both radio and television shows at the BBC, compiled a fascinating book about Hugo’s career a few years ago. Uncle Hugo, the Story of the Wee Man from Strabane, gives a huge insight into the life and times of Hugo. It was published by Black Staff Press.

While so much of his life centres around his work as a radio host, Hugo has never lost interest in recording and still performs several shows each year, mainly on the concert circuit these times.

To press home the point, his brand new 16-track album is entitled Hugo Duncan - The Singer. It contains a selection of old and new songs and the kind of songs that he has loved singing down through the years. They include Isle of Innisfree, Come Back Paddy Reilly, Forty Shades of Green, Patsy Fagan, Sweet Sixteen, Courtin’ In The Kitchen, World Of Our Own, and Morningtown Ride. Northern writers Gerard Dornan and Vincie Soye also have songs on the album.

“I have dedicated the album to my great and long-time friend Gene Stuart who sadly passed away on 11 February 2016. I called to his home hundreds of times over the years on the way back from Belfast. We shared some great times and memories. He was one of the all-time great country singers. I think about him every day.”

• Hugo Duncan – The Singer is marketed and distributed by Sharpe Music, Irish Street, Dungannon, Co Tyrone. Visit www.sharpemusic.com for further details.