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Megan O’Neill was incredibly busy at C2C 2019 with a number of sets, but she took time out of her schedule to speak with Maverick about how the weekend went for her and her new music How was C2C for you, Megan? Amazing. Oh my God, it was so great on every level.  C2C is always great to connect with other people and other artists in the industry – both from America and here in the UK – so that part of it has been really nice. The shows have gone down great too, so I can’t complain. The crowds were certainly very receptive to your sets, how was that for you? The crowds were amazing. It’s difficult to play new songs because you’re a bit scared of what the audience reaction is going to be, or whether they are going to like them and just generally how are they going to go down, but we played some new songs and they were the main things everyone was talking about, so that’s great. Two of those new songs were Rootless and Ireland – both of which went down well! Everyone’s response to Rootless was that it and Ireland were the two favourites and everyone’s saying that Rootless was still in their head the day after, so that’s amazing. It’s a really, really nice feeling and it makes me feel confident in putting out the new music. The new songs are part of a new album that you’re working on, how is that coming along? Yeah, great – I’m really excited about where it is going. I feel like the music is more mature than it’s ever been before and I’m really proud of it and really happy about it. It’s one of those things as an artist where you are like, ‘can I just put it out now? I want to play the new songs!’ It’s not that I’m sick of the old songs, but you just want to get the new stuff out. The first single should be out in about two months. When do you think we’ll get the full album? I think it will be a year away, it’s not finished yet. I want to do quite a few singles. I could do like five or six singles from it and just have that constant content coming out for a while, but I could get really impatient and just drop the whole thing by the end of the year! We will just have to wait and see. You’ve moved back to Ireland now, but what made you go back? It was a mix of very many things. There was some stuff going on personally for me that kind of made me feel like I needed to be back in Ireland, but also I’d lived in London for five years and America before then, so I’d been away for a very long time. I was just ready to breathe in that fresh air again and be surrounded by hills and rivers and I also wanted to have my own studio space, which I could never have in London. It’s been great on so many levels for me. Also, thank god for Ryan Air because I fly into London twice a month, so I do feel like I’ve got the best of both worlds.  

American singer-songwriter Madeleine Peyroux has been announced for two festivals this summer, both of which coincide with her upcoming UK tour. Peyroux will be performing at both the Cheltenham Jazz Festival on May 5 and Love Supreme Festival in Lewes on July 7, with the two appearances allowing Peyroux to further extend the UK leg of her spell on the road. The singer-songwriter – who is a very versatile artist and has dipped into jazz, blues and country across her career – will be playing songs from her latest record ‘Anthem’, which was released in August 2018. Madeleine Peyroux will be playing: May 4 – St Mary’s Church, Rye, England May 5 – Cheltenham Jazz Festival, Cheltenham, England May 6 – St George’s, Bristol, England July 7 – Love Supreme Festival, Lewes, England July 8 – Sage, Gateshead, England

Charlie Dore and Julian Littman Twickfolk, The Cabbage Patch Pub, London 24th February 2019 Charlie Dore and Julian Littman have played music and written songs together since they met at the Arts Educational School in London in the early 1970s. Their biggest commercial success was in 1979 with Pilot of the Airwaves, a bigger hit in the USA (No.13) and Canada (No. 5) than in the UK where it gained considerable airplay but lingered in the mid ’60s as regards chart position. Dore has also produced hits for a number of other successful artists including Lisa Stansfield, UB40, Paul Carrack, Status Quo and Celine Dion. Their Twickfolk appearance drew a large crowd for the duo’s 14-song set on a cool late February evening at the Cabbage Patch pub. They chose to play from the eight albums they have worked on together since ‘Where to Now’ launched Dore’s career in 1979. As well as fine songwriters, they have a wide range of instruments on stage at their disposal, including guitar, mandolin, ukulele, electric piano and harmonium. Dore and Littman started the gig with Firewater, a song from her 2014 album, ‘Milk Roulette’, describing the burning emotion of a love on the verge of losing control. A strong opener, Dore provided acoustic guitar accompaniment to her own lead vocals with Littman playing harmonium and singing backing vocals. Liontamer, from 2011’s ’Cheapskate Lullabyes’, relates the tale of someone searching for love and needing the confidence of a strong helping hand, with incisive lyrics such as “Need a soul mate, not a cell mate/Want a soothsayer, need a guardian/I was thinking that you might apply.” Dore’s current album, ‘Dark Matter’ is partly based on scientific conundrums, picked up through regular reading of her partner’s ‘New Scientist’ magazine. The opening track, Breakfast of Neutrinos, begins autobiographically as Dore confesses her childhood disinterest in school science lessons, “In 1969 I slept all through my science class, dreaming of the summer and the boy who cut the grass.” Through the perceived dullness, Dore hung on to one word, A neutrino is a tiny particle that passes through us without ever interacting. Dore built a love song based on this principle. With Littman on ukulele and Dore on guitar, she lightly prefaced the song with “It does sound a bit like some kind of breakfast cereal!” Nothing To Be Scared Of, another song from 2017’s ‘Dark Matter’, is a gentle song fantasy about death and immortality where Dore confesses she would like to live indefinitely and not die. The melody is delicate with Littman again on harmonium and Dore accompanying her vocals on electric piano. The theme continues with Personal Hell, a mid-tempo piece that explores the unusual idea that before you die you have to watch back a film of your life in real time, potentially a tough call! The dark themes here are mollified by sharply intelligent lyrics and beautiful melodies. After the interval, the duo changed direction with a humorous Italian-styled folk tune, Cleaning Up My House. An eccentric and comic courtship is outlined in the gentle tale of Dennis and Rose, a story of a painfully shy man who visits and buys from a greetings card shop, to get close to his much-admired shop assistant.Fortunately, it’s a tale with a happy ending! Maximum Bob is very different. Based on an Elmore Leonard crime novel, it features a crooked lawman and the equally inept crooks out to get him. Dore plays harmonium and Littman is on electric mandolin for this, the final song from their main set. By way of encore, they couldn’t leave the highly enthusiastic Twickenham audience without playing their eternally popular and chart making hit, Pilot of the Airwaves. The chorus was taken up with gusto by the Twickfolk crowd, who were word perfect. This was a very fine concert of lyrically astute songs, great tunes and multi-faceted musicianship. ‘Dark Matter’, their latest album, shows that Dore and Littman have lost none of their skills at creating memorable music. Simon Beards

