In Love + Light features John McCusker, Boo Hewerdine, Michael McGoldrick, Roy Dodds, Ewen Vernal, Donald Shaw, Kris Drever, Eddi Reader, Andy Seward, Neill McColl and other special guests.
Influences
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Look out for a new star in the glittering firmament of great Irish singers: with the release of her new album In Love and Light, Heidi Talbot is truly set to shine. After five years as lead singer with the Irish-American supergroup Cherish the Ladies, and high praise for her previous solo outing, 2004’s Distant Future, Talbot now extends her talents over a broader, bolder musical canvas, in company with a stellar cast of guests. Drawing on the full, diverse spectrum of influences that inform her singing, In Love and Light complements Talbot’s exquisitely expressive, honeyed yet ardent voice with guest contributions from Eddi Reader, ex-Solas guitarist John Doyle, fiddler John McCusker and flute/whistle ace Mike McGoldrick.
Born in the rural village of Kill, Co. Kildare, Talbot began singing in the church choir run by her mother, Rosaleen, meanwhile absorbing the vibrant array of music that filled the family home. At sixteen, she enrolled at Dublin’s celebrated Bel Canto singing school, studying for the next year and a half under its founder and director Frank Merriman - “the best teacher in the universe,” according to Sinead O’Connor, another former student.
“Ms Talbot is one of the most generous musicians I know. I love the way she sings and she loves what she does. She is CLASS!” (Eddi Reader)
Her next move was to New York, where she spent two years working the Big Apple’s bars and clubs, honing her voice and style amidst the city’s vibrant musical melting-pot, before being invited to join Cherish the Ladies in 2002. In between the band’s hectic touring schedule, however, Talbot continued to develop her solo work, releasing Distant Future on top Nashville roots label Compass Records. Produced by John Doyle, the record featured such distinguished guests as multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell, concertinist John Williams and fiddler Rayna Gellert. Three years on, the recording of In Love and Light coincided with her decision to leave Cherish at the end of 2007.
Tracks on the new album range from the Scottish traditional ballad ‘Glenlogie’ to the vintage Ink Spots hit ‘Whispering Grass’; Tom Waits’ bittersweet classic ‘Time’ to an old parlour hymn, ‘When they ring the Golden Bells’. There’s an old-timey duet with Orcadian singer Kris Drever on ‘The Blackest Crow’, and a cover of ‘Cathedrals’, by the cult US band Jump Little Children, as well as two new originals by English singer-songwriter Boo Hewerdine, who produced the record. The list of guests also includes Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw and Ewen Vernal, and ex-Fairground Attraction drummer Roy Dodds.
The launch of In Love and Light, at Glasgow’s world-renowned Celtic Connections festival in January, kicks off an exciting year for Talbot, who’ll be featuring as a guest on forthcoming albums by Radiohead drummer Philip Selway, and the new trio collaboration of John McCusker, Kris Drever and Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble. Between times, she’ll be touring extensively to promote In Love and Light, both in Europe and the US. Heidi Talbot: an artist with the world well and truly at her feet.
chicago??! oooh look at you, a 'well travelled woman' (actually that makes you sound like you've been round the block a few times, and not what i meant at all!! sorry!) well its sunny here in the big smoke, but i've had too many coffee's and I'm playing my bodhran very fast and talking very quickly.. ( not just in a room on my own or anything, that would be weird! no, i am supposed to be working!) have fun and travel safe! x :)
