December is here … and I’ve written a Christmas song!
Winter is here and Christmas is well and truly coming and I have finally written my first ever Christmas song!
It is something I have wanted to do for a while, as a challenge for myself. I always felt it was a trickier song type to do as there are so many amazing classics, how can anyone compete? I really wanted it to feel just like an authentic song so I worked quite hard to try and get the lyrics to feel Christmassy without being too cliché.
I first started writing it in mid October after hearing a piano composition Ódhran had written. Ódhran is a super talented piano player who we’ve had the pleasure of working with this year. He just gets our style and is a joy to play with.
Once I had heard the composition I just knew I could write a song to it, and as it turned out, it was destined to be a Christmas song.
On a car journey on the way down to a friend's wedding in Cork I listened to the piano piece over and over and started coming up with my first melody ideas. I then left it for a bit and came back to it in recent weeks and now it is fully complete.
Writing a song to already recorded music is a different prospect to my normal method which is on the fly, the old-school soul way to music created in the moment by myself or with Kevin
I had the initial melody hook from my car journey and it just flowed from there. I haven’t even sung it for Kevin yet but I am going to the studio to record it next week. It’s going to be a simple arrangement with just vocals and piano.
With this track, genre wise I have gone back to my soul / motown roots with some jazzy vibes. I’m very excited about it ….and yes I will be releasing it once it's done, just in time for Christmas !
Help a girl out - should I release it on all platforms ? Or will I just release it on social media and bandcamp ? Let me know what you think !
Snowy Benbulben
The last couple of months have been busy with some lovely gigs including singing with the Discovery Gospel Choir at the aforementioned wedding in October, Loah’s wedding.
For those of you who don't know, Loah is a fantastic singer songwriter who writes a fusion of soul and folk music. I first met Loah in the choir several years ago and it was a joy to sing at her wedding. She has one of those unique voices that is instantly recognisable. We even did a duet together on the Discovery album.
Loah has also presented a music TV show on RTE and she has worked with many amazing artists such as Lisa Hannigan and Hozier.
Since my last blog we have had two amazing Lillies Live Lounge gigs. In October we had Hugh Feely and Stephen O’Dowd as a sold out double headliner. The night was magic and you could really feel the love in the room. One punter even commented that it was the “best singer songwriter night” he’d ever been to. The talent in Sligo speaks for itself and it's a great showcase to prove just that.
Last week we had the brilliant Miles Graham with support from Rory Conneally, recently awarded Young Irish Jazz Musician of the year, accompanied by Mimi and Eddie Lee. Both acts blew everyone away with their talents and songwriting skills.
I had the pleasure of joining Miles on BVs on the night and was delighted to be asked to take the lead on the song “I Can’t Love You Again”. I always love the challenge of learning new pieces and I really enjoyed the arrangements which were performed beautifully by Anna Houston, Leo Tarrant, Paddy Hazleton and Conor Irwin.
So far we've had 3 folk, 2 soul and 1 jazz act and the atmosphere has been amazing each time.
Thank you to everyone who has supported our events this year. It means so much to us.
I’ll be back with Christmas wishes and our new single very soon.
