ELEANOR McEVOY
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Friday, May 31
City Diggers
Tickets: 4228 8522
A regular visitor to our shores, Irish singer Eleanor McEvoy has good memories of her previous Australian tours. The abiding memories of her last visit, she says, are of our fruit and our wildlife.
"Your mangoes over there taste a way they never do anywhere else," McEvoy says.
"And I saw two kangaroos doing it, which left a lasting impression, I have to say!
"I tried to get the tour manager to stop the car so I could get a proper look, but she wasn't having any of it.
"Those are the big things that stick out in my mind."
She also has fond memories of Wollongong, she adds.
"I'm really looking forward to Diggers - there's a great vibe in that place, absolutely brilliant."
Charming, down-to-earth, and with a keen sense of humour, it's no wonder McEvoy is regarded as a national treasure in her homeland, where her album A Woman's Heart remains the best-selling Irish album in Irish history.
A classically trained musician, McEvoy has ranged freely across folk, pop, rock and jazz in her singing career.
She says her new album, If You Leave . . . , was influenced by the music of the 1960s.
"It's haunted a bit by the memory of Brian Jones, who was a founding member of the Rolling Stones," McEvoy says.
"He came up with the name, he came up with the musical direction he thought the Stones should go in.
"He was a very troubled character and killed himself, but I read a very interesting article on him in a magazine and it kept going through my head as I was writing the songs.
"Before I went into record, I was listening to a lot of Beach Boys, early Stones, Beatles, and I decided I wanted to record in that same way and that I wanted the album to be a little bit retro."
The album was recorded live, using vintage equipment where possible.
"Actually, I've always been a bit there [vintage] with regards to technology," she laughs.
"Almost everything I have done has been on two-inch tape, which is astonishing. This one wasn't, though. You just can't do it any more.
"And, of course, we recorded live. A lot of people put down the drums first and then the bass and then they do the vocals. Apart from taking forever, it's a very non-organic way to do things.
"We discuss what we want to do, we run through it and we say 'yes', 'no', 'maybe try this', and then we go 'right, let's record'.
"You maybe do each song three times and that's it, so it's thrilling and it's exciting. And as you're singing, you're thinking, 'this is the one people are going to listen to for the next 15 years'.
"It keeps you on your toes."
A second theme is Irish emigration.
"It's really sad. Twenty years ago when I toured in the States I'd get a lot of messages from parents who'd say, 'My son is living in Chicago. Can you do this song for him?' Or 'My niece is coming to see you in San Francisco, she's really missing home'," .
"I stopped getting those messages for about 15 years because Ireland was doing so well - "the Celtic tiger" - but we've just had this awful recession.
"Well, it's a depression, in fact. And we now have mass emigration again, and I'm getting those messages again.
"Before this tour I couldn't believe it - I have to sing songs for people when I'm playing in Sydney and Victoria, and that is kind of tragic."