Sharon Shannon Interview
Cat talks the enigma that is Sharon Shannon!
CAT: A nice rich sound?
Sharon: Yeah, and we were trying to think of a name for the album. We got a great name...it's called Renegade.
CAT: Good name!
Sharon: Yeah...and we were trying to think of a name that we cold use that would kind of dub as name for the band as well afterwards and we could call...have a band...a new band called Renegade [laughs]and that's the name of the album as well.
CAT: Throughout your career you've collaborated with lots of artists and I understand that a lot of people specifically ask to work with you.
Sharon: It's great for us. We had um...we'd already organised with a guy from home who's really really popular in the charts called Mundy. And Mundy was singing with us this evening and when Mundy was...um...when Mundy had a big hit in Ireland...it's still getting played all the time on the radio...he had a big hit with a song called The Galway Girl. It was written by Steve Earle, so just as we were doing The Galway Girl who comes running onto the stage, only Steve and started singing with us!
CAT: He's been popping up all day! I'm sure he's trying to commandeer this festival!
Sharon: They'll have to adopt him! He's great, very...very enthusiastic. A nice man.
CAT: So what do you do when you are not performing?
Sharon: Oh, I love being at home, I'm a home bird.
CAT: And presumably spend a lot of time writing? How do you go about that?
Sharon. I record my thoughts on a little machine like that [points to my dictaphone]. If I didn't have something to record them, I'd forget them straight away. I used to think years ago oh, if I don't remember it then it mustn't worth remembering. But you end up with nothing at all! [laughs]
CAT: [laughs] Oh no!
Sharon: Well if you have something recorded then you remember it and...a little thing, a little idea and it kind of develops into...
CAT: I know, it's like writing - it's the getting going that's the hard part. Well I'm going to leave you now, as I know you've got the signing tent in a moment, so thank you very much for your time and I hope to meet you again soon.