Second chance saloon

13 years between albums is not unusual these days, especially when it comes to industry veterans like Brian Wilson and The Who.

For a mere 25-year-old however, such an extended gap seems almost unbelievable. But Wicklow singer-songwriter Luan Parle, who this month releases Free, her major label debut, recorded her first album when she was just 12 years of age.
“It is hard to believe it was so long ago,” she laughs, sitting in the Dublin offices of her record company Sony/BMG. “I was on The Late Late Toy Show when I was 11. Pat Kenny saw me and asked would I do something on Kenny Live. After that I got a phone call from Anam records and recorded an album.”
Unusually for a young Irish singer at the time, the album, First Impressions, was country-oriented, which she says was always part of her musical upbringing.
“Country was always on in the house so I tended to lean towards it,” she expands. “Everything from Dolly Parton to The Eagles and The Judds as well as bluegrass artists like Alison Krauss and even Sheryl Crow who I’d consider to be country in some ways.”
News about the precocious young singer soon reached Nashville and the record companies flew to Ireland to sign her up.
“Myself and my dad met them in the Killiney Court Hotel,” she says of her would-be child star days. “They told me it was all going to be great and that I’d have a private tutor and all the clothes I wanted. I can remember them saying, ‘Do you like Wrangler?’ I thought, ‘Jesus this is brilliant, free jeans and jackets’. I was saying to my dad in the car on the way home how brilliant it was going to be. But I got home and it was serious discussion time. My dad had his own business and my mam was looking after the four of us. Someone would have had to go over to the States with me, so they said ‘no’ and I went back to school. Just after that LeAnne Rimes came out and she was twelve as well. I did think at the time that it could have been me.”
Meanwhile, she kept up with her singing and writing, forming a band with two of her brothers, performing in pubs, clubs, and at weddings and parties. After finishing school, she decided to pursue her dream of a music career with the full support of her parents.
“I recorded a demo and basically got a copy of the Hot Press Yearbook, sent it out to every record company and DJ I could find,” she reveals. “I thought it would be easy but I got lots of doors slammed in my face. I’d hound people, ringing up asking if they’d listened to the demo. I wasn’t getting anywhere and then Stuart Clark did a piece in Hot Press and Eddie Rowley did another in The Sunday World. Hugh Murray from Sony read about me, asked to hear the demo and signed me up. That was four years ago and the album is only coming out now.”
Since then she’s toured with James Blunt, opened for Elton John and collaborated with writers and producers of the calibre of Diane Warren, Billy Steinberg, Stephen Lironi (Bon Jovi, Black Grape) and Bill Bottrell (Sheryl Crow). With songs like the ‘Corporate Culture’, a polemic against reality TV, and the mid-tempo ballad ‘Failed Romances’ Free is a glossy blend of contemporary country rock and pop, falling somewhere between LeeAnn Rimes, Shania Twain and Stevie Nicks. With her stunning looks and obvious talent Parle could well be the next big star to emerge from this country. Mindful of her past experiences she remains cautious, however.
“This is probably my last shot,” she ventures. “I’m very excited and very nervous as to how it’s going to go – obviously we hope for the best. We have the tour in November which I can’t wait to do. It starts in the UK and then Ireland and the plan is to go to America.”
Finally how does she feel about that first album recorded all those years ago?
“I went through this stage of denial where I wouldn’t listen to it. But now I look back on it and I’m quite proud of it.”