It’s been a good year for Maura O’Connell. In addition to releasing her third solo album, “A Real Life Story,” her tours are doing well. But significantly for Maura, she was also nominated for a Grammy and whatever you make of the Grammys the Oscars of the music business—her nomination is an accolade she treasures.
“When I was nominated, I was just flabbergasted,” she recalls. “Of course, I knew there was no way I was going 1o win it. “The singer from the west coast of Ireland felt her name and work were not familiar enough to voters for her to take the award. “Name-factor recognition,” she adds, surprisingly fluent in Grammyspeak.
“But ten minutes before the announcement,” she continues, “I started to get nervous! And then I said, ‘Oh my God, if I win, what am I going to do?’ I was in a panic!”
Ten perspiring minutes later the award went to Shawn Colvin. “I ended up, like, getting excited and getting disappointed, even though I was annoyed with myself for both of those reactions, y’know?” But even though she didn’t win the Grammy, something else happened at Radio City Music Hall in New York that was worth as much to her as any award.
“I’ve been a fan of Bonnie Raitt’s forever,” she relates. “She’s been my ultimate for years and when we met at the nomination party, she told me that she had voted for me. Now for me, that’s suc-cess—it doesn’t come much better.”
It might seem Maura O’Connell is watching her own progress from the outside.
And her success surprises her, even though she will tell you she’s been on the circuit for eleven years. She laughs at the oft-written story of how it all began in 1980, when the phone rang in the chip shop in Galway, where she was working. Irish traditional group De Dannan was about to embark on a tour of the U.S. They knew she sang well. They needed another female singer. Would she join them?
“My initial reaction was no, and then I said yes. And I was just thinking about it the other week. There are times I’ve cursed that phone call because I found when things go wrong I say to myself, ‘Here I am in this business and I didn’t even want to be in it in the first place!’ It hasn’t been an easy road. There are times when I’ve questioned the decisions I made on different levels, but I’m grateful to De Dannan for making me do it.”
And the high points have made her even more appreciative.
“On my way to the Grammys I passed by the Town Hall, where we played in 1980, and I remembered how Thad not wanted to come. And then there I was, walking behind B.B. King on my way in to the awards. It really is …” she pauses, delighting in the happy truth, “I’m from County Clare and I can’t help being impressed or thinking that I’ve come further than I ever expected to. I’m big enough of a kid to be excited by it- I’m thrilled! I’m not cool enough to be deadened by any of this stuff yet.” O’Connell left De Dannan after a few years and struck out on her own, ever resisting attempts to categorize her singing as country, folk or traditional.
“After I did a recording in Nashville in 1983, I didn’t want anyone to think I was a country singer; so I went off and got a big ole electric band and dyed my hair blue.”
O’Connell liked Nashville and returned in 1986 to record “Just in Time.” And then she made the Tennessee city her home.
She finds it “a friendly place” and feels comfortable with the music community there.
“I like their freedom of expression. They use the same musical background I am from but they aren’t bound by it. It’s like forgetting what everyone thinks we are and just making music. I enjoy that. If the musicians are good, and have enough interest in the same kind of music, then it’s going to gel no matter where they come from. In 1986 it was very invigorating, very exciting, for me to do that.”
“It’s like having a normal job in other parts of the world, y’know, being a musician in Nashville. There’s no great grandeur to it—you get real people who are friends and I like it.”
And then there’s that question about category again. “Being an Irish singer living in Nashville is probably as tough as it gets, y’know, because they think you are either country or traditional. And it’s like, well, ‘I’m a singer.'”
As a performer, playing “live” means everything to her. The northeast is her strongest touring region, particularly around Boston. “It’s nice to play for people who know what you’re doing. It’s also nice to go to places where they don’t know you and then have them react to you.
“When you can honestly feel something coming from an audience, without getting graphic, there’s not much else on earth that could make you feel that way. I’m absolutely invigorated. Unbelievably so. I could walk on water. I truly, truly love to sing.” She means it.
It’s been a tough but progressive eleven years but the singer disclaims any notion of “a cohesive master plan.” “A Real Life Story,” the follow up to “Helpless Heart,” is a refreshing compilation of styles, a mix which gives O’Connell a chance to express her powerful vocal range. Produced by Greg Penny—who has worked with k.d. Lang and Rickie Lee Jones—it was recorded in Los Angeles with a bunch of the finest session players.
Considering the album, the artist speaks like a pre-fight boxer. “I feel good about it. I feel strong. I feel it has a good chance at something or other—I don’tknow what,” she laughs. “But it’s been hard for me over the last two years when people ask me about, y’know, ‘How do you feel about your records?’ I mean, I make the records because I like making music and hearing the songs and putting them down. But,” she adds, “I’m very proud of the record, musically.”
So for the singer who loves to sing, does she ever feel the pinch of commercial pressure? “I do, of course,” she replies, “just because people ask me these questions!” The Clare girl giggles; the singer composes herself.
“Warner Brothers have paid a whole lot of money to make this record. The pressure is there. It’s not so much to make a whole lot of money, y’know, I mean, I want it to pay for itself because otherwise they wouldn’t let me make another one.” At the time of writing, sales of “A Real Life Story” have already surpassed “Helpless Heart.” And if that pleases Warner Brothers Records in Nashville, it will obviously please the artist.
Sometimes her fans are surprised to learn that none of Maura O’Connell’s material is her own. “I’ve tried to write,” she confesses, “but I’ve never come up with anything worthy of my singing it! People automatically assume that if you can sing you can write. Well, believe me, there’s an awful lot of bad songs out there because of that.
“There’s an art to singing and that is what I try to do. That is what I am. I’m not a songwriter, I’m not a dancer. I’m a singer. I put enough of myself into it and that’s all I can do.”
Editor’s Note: This article was originally published in the June 1991 issue of Irish America. ♦
Leave a Reply