Fade to Black

Frances Black destined for Drumlinia and Cavan

"Working class hero” singer Frances Black is set to perform in Cavan as part of the Drumlinia Music Festival and Industry Week 2024.

Black’s show at the Cavan Townhall Theatre on Sunday, October 27, closes out seven days of local events that begin with Daniel O’Donnell at the Cathedral of Saints Patrick and Felim (October 20), and dozens more workshops and lectures with some of the biggest names in music and media.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve performed in Cavan,” Black told the Celt. “I have lovely memories of wonderful, wonderful gigs in Cavan.”

Virginia, the Slieve Russell, and others all featured on Black’s stop-offs in the Breffni County, and she is enthusiastic and thankful to have been asked by close friend, Drumlinia founder Don Mescall, to add her name to the line-up.

“I was delighted to be asked to do this, and so I’m really looking forward to being there, and thankful to come on board and be part of it all.”

She and Mescall have a special bond, having worked with each other for over 35 years.

It was Black who helped give the Limerick man his first break, taking him on tour in support of her and her band, and later she would go on to record more than a dozen of Mescall’s songs, including duetting with him on his Number 1 album, ‘Lighthouse Keeper’.

Black says Mescall has frequently invited her to visit his home studio in Belturbet, all the while dropping hints of sharing her talent once again with a local audience.

“I know Don very well, and I think the world of him. I would consider Don a good friend and probably one of the finest songwriters in this country. He is an amazing songwriter, and I was delighted to hear that he’s now living back in Ireland, in the musical county of Cavan. He keeps saying every time we speak that I have to come up and see his house, so I’m really looking forward to making the trip now.”

When the Celt speaks with Black she’s travelling down to Cork to participate in Daniel O’Donnell’s ‘Opry Le Daniel’. Hailing from one of Ireland’s most admired musical families, her father Kevin was a talented fiddle and mandolin player, and mother Patty a beautiful singer. Their combined talent was passed on and Black is the youngest of five; her sister Mary also a singer of great renown.

Most recently Black was among a host of guests that joined Mescall in a performance at the Limerick University Concert Hall the last time he played there.

Black, who has also served as a Senator since 2016, says of the upcoming Cavan concert: “It’ll be wonderful to share the stage with Don again.”

Tickets for the Black gig at the Cavan Townhall go on sale at 12 noon on Wednesday, June 26, from the Cavan Townhall website.

Don believes that attracting a talent such as Black to the Drumlinia line up solidifies the festival’s growing importance and wider recognition within the industry.

“Year one was fantastic, and but that was really about feeling our way. Year two I really feel will open people’s eyes to what’s happening down here. I would say that Frances is probably one of the most important singing talents we have as a country. She’s from a fabulously talented family who have contributed so much, and she herself is one of the most genuine people I’ve met in this industry, a real working class hero. Everything she sings is from the heart.”

Unprecedented

The tickets for O’Donnell at the cathedral are “flying out”, with the vast majority now sold, and Mescall expects a similar level of demand from people eager to see Black perform. Of the Drumlinia festival week he adds that “everything is falling into place”, and that the schedule of performers and events is unprecedented in terms of quality.

Last year saw the likes of 2FM’s Dave Fanning and podcaster and producer Lottie Ryan give their unique insights and tips on how to get ahead. This year’s festival is set to further stretch its remit, with Mescall dipping into his phonebook even deeper to embrace media and multimedia too.

One of the main challenges, to ensure greater engagement, has been to stage more events for a larger age cohort.

“We’re working away in the background here and we have some amazing people coming over to participate, from the UK and America even. The likes of producer Tom Nichols, a really big music publisher in John Saunderson of Notting Hill Music Group. That’s a huge one. We have Philip Doherty, a great Cavan talent, and he’ll be joining Rex Ryan for a talk on their career in theatre. So it’s building up to be something really exciting.”