No show like a home show!

Lisa O'Neill plays a sold out home show at Cavan's Townhall tonight.

Celebrated Ballyhaise singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill returns to Cavan Townhall Theatre this coming Thursday, October 17, for yet another sold out show on “home” soil.

She’s excited at the prospect of playing to a local audience again, though admits it’s “the most nerve-wracking gig you can play, I don’t think that’ll ever change. It’s still really special. But it does keep you on your toes.”

She’s taken to the stage at the Sydney Opera House, at Glastonbury, and the Grand Ol’ Oprey, but it doesn’t matter what stage she plays, to Lisa “coming home is the always the biggest gig”.

Looking homewards, Lisa laments the loss of Multisound, and thanks Noel for the support his shop gave her music, quickly remembering the first tapes she bought - Alanis Morissette’s ‘Jagged Little Pill’ followed by Tracy Chapman’s eponymously named debut.

With hindsight, she credits those musicians and others like them as inspirations.

Influence

“Just like Sinead O’Connor they were very brave, forward thinking, especially Tracy Chapman. Very important stuff.”

Lisa is in a van travelling for the 7:30pm ferry from Dublin to Wales in time to play the Llais Festival in Cardiff when the Celt catches up.

It’s her last gig before she embarks with her band on a sold-out tour of Ireland, culminating with two special ‘Symphony for the Moons’ orchestral shows - with the National Symphony Orchestra at Dublin’s National Concert Hall (November 16), and the Britten Sinfonia at London’s Barbican (December 11).

In Ireland, Lisa is joined Mic Geraghty (harmonium), Brian Leech (dulcimer and whistles) and Joseph Doyle (double bass).

She’ll be supported during the early shows (including Cavan) by long-time collaborator Séamus Fogarty, and by Tullyvin’s own Marcus Magee when they play Limerick, Galway and Cork.

'Busy'

“It’s been good. Busy,” reflects Lisa on a year that started off touring Australia and New Zealand, playing live slots at NPR’s Tiny Desk and BBC’s Later with Jools Holland, before returning to the UK and Ireland for the summer festival circuit.

Lisa’s 2024 also saw her find time to reprise her appointed role as a Fellow at the Séamus Heaney Centre at Queen’s University Belfast, where she worked with students in contributing to the wider literary community.

There have been “surreal” moments too, like when actors Cillian Murphy and Margot Robbie praised Lisa’s music in a recent interview.

Much of it centred on the Cavan woman’s interpretation of Bob Dylan’s ‘All the Tired Horses’, featured in the Peaky Blinders’ finale, starred in by Murphy.

Robbie revealed the song sits on her “crying playlist”.

“It’s all a bit surreal,” suggests Lisa of the prospect of making ‘Barbie’ cry.

The success and recognition follows a whirlwind 2023 that began with Lisa launching her critically acclaimed ‘All of this is Chance’ in Cavan, which then reached No1 in the Irish independent charts.

That night and the album itself- Lisa’s fifth but first on Rough Trade- encapsulates exactly why she is so treasured within the contemporary folk scene.

Rising

Asked if she could have envisaged the career she has now 10 years ago, Lisa replies with a giggle: “No, absolutely not.”

Earnestly, she considers: “You just don’t know how it’s going to go. But the flow has stayed constant, and interesting, which is brilliant and inspiring.”

While things have changed around her, Lisa’s music, characterised by its emotional depth and vivid storytelling, remains constant.

“You write from where you’re at in your life,” she says: “I try to stay present in my work. To respond to life as it is.”

Lisa contemplates how her music is interpreted and the influence she now wields as an artist.

Support

She was one of a host of Irish folk musicians to take part in a massive fundraising gig to raise funds for medical aid in Gaza, a war that recently passed the one year mark. She has never naturally gravitated towards expressing her views on such subjects on the likes of social media. Instead Lisa chooses to address subjects she feels strongly about in her songwriting and at her live performances.

Since last October she has closed every live show with “consideration for the freedom we have” in the present moment compared to the lack of freedom and “constant grief and fear” the people of Palestine sadly continue to experience. Lisa finds raising the Palestinian flag invokes varied responses, and it depends very much on what country she’s performing to.

“It’s interesting,” she says, knowing how it can often be difficult to broach such evocative subjects by mere language alone, especially in a modern click-driven society. Music, Lisa believes, has always been held a vehicle for truths and one that endeavours to cut through the noise of the media in particular.

“It’s hard to believe we’re still talking about this like it’s not a thing of the past. All the more reason to raise the flag and stand in solidarity, and to remind that, at the core of all this, is a want for world peace. Freedom for all.”

Emotion

Lisa often shares stories behind her songs, an integral element in creating a cohesive narrative that not only entertains but inspires. It also encourages her listeners to reflect on their own experiences and emotions.

“I do feel a responsibility to be able to back up what I talk about on stage. There are so many social injustices in the world and I think that, when we are free where others are not to address such injustices in our work, why wouldn’t we? I’ve been reading about the situation in Sudan. There is so much to write about. The most recent song I’ve written is about the housing crisis. It’s called ‘Homeless in the Thousands’.”

Lisa’s contract with Rough Trade is for another record. She is currently still in the “writing phase” of the overall process for a new album, but does intend to visit the studio before the year is out.

“I’ll go in for a few days. Sometimes they’re not demos, sometimes there you are, you’ve started a new album. I’ll see how far I am.”

New Album

Aside from the uniqueness of her voice, the storytelling aspect of Lisa’s work is her most defining feature. She imagines it akin to “planting” seeds.

“There’s a lot of them,” she says. “And I’m going round the garden watering all the time. I’ve got a sense for the essence of what will be the next album. It needs time. If there were no new ideas I’d be concerned. But there are, and it’s exciting.”

Knowing the support from a label is there does help the approach. Being part of an internationally recognised record label does open doors to other opportunities too.

She recently spent time writing alongside Pete Doherty of the recently reformed Libertines (ex Babyshambles) at his Albion Rooms recording studio in Margate, London. The new collaboration even saw Lisa join the legendary Indie rockers on stage when they played Dublin’s 3Olympia in September.

Collaboration

Doherty, who received a copy of ‘All of this is Chance’ on vinyl from Rough Trade, invited Lisa over to contribute to a song for his next solo album, due out next year.

“It’s great to be with other songwriters and being in their company. [Doherty] has got a great mind. I enjoy his company, and I’ll write with him again I hope.”

Another thing Lisa has been “slowly tapping away on” in 2024 is a script with film-maker Pat Collins (That They May Face the Rising Sun), focusing on the life of Irish traditional singer and banjo player, Margaret Barry.

“That’s another exciting project. I’m working on another album too. It’s a whole new world for me. Everything inspires, and pushes it forward to the next thing.”