A window on the world

“I’m an anomaly,” says Maura O’Connell. “I live in Nashville and I don’t do country music. I’m Irish and I don’t sing traditional Irish songs. I’m not any particular style of a singer. I just pick the songs that I feel are good for me and I sing them whatever way best suits the song.”

On a fleeting visit to Dublin to promote Walls And Windows, her first album in five years Maura O’Connell ponders her place in the scheme of things. “I’m considered ‘Contemporary Folk’ in America, or at least I got nominated for a Grammy in that category. But I don’t mind what anyone calls me as long as they call me something.”

Her eighth solo album to date, Walls And Windows was produced by Ray Kennedy, best known for his work with Steve Earle and Lucinda Williams among others. Among the highlights are a stunning version of Van Morrison’s ‘Crazy Love’, a re-interpretation of Ron Sexsmith’s ‘Don’t Ask Why’ and several songs from the pen of the highly-rated Patty Griffin including the gorgeous ‘Poor Man’s House’.

Her long absence from the studio was, she says, necessary in order to re-evaluate her career.

“I really just needed to not be thinking about music for a while. So I took time off, played a few gigs here and there and changed record labels in the meantime. When I made the record I felt that I had been refreshed and that I could go anyplace that I wanted to go with the music. Not that this album is any kind of aberration from what I’ve done before.”

Ennis born O’Connell who started her professional career with De Dannan in 1980 before going solo two years later has now been living in Nashville for over 15 years.

“It seemed ridiculous to me I would ever live there,” she says. “I went because I wanted to go. I don’t think I would have lasted much longer in Ireland. To sell really well was only 20,000 records. You’d do the Olympia and the Cork Opera House and after that you were basically an opening act for a disco. My brain was shrivelling so it was an easy choice.

“The great thing was I didn’t want anything from Nashville and it didn’t want anything from me. I didn’t want to be a big country star. It was exciting to be around musicians like Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck and Mark O’Connor. They were creating music that transcended boundaries. I toured with them for about two years and then got my own band. I didn’t lose touch with Ireland I was still coming home to tour regularly. I had the best of both worlds.”

Apart from her successful solo career O’Connell has made her mark elsewhere in recent years. She appeared on the multi-million selling Grammy winning soundtrack to O Brother Where Art Thou, as she explains. “I’m one of the many voices on the song ‘Down To the River’. T-Bone Burnett called me up and asked me to do it. I was dying of a cold that day but it sounds fine and I can hear my voice clearly in there.”

She also appears in a forthcoming Martin Scorsese film, Gangs Of New York starring Cameron Diaz and Leonardo di Caprio which will be released this summer.

“That was an amazing experience,” she beams. “I was in Las Vegas doing a benefit gig and my husband called me and said ‘I’m not pulling your leg but Martin Scorsese wants you to go to Rome tomorrow to start filming. I really don’t know how he heard about me but he’s very involved in the music aspect of the film and he remembered some Irish singer in America in the 1960s. I sing an Irish-ish song which I’ve heard in different forms over the years. My teeth were blackened and my hair was very red and I was dirtied up for the part. There’s a possibility that another song I recorded will be featured in a love scene in the movie but I’ll have to wait ‘till it comes out.”

Maura O’Connell, not a country singer, not a traditional singer but quite possibly a future movie star!