When Irish folk singer Heidi Talbot was a young girl, she loved to sing.
But she was so shy, she would only let her aunts, uncles, grans and grandads listen if they sat outside the door.
Now, as she prepares for a UK tour that brings her to Perth Theatre on March 11, she can’t wait to get out on the road for her first solo tour in five years, as she promotes her new album Sing It For A Lifetime.
The album features Mark Knopfler, Dirk Powell and Guy Fletcher to name a few.
Who’ll be on the tour?
Joining Heidi on her UK tour will be Ian Carr on guitar, Jennifer Austin on piano and Toby Shaer on fiddle, whistles and cittern.
“Perth is one of the first – the third gig of the tour,” she says.
“There’s something really lovely at the beginning of a tour when you are still finding your feet, the songs are taking on a different life.
“It’s so different to perform a song in a live setting rather than in a studio.
“It almost becomes its own entity when you start to sing something or perform it live.
“And in those first few gigs you find everyone is running on an energy – ‘let’s try this’, or ‘that might stick’.
“Everybody is on their toes.
“It’s a really lovely feeling. Everyone is feeding off each other and also the audience as well.
“It’s been too long with all the cancellations, the pandemic and things being rescheduled.
“It’s great to finally think it’s actually going to happen this time!”
Getting into music
Born and raised in County Kildare, Ireland, Heidi became a folk star in the USA as a member of the Irish American band Cherish the Ladies, and now lives in Edinburgh.
Over the past 20 years she has performed all over North and South America, the UK, Ireland, Europe, Scandinavia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand performing in the finest concert halls and international festivals.
She is equally at home in front of a symphony orchestra, a performing arts centre, a folk festival or even at the White House.
However, the multi-award nominated singer-songwriter who has worked with everyone from Blur’s Graham Coxon to Fife’s King Creosote, reveals that if her careers advisor had their way, she’d probably never have pursued music.
“I grew up in a really big family – I was in the middle of nine kids,” she says.
“I was listening to a lot of what my brothers and sisters were listening to.
“It was a real broad choice of music between Blondie and Guns N Roses and Iron Maiden to like my mum and dad listening to Johnny Cash and The Fureys, Mary Black.
“But I always leaned back towards the folk music.
“I think because I felt like I could sing along to it and it didn’t sound stupid!” she laughs.”
No ‘grand plan’
Heidi “didn’t have a grand plan”, but she knew music was what she want to do.
After unsuccessfully trying to get four older siblings into music, Heidi’s mum, who played the piano and sang, got Heidi piano, accordion and guitar lessons after realising she was keen.
Heidi was 13 when she got her first gig in a local pub.
Getting £20 for the hour seemed like a lot of money!
From there, she started getting other gigs.
Yet at a high school careers night, the talented then teenager remembers being told singing was fine as a “hobby” but was “not practical” as a career.
After failing to get into a music course at college, Heidi decided to take a year-out and travelled to New York for the summer.
While she was there she met the girls from Cherish the Ladies, joined the band, and toured the world with them for seven years.
Relationship with Scotland
Heidi listened to a lot of Scottish music growing up.
Having now lived in Scotland since 2007, and with her two children born here, she feels very much at home.
She’s also enjoyed the opportunity to do collaborations.
“I loved working with King Creosote,” she says.
“We met a couple of times. We’ve written together. I sent him a melody for a song called Button Up that we wrote together.
“He read it so well and sent me back the lyrics. We did it as a duet. I love him. He’s so authentic.
“The lyrics I would have wrote would have been completely different to what he did and where he was coming from with it.
“If you are willing to work with someone you like them and you like what they do.
“I just think you can’t really go wrong.
“It’s a massive part of it.
“And also it keeps everything fresh, it keeps things interesting.
“If you are working with someone else you respect, you want to impress them too.
I think everything improves and just becomes more.”
How to get tickets for Perth Theatre
*Heidi Talbot plays Perth Theatre on March 11.
Conversation