Music journalist Steve Roby interviewed Grammy award-winning singer Aoife O’Donovan for KGNU radio. She discussed her new single “Daughters,” from the forthcoming album All My Friends, inspired by the 19th Amendment, and her upcoming tour with Hawktail. She shared the album’s message of womanhood and civic engagement and expressed excitement for her Denver show at Gates Concert Hall on Saturday, March 30th.
Aoife O’Donovan is our guest today, and we’ll discuss her new album and Denver concert, but first, let’s listen to a sample of the new single, “Daughters.”
Welcome to KGNU, Aoife, and thank you so much for being here.
Thank you so much for having me, Steve.
I also want to wish you a happy Women’s History Month.
Yes, what a great month! What a wonderful time for all these stories of our foremothers. Is that even a term? Foremothers?
It is now! [both laugh] Let’s dive into the new album. I understand the project came about when the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra commissioned you to write songs inspired by the 19th Amendment, which granted women the right to vote. Can you elaborate on how the album evolved from there?
Yes. It started with five songs written as a song cycle to be performed with the Orlando Phil. I subsequently performed them in New York with The Knights, at Wolf Trap, with The Knights, and then with the Cincinnati Pops that same year. This was all in 2021. When I finished doing these orchestral performances and sat with the music for about eight or ten months, I realized there was more to say and bring the project to completion.
I went back into the writing room and wrote several more songs, thanks to a generous commission from the Fresh Grass Festival up in Massachusetts, and was able to perform the entire piece in its entirety this past year and get the whole thing recorded, and that’s what you hear on All My Friends.
You described the new album as a meditation on womanhood, motherhood, and how they relate to today’s struggles. What do you want listeners to take away after hearing your new recording?
The new record is heavily inspired by the events leading up to the passage of the 19th Amendment, the marching into Tennessee to get the final ratification they needed. The speeches and letters that, specifically, one woman, Carrie Chapman Catt, gave and wrote. There’s a Woodrow Wilson letter in there; Woodrow Wilson was surprisingly very pro-suffrage, helping women get the right to vote, which is interesting because he’s a complicated historical figure, as we know, and there’s a lot to unpack.
My favorite thing about this album is its relationship with my collaborators. There’s beautiful orchestration by my friend, Tanner Porter. The Knights Chamber Orchestra plays strings and woodwinds. The Westerly is an incredible brass quartet. They provide all the brass. The San Francisco Girls Chorus takes it to another level.
It was really important for me to have young women singing alongside me. I think it drives the point home that the circle of life is the circle of remembering who came before you and who will come next. And there’s just a lot of beautiful moments.
I played the single “Daughters” at the top of this interview, which featured the San Francisco Girls Chorus. What was it like working with them?
I love Valérie Sainte-Agathe! She is the conductor and the artistic director of the SF Girls Chorus. And she’s just so game and really believes in music-making. I think for the sake of music-making, she’s a real artist. And the girls in that chorus take it so seriously.
Such professionals, even though they’re obviously, you know, high school students and middle school students. When I approached Valerie with this project and sent her the music, she was immediately in, and they were so prepared. I unfortunately wasn’t there for their recording, but I immediately heard their tracks.
They were sent to us, and my engineer, Darren Schneider, and I were blown away as we folded in their harmonies and their parts. We sent them the score and all the music, and they just nailed it.
They sound wonderful, by the way. I was blown away, too.
Thanks!
It was really important for me to have young women singing alongside me. I think it drives the point home that the circle of life is the circle of remembering who came before you and who will come next. – Aoife O’Donovan
I want to play a snippet of the newer single, “Over The Finish Line.” The song’s opening line goes, “The power is ours, but we’d rather stare at our phones.” How difficult is getting a message like this across to younger folks?
I don’t even know if the younger folks are staring at their phones as much as the older folks. I feel like we’re just living in strange times. As I also sing in my new single, “Over the Finish Line,” we’re living in hard times. I think it’s really easy for people to be, I don’t know, just stuck in front of a screen, um, complaining in a feedback loop, only receiving the information that they are somehow being fed via the algorithm, and I dealt with a lot of these themes on my last record, Age of Apathy. Still, this song really goes back to what Carrie Chapman Catt was saying, you know, and I quote her in the song, and she sings. In one of her speeches, she says, “What is this democracy?”
“What is this democracy for which the world is battling?” We offer up our manpower, womanpower, and money power. You have to stop and think, What is this country? What are we doing? How are we going to achieve what we want to achieve? So, I think that this record is a call to action to really, you know, remember your civic duty.
To show up, get involved, and vote, and, you know, it isn’t partisan. I’m not saying vote this way or don’t vote this way, but I think it’s just people; people need to stop and think about what they want this world to be like for their children.
Absolutely. That’s a great message. Well, let’s listen to a bit of the song right now.
Aoife, what can fans look forward to at your upcoming concert in Denver with Hawktail at Gates Hall?
I’m so excited to be returning to Denver. I was doing my Nebraska tour at the Boulder Theater this past winter, so returning to Denver will be very special. My brother lives in Denver. I can’t wait to play with Hawktail. We’ve got some really exciting sets of music cooked up for you.
We’ll be doing sort of acoustic versions of all the songs on my new record, and Hawktail is an incredibly high-energy instrumental band. Brittany Haas, people might remember, was The fiddle player in Crooked Still, my band. We played together a lot. She’s now in Punch Brothers with Paul Kowert, who is also a Hawktail member.
Just real virtuosic instrumental ability. Jordan Tice is an incredible guitarist and a great singer himself. There’ll be some great harmonies, and it’ll be just a really fun night of music!
That sounds wonderful, Aoife. Thanks so much for stopping by KGNU. Will you come back and visit us real soon?
I absolutely will. I look forward to it.
Thank you for your time.
Thank you!
Show Info
Event: Aoife O’Donovan & Hawktail
Where: Newman Center for the Performing Arts, 2344 E. ILIFF AVE., DENVER
When: Saturday, March 30
Showtime: 7:30 p.m.
More info: 303-871-7720 or https://newmancenterpresents.com/node/7031
