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The 2005 Edwina Hayes Interview by Jessica Reed
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Edwina Hayes is a singer-songwriter in every sense of the word. Her delicate melodies and heartfelt lyrics have won her collaborations with the industry’s best and co-operation from the many of the greats; she has supported the likes of Nancy Griffiths, Loudon Wainwright III and Van Morrison.
Born in Dublin and raised in Lancashire, Edwina eventually broke though on the London acoustic circuit and released her debut album Out On My Own last February.
We caught up with her at Cropredy…
So Edwina, your set sounded great – is this your first festival?
Yes it is - but it was it really, really lovely! I was so nervous five minutes beforehand, but the sound was great and I really enjoyed it.
You seemed to get a great reception from the audience…
They were really nice! They were so warm, and all the staff were great as well.
Let’s talk a little about your influences, you seem to be a singer-songwriter in the purist sense yet your songs seem to have their roots in American folk…
It’s funny you say that… Well really when I picked up the guitar and started picking out songs to learn, the ones I chose were Carole King, Joni Michell, Bob Dylan and then Nancy Griffiths and when I discovered Nancy Griffiths I think that Americana twist came in – so yeah I think I’m a bit of both! - I really like to sing a mixture of English folk and American singer-songwriters.
I’m also very influenced by my peers. I spent two years living in Nashville and picked up a lot from a girl named Mindy Smith – one of my best friends – and also a girl called Kate York, they’re great! And over here in England, Tom Baxter is emerging from the London acoustic scene. So I really am influenced by my peers and the old greats – nothing in-between!
My social life really is going to my friends’ gigs and my CD collection is mainly CDs by my friends - their demos! And I’ve got Bob Dylan, Van Morrison and all my favourites – I love Gillian Welch as well, she’s another recent influence and I’ve written a couple of songs that are along that kind of line – I think she’s fantastic.
So you grew up in Lancashire, did you start out by playing the acoustic scene in the North-West?
No I didn’t, it was really the local circuit in Yorkshire - my mum moved to Yorkshire in 1994, so I started going to Bridlington folk club and the local folk clubs round there, but I’ve never been a major act on the northern folk circuits as I moved to London and hit the acoustic scene. I did a lot of ‘under the radar’ stuff for years and never went looking for a deal – but by chance I got a writing deal from Warner/Chappell because one of my songs ended up on their desk…
That was a fluke! A guy was coming around scouting and he passed on my live CD – two years later I got a call! I then took on a manager – so I now had a manager and a writing deal and between the two of them they knocked on Warner Bros upstairs and got me a very small record deal. They just gave money for the album, no advance – so it’s real small potatoes; I’m going round doing all this promotion with no money – but I don’t care!
The lovely thing is that I got loads of people to work with me to make the album, like Clive Gregson, and John Wood [has produced Nick Drake]. We even got one of Clive’s old mates – Dennis Locorriere [sings with Dr Hook] – funnily enough when I started writing I used to listen to the Dr Hook album when I was getting ready to go out…
How did you feel when you were told that you would be working with these well-respected industry figures?
A bit awestruck actually – the first week in the studio I hardly spoke, I was very timid. Then I thought that I’d better get on with it, although we were only in the studio for three weeks so it was a really daunting prospect. If they suggested something and I wasn’t keen on it I thought ‘Well okay – they know what they’re doing’ but by the second week I found the courage to speak my mind.
So, your album Out On My Own came out in February – how is that doing?
Well, I been getting support from Bob Harris, he’s been playing me even though I’m not on the Radio 2 playlist, which is quite nice as getting on there is ever so hard! And the latest person to champion me is Michael Parkinson; he’s being playing Eyes of a Stranger for about eight weeks now on his early morning show. He’s also likes the No Idea – the song that I am bringing out as a single.
Everything seems to look very promising…
Everything is looking good. I think it’s going to be very slow with the record – I’m not going to be an overnight success – but I just think that it’s great that singer-songwriters are emerging again. There really are so many good people that are never going to get heard – and they’re just awesome!
Edwina’s new single, No Idea will be out at the end of August. She has a many forthcoming promotional gigs and will be supporting Jools Holland in October.
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