Going down a country road

It looks innocuous enough. Track five on Jennifer Clarke’s eponymous debut album is simply called ‘Lee’. You might even expect it to be a tribute to the river that flows through her native city. Not so. As Clarke explains, “That song was inspired by a book I read about serial killers. It was a factual book called Talking With Serial Killers. But I love murder mysteries as well, and I’m fascinated by human psychology and the way people’s minds work”.

Indeed, Clarke admits that virtually all the songs on that album started with some spark from real life, although it might then get embroidered as her imagination adds its tuppenceworth.
With tracks like ‘Shine’ and ‘Sins Out Of Me’ the album neatly blends rock and pop sensibilities with touches of country, and Clarke has been listed among the top 10 Irish country acts on MySpace.
“My album isn’t a country album as such, but I think as of now I’ll probably go down the country route. I love Alison Krauss and Carrie Underwood who’s probably the only reality TV winner I really like. I listen a lot to Tim McGraw and Keith Urban and I liked KT Tunstall’s first album. I’m also a big fan of Rascal Flatts who are a new country act. I like a song that tells a good yarn, and you get a lot of that in country songs,” she maintains.
She’s heading off to Nashville soon to write songs with some of the country capital’s finest.
“My manager has set me up with two songwriters. One of them is Victoria Shaw and between them they’ve had loads of number one country hits by the likes of Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood and the Dixie Chicks. I like writing songs with other writers if the chemistry’s there, so I’m really looking forward to that experience and seeing what comes out of it”.
So is she a big fan of reality TV?
“No I’m not. I actually entered the first You’re A Star competition when I was about 17 and got as far as the third round.”
So it looks likes she’s done far better than any of the winners. Prior to that she’d entered a song competition on 2fm and came second with 34,000 votes.
“That was a great boost. Getting that kind of response proved that people enjoyed my singing and it inspired me to stick at it and I just got out there and worked at it”, she enthuses.
A graduate of Cork’s esteemed Coláiste Stiofáin Naofa, Clarke believes the music management course she did there was a huge help.
“The lecturers are people with a good handle on the realistic workings of the music business, and it taught me the basics of the industry that has been a great asset in my solo career. Chris Ahern has also been a huge influence. I learned that you have to keep talking yourself up and you have to hustle a lot, especially at the start. I find that hard as I don’t like to brag. It’s not in my nature. I don’t mind stating facts, but I also know that complete modesty wouldn’t work in the music business either. For me, doing, rather than talking, is the way to go,” she says.
Touring with Michael Bolton was another milestone on her learning curve.
“I was really impressed by how professional and efficient everybody was on the tour. There was no messing about. There was a great sense of family, and the crew and musicians were all great buddies, but that didn’t interfere with them doing their jobs. Michael Bolton himself spoke to me a few times and he was really nice to me and said he liked what he’d heard me sing,” she recalls.
He’s not the only one. Clarke’s been signed by American music impresario Mike Maska whose roster includes Joe Jackson. For her debut album she attracted the production skills of Bruce Brody (of Patti Smith and U2 Elevation tour fame) and musicians of the calibre of guitarist Gus Isidore (Phil Lynott, Peter Gabriel) and bassist Nick Seymour of Crowded House.
In an era when even established Irish artists struggle for airtime, Clarke’s debut single ‘Right Back At The Start’, produced by Declan Sinnott, and co-written by Jennifer and Ahern, was playlisted by more than 20 radio stations around the country and received rave reviews from Hot Press among others. So how does she feel about the recent controversy where some radio stations want to treat artists like REM and Kylie as Irish because they’ve made albums in Ireland?
“They’re obviously not Irish artists. If that was the case, anybody at all could come into the country and make an album here and be guaranteed to get it played.”
There’s no arguing with that.

Jennifer Clarke’s single ‘Closer’ is available now on downloadmusic.ie or by texting “music 680” to 5750. Her self-titled debut album is out now on JMC Music.