Pauline Scanlon's musical journey has taken her from Dingle to Nashville and back, but she hasn't left her traditional roots, she tells Brian O'Connell
It's 8.27pm in the lounge of the Antrim Arms in Ballycastle. Outside, the main street is deserted save for three local youths returning from a county final.
Inside, Pauline Scanlon sits nervously on a tattered lime-green couch. Over her head hangs an encased 1836 Winchester rifle, six bullets and a "Guinness is good for you" mirror.
The headline act of the Fairhead Folk Festival is wondering if anyone will show.
"It's amazing, no matter how many times I do this I still get butterflies," she says, adding that the seven-hour drive from Dingle was less than ideal preparation. A large brandy and port helps her relax.
Her partner, guitarist Donogh Hennessy, gets another round in and checks his watch.
Three minutes.
Pauline borrows a sheet of paper and scribbles down a set-list. She can't think straight. Hennessy helps out: "We'll try that one if we get an encore."
One minute.
She heads for the bathroom and some last minute vocal exercising. Festival organiser Michael Sands takes the stage.
"Ladies and gentlemen, with one of the finest new voices in traditional Irish music, please welcome Pauline . . ." Scanlon brushes past.
8.30pm.
Showtime.
Three weeks earlier and it was a slightly different setting. The pair were in Nashville recording Scanlon's second album, due out in August. In the studio were some of the greatest session musicians working in the US. People like Danny Thompson, known for his work with John Martyn and Nick Drake; songwriter Daryl Scott, who has penned hits for The Dixie Chicks and Garth Brooks; and drummer Kenny Malone, who has provided the beat for scores of number one hits.
It was a far cry from John Benny's Bar in Dingle, where Scanlon first discovered a talent for public performance.
"I must have been about 12 or 13, and happened to be in the bar with my parents when someone asked me to sing," says Scanlon. "Up to that point I hadn't sung in public. I think I sang Raglan Road. Afterwards a man called Tony Smalls came up to me and asked if I wanted to call over to his house some evening. So I did, and he taught me a whole range of songs. We began gigging together locally and it all started from there really."
Since then Scanlon has served her time as a vocalist with Sharon Shannon, been nominated for a Meteor Award in 2004 and received critical acclaim for her debut album, Red Colour Sun. What sets her apart from her contemporaries is her ability to sound at once traditional and contemporary, hip yet heartfelt. It's sean-nós for the iPod generation, yet Scanlon doesn't see her role as traditional music's great reformer. For her, it's simply the thing that gets her out of bed in the morning.
"I don't see myself interpreting the traditional canon from a contemporary setting really. I think I just take each song as it comes. I don't consciously set myself apart and think, 'I'm going to push this forward into the next generation'. It's the old cliché of not knowing what else to do really. Simple as that."
It's two years since Red Colour Sun was released. Extensive touring in between, and the commercial success of that album, has given her more confidence this time round, and allowed her develop her own style further.
"I listened back to the album and picked out the things I wanted to improve on. I've got into harmony singing a lot more and also layering my harmonies. I also picked up a few little tricks about how my voice should record - double-tracking, two vocals side by side, and maybe whispering one and singing the other a little louder, that type of technique. Really what I learned, though, was to go for things and not be afraid to take risks."
Refreshingly, Scanlon is not precious about her musical influences, which range from Sharon Shannon to Joni Mitchell, with only a cursory glance at A Woman's Heart.
"Style and influences are a common thing really, everyone is influenced by somebody. I don't see why people are afraid to readily admit them - just because you have influences doesn't mean you're not original. I adore Sinead O'Connor. I love her voice and her whole vibe. The music and singing are really heartfelt. She's a very emotional singer and I go for that in a big way and I don't mind admitting it."
Many traditional musicians and singers who previously could make their living solely in Ireland are now finding it commercially viable to play abroad, and discovering audiences are just as receptive in Munich as in Miltown Malbay.
"If you want to make a living you have to go abroad really," says Scanlon. "Most traditional musicians now tour overseas, from America to Australia. I'm not sure why that is, but I guess these things go in cycles. On one level there are amazing singers like Kate Rusby filling venues such as Vicar Street, which is a great thing and evidence of our openness to live performance. On the other hand, though, we have fantastic singers in pubs not really doing anything, but maybe not everybody is concerned with filling Vicar Street. There is so much music in pubs that people get to hear for free, and so many players and singers around that people are spoilt for choice, which affects paying gigs in Ireland."
With a mixture of traditional ballads and more recent covers, Scanlon's new album looks set to replicate the success of her debut. The Nashville experience has added a depth to the recording not present in previous outings, and matched only by Hennessy's technically astute guitar work.
"I always wanted to make an album in the US, and Nashville in particular, given that I'm a big fan of Alison Krauss and Union Station and that type of sound. I moved to Compass Records for this album and they offered to bring us out. It's different from the other album as we recorded it as if it was live. The way they work over there is three takes and it's done.The approach is different too in the sense that a lot of players there have a different discipline. They play songs all the time and they just have a great understanding of how a new track should play. I just love the general sound they get."
The album gets its Irish and US release in mid-August, with a European tour to follow. Yet it hasn't all been plain sailing. The past few months in particular have been tough going, with her last album having run its course and the release of her new album being delayed. Inactivity leads to insecurities, and worry that her audience has already moved on to the next bright prospect.
"The point in between albums is the hardest," Scanlon says. "I had worked on the last album and toured it and done all that. And there's always a wait for the next one. So there's a period when it's hard to get work because you have nothing to promote. Understandably, agents want a new album. That's a tough time but it's all coming to an end now, thankfully, and I'm really happy with the way the new album sounds.
"The only semblance of a career plan is to continue to make albums with the people I want to make them with, and simply to be able to make a living out of the music."
Somehow, you feel it's not such a hard task.
• Pauline Scanlan's new album, Hush, is released on Compass Records on Friday. She plays the World Fleadh in Ballybunion, Co Kerry, on the same day, with an Irish tour to follow in Sept. For further information, go to www.paulinescanlon.com