Folk hero

Cavan singer-songwriter Lisa O’Neill has just been lauded by the Guardian for creating the folk album of 2018, Heard a Long Gone Song, a collection of traditional airs and self-penned tunes sung in her distinctive, visceral drawl, writes Nadine O’Regan

Lisa O’Neill: ‘The album is not polished in any sense. It’s just real’

Lisa O’Neill is not the kind of singer-songwriter who seeks out her own press clippings. She might glance at an album review if it’s offered to her, but the Cavan musician avoids reading her interviews and she doesn’t like being in the media limelight. “Interviews are always on the spot,” she says. “I don’t like reading back how I come across.”

Nonetheless, if O’Neill ever elects to read the critical notices, she could ...