Aoife O’Donovan

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.