NEWS
Press Release via AS Written, November 2022
MOLLY ROUNDS OUT GREAT YEAR WITH GLÓR TÍRE & CHRISTMAS SINGLE ANNOUNCEMENTS
Country music recording-artist MOLLY O’ CONNELL is rounding out a great year in some style with the announcements that she will be a contestant on GLÓR TÍRE 2023 under the mentorship of LOUISE MORRISSEY, and that she has a brand new Christmas single coming our way soon.
Sharing her Glór Tíre news on her social media platforms, Molly said, “Over the moon to tell you all that I am a contestant on Glór Tíre 2023, and a dream come true to be mentored by the wonderfully talented Louise Morrissey, airing in January 2023. I hope ye can tune in along the way and we would be so appreciative of your continued support.”
The Tipperary woman shot to fame on the country scene in 2022, thanks to a string of original releases that have helped win her fans wherever she’s performed. And as the year comes to a close, Molly clearly has no signs of slowing down when it comes to capturing hearts, with her Christmas single looking like it’s going to be that tune you can’t help humming through the holidays.
From the pen of Maurice Ferris, JINGLE ROCK A MELODY actually came into the world as a poem some forty years ago, before eventually taking shape as a song with a production influenced by the style of the recently departed country icon Loretta Lynn.
Molly, from Kilcommon in the Premier Country, was approached by Maurice after the songwriter had been following her rapid rise to prominence during the course of 2022. As with music lovers the country over, Molly’s smooth, honeyed, birdsweet tones quickly made an impression on Maurice, and he knew hers was the voice through whom he wanted to share some of his songs with the world. And there in the middle of the selection of songs he sent Molly’s way, was Jingle Rock A Melody…
“It’s funny, because I had actually been looking for a Christmas song for a while”, reveals the Crazy, Crazy Baby singer. “I love that time of the year, so I’ve always had it in the back of my mind that I wanted to record my own Christmas single some day. As anybody who has been following my career so far might probably know, original songs are very important to me. When I think of myself as a recording artist, I see myself as someone who wants to carve out my own space in the music world by choosing songs that will be new to fans, and that fans will think of as my songs rather than just covers. So I wanted to stay true to that principle when it came to doing a Christmas single as well. And lo and behold, along came Maurice at just the right time!”
Already in 2022, Molly has staked her claim as being one to watch in the years ahead with the aforementioned Crazy, Crazy Baby announcing her arrival on the scene back in May. That single was the first of a trio of fan and radio favourites from Molly, with all Waltz A Lifetime With You following in August, and Don’t Judge The Book By Its Cover coming our way in early October. All three records come from the songbook of well-known country musician Stephen Hamilton, a collaborator Molly is sure to work with again in the future, having described meeting him as being “a blessing”.
As she looks ahead to yet another milestone moment in her music career with her first Christmas single, Molly – who hails from a family of talented musicians – has fond memories of songs echoing through the hills of Kilcommon during Christmases past…
“With all the family home for Christmas, my late dad Denis would be first out with his button-accordion, and that would see my sister Siobhan following suit soon after. From there, it would only be a matter of time before my other two sisters – Breda and Deirdre – and my brother, also called Denis, and my Mam, Breda, would all join in. These sing-songs were always a family affair in our house [laughs]. And any relatives who called by on Christmas night would have their own favourite little party-piece for the occasion as well. We’d never need to worry about what was on the television because we’d have such great entertainment going on around us. You’d hear everything from Christmas carols to country songs, to trad tunes, and needless to say there’d be dancing around the kitchen as well. You couldn’t but dance with all that music [laughs].”
“And of course, in more recent times”, recalls Molly, “all the grandchildren would be called by my mum and dad to play their tin-whistles and sing a few songs by the fire too. So many great memories of so many great times…”
“If my new Christmas single can become a part of peoples’ happy memories of this time of the year”, says Molly, “something that can make everyone happy now and give them a reason to look back on days gone by with smiles on their faces in the years to come, well, I don’t think I could make a more lovely Christmas wish than that.”
~ JINGLE ROCK A MELODY, the brand NEW CHRISTMAS single from MOLLY O’ CONNELL, will be available on all digital platforms and to request from radio, from later this month. For more information, follow Molly’s official music page on Facebook, Molly O’ Connell Music.
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