Patty Griffin PATTY GRIFFIN Thirty Tigers ***** Guiding listeners with warm imagery and human emotion The loveable and free-spirited Patty Griffin has released her highly anticipated album and delivers pure gold. Her fiery, rustic vocals are empowering and soulful – she guides listeners with warm imagery and human emotion and gives a sense of home and comfort. Griffin’s powerful track River is a definite highlight as she provokes liberation with a sense of pride and compassion with simple, sombre chords underneath haunting vocals. Additionally, Luminous Placesis full of luscious images as well as striking piano chords that are sure to tug on heart strings. Griffin’s dynamic, wide-ranging canon is poignant and whimsical. She brings a new level of country diversity with a real sense of charm and produces an echo of Stevie Nicks with her dream-like sound. Very nostalgic and extremely moving as it was written during a personal crisis in her life, Griffin has shaped a musical miracle from a tragic experience and does this with sincerity and grace. Effortlessly indulgent to listen to – Patty Griffin’s latest album is truly masterful. Zoe Deighton-Smythe www.pattygriffin.com

Dale Watson CALL ME LUCKY Compass Records **** One for the traditionalists  For 30 years now, Dale Watson has been in and around the country music scene and his latest offering, ‘Call Me Lucky’, is one that will certainly appease his legion of fans that he’s collected along the way. Very much inspired by the more traditional elements of country, Watson covers a lot of ground with this release ranging from honky tonk to straight up country to rockabilly. The core subject for the album is Watson’s affection for his girlfriend – and singer – Celine Lee and the majority of the tracks are under three minutes, making for a very quickfire listen. Tracks like Restless and Johnny And June are sure to go down very well amongst his fans and while there isn’t a great deal here for fans of newer country/country pop, those who are purists will be lapping this up from both a lyrical and an instrumental point of view. Rob Ramsey www.dalewatson.com  

Danni Nicholls THE MELTED MORNING Self-released ***** “An incredibly well-crafted album with depth and originality for each composition” Danni Nicholls is renowned for her grace and elegance in music and ‘The Melted Morning’ epitomises this beautiful style on a whole new level. An incredibly well-crafted album with depth and originality for each composition, Nicholls is delicate in delivery but fierce in spirit. Her vocals are similar to the talents of k.d. lang and Linda Ronstadt – equally gorgeous artists that provide poetry behind their buoyant vocals. With her echoing voice whimsically moving around each track, her imagery remains firmly planted within the world of Americana while also providing profundity in her outlook on love, fear and the power of human connection. Nicholls has written a stunning piece of work that does a remarkable job of merging light with dark. From a soothing but upbeat performance in Losing It to a passionate and poignant rendition in Unwanted, Nicholls captures the classic trope of country music by exposing real-life experiences and the complexities of human emotion and makes it into something wonderfully timeless. A really stunning piece of musical work – Danni Nicholls is an artist full of soul and wisdom. Zoe Deighton-Smythe www.danninicholls.com

The Long Road Festival have announced their second edition in emphatic style after revealing that Kip Moore and Josh Turner will be headlining. The three-day event, which runs from September 6-8, will mark the first ever time that Turner has played on UK soil and he will be closing the festival on the Sunday. Moore, who is very much at the forefront of the genre, will be headlining the Saturday. In addition to Moore and Turner in the first wave announcements, Asleep At The Wheel will be making their first full-band appearance in the UK for over a decade, while LANCO, Morgan Evans, Lainey Wilson, The Steel Woods and Rhiannon Giddens will also be appearing. There are a number of upcoming UK country and Americana artists on the bill as well, including the likes of Liv Austen, Katy Hurt, Jake Morrell and CoCo and The Butterfields. Tickets start at £40 for the day, £90 for a no camping weekend pass and £110 for a camping weekend pass. These can be purchased via The Long Road Festival website. The lineup so far is: Rhinestone County  Kip Moore Josh Turner LANCO Morgan Evans Eric Paslay Thompson Square Lainey Wilson Jaime Wyatt Liv Austen Crossroad County  Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi Asleep at the Wheel John Paul White Sam Outlaw The Steel Woods Sunny Ozell CoCo and The Butterfields The Cactus Blossoms Katy Hurt Matt the Electrician Leslie Stevens The Hanging Stars Robert Chaney Peter Bruntnell Fair Country  Charlie Crockett Sam Lewis Ags Connolly Jake Morrell Amy Speace

Fresh from another hugely successful weekend in the UK, Country to Country (C2C) have announced the dates for their eighth festival, which will be held between March 13-15. Keith Urban, Lady Antebellum and Chris Stapleton headlined the 2019 edition of the festival, which took place at London’s O2 Arena, Glasgow’s SSE Hydro Arena and Dublin’s 3Arena. No names have been revealed as of yet and won’t be for some time, but early bird tickets will be available for purchase at 10am on March 15. 2019’s edition of C2C saw over 70,000 country music fans flock to the three cities, further proving that the UK’s affection for country music is growing at a rapid pace. Tickets will be available from AXS, Ticketmaster and Gigs and Tours.