Meet Muireann Bradley, the Donegal singer giving folk and blues a modern touch
With a new EP adding original material to her canon of cover versions, Bradley is a torchbearer for the future of blues and folk
Over the past few years, Donegal singer Muireann Bradley has become a shining light of a new generation of blues and folk. With a piercing voice and unique arrangements of genre classics, she approaches her source material with both reverence and experimentation.
In October, she will release new EP Blackwood Pew, which mixes covers of the likes of Tom Waits and Daniel Johnston with three original tracks.
“I’d never really heard of Daniel Johnston,” she says of the late songwriter, whose timeless 1984 track ‘True Love Will Find You in the End’ is bent into fascinating new shapes by Bradley on the EP. “Somebody put me onto him, and I just really loved the song. It’s so emotional, and quite sad. Even though there’s not much structure to [his] songs – they’re kind of messy –there’s just something really special there.”
Read our Play Next interview with Muireann Bradley and listen to her music via our Play Next playlist on Spotify below.
The new EP sees you co-writing with others on original tracks after making your name with covers – how has that process been?
Before that, I’d just written together with my dad. I know [co-writer] Declan [Gaffney] well and we trusted him. I got on really well with Ella [Walker]. She’s really nice, and we clicked. When it came to writing, and I think that reflects the songs as well.
What did she bring to the songs?
A lot of them divert from the blues, which is what I have always done. A lot of them will be a lot more bluesy if it was just me writing them, but some of [these songs] are a bit less bluesy and a bit more folky.
Did you always know you eventually wanted to write original material?
I definitely didn’t know, it was just gonna happen naturally. Lyric writing is the hardest part for me, and I’m still learning how to write my own songs. It’s sort of like playing the guitar, I guess. You have to learn to do it and practice it, and I’m definitely still learning.
How are you seeing your lyrical style develop and come into focus through these songs you’re writing?
I’m still finding my own style of writing. I’ve only really just started – I’ve written, like, four songs! I’m still learning how to do it properly. The three [original] songs are on the EP, they’re all pretty different. One of them is a quite bluesy song, and it’s influenced by Robert Johnson. None of them are very personal to me – I mean, I’m only 19. I haven’t lived much!
How did you choose which covers would appear on the EP alongside your originals?
I didn’t think too much about what the covers were going to be, I just popped down the ones that I thought I liked the best. I had arrangements for a few different covers, and I really liked the Daniel Johnston song. There’s not much structure to it, so we had to come up with t my own arrangement of it and add some different chords and change the melody a little bit. I also love Tom Waits, and of course I wanted to keep an old blues [song] in there as well for the people that bought my records originally. My first record was just purely blues, so obviously I wanted to put an old blues song in there.
Have you noticed a change in the demographic of fans at your gigs since you started? It seems like a lot of younger music fans are craving the authenticity and old-school attitude of folk and blues…
Last night I played a gig at the MOTH Club in London and there was a lot more young people at it, and I was really surprised. There were a couple people in their early 20s that came up to me and they’re really passionate about it. They’re talking to me about people like Doc Watson, and I never met somebody that young that even knew who he was! It was really fun to see people my own age getting into this music as well.
Was getting into this music as a kid quite a lonely pursuit within your friendship group?
Yeah, I was definitely quite alone! My friends were all listening to pop and stuff, Taylor Swift. It was just me and my dad. My dad was only person for ages that I knew that was into the same kind of music as me. I am seeing a lot more young people get into this type of music though, which is so good to see.