30 years in the music industry for Maura

TWICE-Grammy nominated singer Maura O’Connell returned to her native Ennis to lend her support to a tourism initiative aimed at showcasing the best of County Clare to the world.

The talented folk songstress, who has more than 30 years experience in the music industry under her belt, performed at the Clare Tourism Forum launch of the Clare Live the Life DVD in Glór.
She performed a string of songs a capella, some solo and a number accompanied by her sister, Áine Derrane and Maria Byrne from Glór.
Later she took the time to talk to The Clare Champion about some of her memories of her childhood days in Ennis.
“It’s always lovely to come back again and I still always say I’m going home when I leave Nashville for Clare. Ennis has changed beyond measure but I still love it. Looking back on my youth here when I was going to school, I knew everyone in the town, everyone did. Everyone lived in the town. We had many small local shops with people living upstairs and we had a gang. In fact, there were two gangs, kids who hung around together all the time; one gang in the Lower Market and one in the Upper Market, there were that many kids there then. It was great, great energy and that’s still here.
“A lot has changed but one thing that hasn’t is that the people of Ennis are still great. To be honest, I wouldn’t be able to live in America like I do now if I wasn’t able to come back and be a part of that every so often. I often wonder about the people who went away, even before the ’80s, who were really saying goodbye. They weren’t ever coming back. I’m very lucky in that I can come home. I take my holidays here about every other year. I like to stay in New Quay, near the Burren where I love and spend time out at the ocean and having some quiet time. I also spend a fair amount of time while I’m in Clare with my family, who are still here in Ennis,” Maura said.
Her sister Áine (Derrane) still lives in Ennis, another sister Aileen (Murphy) in Clarecastle and Alisheen now lives in Cork.
“We all sang growing up and still do. Alisheen was the singer among us. Between herself, Mary O’Halloran and Anne Brook, they were always placed one, two, three in competitions. I won a medal once when I came third out of three competing. So we’ve all always sung and I guess we’re pretty good at it. But for my sisters it’s their hobby, as it was mine but I was lucky to get to make a career out of it. Áine is a phenomenal harmonist,” she commented.
Of her entry into the singing world, Maura said she was forever singing at functions, in school, in feis, as well as in the choir.
“In my late teens, I met with Mike Hanrahan and we had a band called Tumbleweed. We did it for fun. We played in various places, including out at the Highway in Crusheen. We even did a tour of Ireland. On one occasion we were out in Ballykilty Manor near Quin playing at a do. So the story goes that Frankie Gavin, Jackie Daly and the other members of De Danann at the time were there. The following Friday I got a phonecall in our fish-shop, Costelloes in the Market, and I can remember we were very busy and my mother saying to me to get off that phone right away.
“Anyway, it was Frankie Gavin on the phone, inviting me to go with De Danann to America to play with them for six weeks. I didn’t play any traditional music and most of what I sang wasn’t traditional. All I knew I knew from my mother, who was really into light opera, and was in the musical society and the choir, as I was and my sisters too. So I didn’t have a large stash of songs that I could utilise, so I asked Frankie for some time to think about it. After one week I called him back and told him that I’d go with them. Sure, why not? So I went with De Danann from that to a tour of Ireland and that’s when we brought out My Irish Molly. It was a bit like joining the circus because it was very new to me and to everyone I knew. I was with De Danann for about a year and then I decided I’d try performing on my own,” she explained.
Dolores Keane was the original singer with De Danann, then Maura, Mary Black and then Dolores Keane again.
Initially, when she became to tour solo she travelled the length and breadth of Ireland.
“The songs I was singing weren’t material that I could tour Europe with. So I had to make a leap and I decided to head for America. Very serendipitously I met up with some people who I ended up working with a lot in the States, who later became hugely successful. I based myself in Nashville, where it was all happening music-wise and I loved it there.
“I was very lucky in the breaks I got. Mainly because of my association with De Danann, which opened many doors for me in Nashville because they thought that De Danann were unbelievable. It was always going to be a challenge in Nashville for a singer who didn’t sing country music, so having my De Danann association was hugely important for me,” Maura added.
Maura was 30 years in the music industry last month.
“On October 3, 1980 I did my first gig with De Danaan in New York. The years have gone by very fast. I look at it now in different blocks of my life. I feel I’ve been very blessed with my music career. I am still working quite a lot now but not as much as previously. I can pretty much choose what I do now, which is a wonderful place to be at.”
She is particularly satisfied at some of the collaborations she has done over the years.
“I’ve enjoyed them so much and learned from all of them. I loved working with Jerry Douglas. Jerry and I and a band and we did a tour last Christmas, also with John Hall, which was an interesting combination and it worked really well.”
Maura’s most recent album was Naked with Friends, an a capella record, featuring Dolly Parton, Alison Krauss, Kate Rusby, Paul Brady, Mary Black, Jerry Douglas, Tim O’Brien, Darrell Scott, Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Dugas, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Moya Brennan, Liam Bradley, Declan O’Rourke and her sister, Áine.
“For some reason it’s not easily available. But anyone who wants to buy it, it’s available on Amazon. It was the first a capella album I did. I had done a couple of a capella songs over the years but hadn’t brought out an a capella record. There are a lot of good songs out there and I really appreciate well-written songs. I’ve thought for a long time that if a song can be sung from beginning to end without accompaniment, it is a great song. It is the ultimate test of how good a song is. If the song can stand alone with no musical backing and still sound really good, then it is really good. It was in my head for years and years to do an a capella record. I’m very lucky that a lot of the people who performed on the album with me are magnificent singers,” Maura remarked.
Naked with Friends was released in June 2009 and it was nominated for a Grammy.
“I was hugely surprised that it was nominated for a Grammy because I didn’t think people would have much interest in it. I mainly did it because it was something I did myself but it turned out that many people loved it. I just wanted to capture the feeling of joy that comes from people singing together and I was hugely happy that other people got that feeling of joy from the record. To me, it didn’t matter that I didn’t actually win the Grammy, being nominated seriously was enough,” she added.
Maura has no new projects in the works at the moment. “I’ve been doing a good amount of gigs but for the next little while, I’ll be gathering my head together. I’m not an every year record maker. Usually, there are two or three years between my records. I feel it’s important to gather the right material. For a singer who isn’t a writer, it can take some time to find great songs.”
She continued, “There isn’t one particular song that I’ve recorded and performed that stands out for me as my favourite. When I’m working on an album I fall madly in love with a number of songs on that album. Songs are a bit like children; they are very individual and each one needs to be treated differently and minded. The obvious ones that I love and the crowds always love are Summerfly, Bright Blue Rose and lots more that everyone knows I sing and love. I couldn’t possibly choose one out of all of the songs I’ve performed and I guess a song may mean more to you at one point than it does at another.”