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Alexandra King :From Galway to Nashville: An Inspiring Story of Music, Family, and Perseverance · Takin’ A Walk Nashville

0:01
Speaker 1: Taking a Walk Nashville. Hey y'all, it's Sarah Harrelson, your
0:04
Speaker 1: host of Taking a Walk in Nashville, and today join
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Speaker 1: me as I walk over to McNamara's Irish Pub in Nashville.
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Speaker 1: I am sitting down with Nashville based Irish American singer
0:19
Speaker 1: songwriter Alexandra King. We're going to talk about her new album.
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Speaker 2: That just released. It's called Across the Pond.
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Speaker 1: It blends pub born ballads, Americana, warmth, and modern country
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Speaker 1: together while honoring her Irish American heritage.
0:39
Speaker 2: She calls New.
0:40
Speaker 1: York, Ireland and now Nashville home at different points in
0:44
Speaker 1: her life.
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Speaker 2: We're going to talk about that.
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Speaker 1: She was raised in a musical family and she also
0:52
Speaker 1: studied at University of Galway, so we have a lot
0:55
Speaker 1: to talk about. I think you'll love her music. She
0:59
Speaker 1: also is marked by extraordinary resilience. In twenty twenty, she
1:04
Speaker 1: had a diving accident that caused her a cervical spine
1:08
Speaker 1: cord injury. It left her partially paralyzed, but then during recovery,
1:14
Speaker 1: she relearned how to hold a guitar pick and now
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Speaker 1: she's out here performing her songs across the US, across
1:23
Speaker 1: Ireland's It's a great conversation. Join me today and check
1:27
Speaker 1: out Alexandra King's new album Across the Pond.
1:35
Speaker 2: Welcome to Taking a Walk Nashville with your host's singer
1:39
Speaker 2: songwriter Sarah Harrelson. Hey everyone, it's Sarah Harrelson, your host
1:44
Speaker 2: of Take an All Walk Nashville, and today we are
1:47
Speaker 2: here at Magnamara's Irish Pub in Nashville. And I think
1:51
Speaker 2: it's so fitting because I am speaking with Nashville based
1:55
Speaker 2: Irish American singer songwriter Alexandra King. This and this music venue.
2:02
Speaker 2: It's been here since twenty ten and it features weekly
2:05
Speaker 2: lineups of Irish folk and country music downstairs and we're
2:10
Speaker 2: upstairs here and turch Lounge. Come and check it out
2:14
Speaker 2: next time you are in Nashville, grab a pine listen
2:17
Speaker 2: to some music. Alexander. Thank you so much for being
2:20
Speaker 2: on Taking a Walk in Nashville today. Have you performed
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Speaker 2: here on the stage?
2:25
Speaker 3: I actually have, and thank you for sa having me. Yeah.
2:28
Speaker 3: So I performed my EP release show here in just
2:31
Speaker 3: this past October, which was such a great night. And yeah,
2:35
Speaker 3: I had like all family, friends and people that I invited.
2:38
Speaker 3: It was a great night.
2:38
Speaker 2: Cool. Yeah, I hope to see you again here soon.
2:41
Speaker 2: And your new album, Across the Pond it's releasing on
2:45
Speaker 2: June fifth. Are you excited for this new album?
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Speaker 3: I'm so excited, like you just saying that made it
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Speaker 3: just feeling the more real. It's been a long time
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Speaker 3: in the making, I feel like, and it's so excited.
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Speaker 3: It's really your debut album. Show the world a bit
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Speaker 3: of are and take them on the journey Across the Pond.
3:02
Speaker 2: It's your debut album. It's a beautiful album. I was
3:04
Speaker 2: listening to today. Spare Key, the recent single off it.
3:08
Speaker 2: It features Nashville artist Grace Gunn and the song is
3:11
Speaker 2: a tribute to your mom about holding on to the
3:13
Speaker 2: spare key of her home, knowing you always have a
3:16
Speaker 2: place to go back to, which I love because you
3:18
Speaker 2: know you always do that when you go away from home.
3:20
Speaker 2: You have that spare key in case you're going back.
3:23
Speaker 2: And you grew up in New York and you spent
3:26
Speaker 2: time in Ireland. So is Nashville your home now?
3:29
Speaker 3: Ooh? Is Nashville my home? It? Honestly, I feel like
3:36
Speaker 3: so I feel like it is right now. But to
3:38
Speaker 3: be honest, like I've always kind of gone between New
3:41
Speaker 3: York and Ireland, and I felt like I've never had
3:43
Speaker 3: one specific home, like I've had a hometown, but I
3:45
Speaker 3: don't ever feel like a place feels like home. It's
3:48
Speaker 3: more like where my people are, where my family is,
3:51
Speaker 3: or like where the moment is. And so Nashville has
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Speaker 3: a piece of my heart for my home, but New
3:56
Speaker 3: York does too. And that's fair key song. Like my
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Speaker 3: mom cries every time she hears it. And she actually
4:02
Speaker 3: starred in the music video and she tapped into the
4:05
Speaker 3: acting woman and yeah, it was. It was a really
4:08
Speaker 3: cool experience to have with her.
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Speaker 2: It's a beautiful music video. Like you said, it features
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Speaker 2: your mom and it was filmed at her house.
4:14
Speaker 3: As well, New or Yeah, we had all like the
4:17
Speaker 3: family photos out and stuff. She cleaned the house, got
4:20
Speaker 3: it already, so we had a great time doing it.
4:23
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, you grew up in the Hudson Valley area
4:26
Speaker 2: and New York. Another song that I love off the
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Speaker 2: new album. I've just been listening to it over and over.
4:32
Speaker 2: It's a fun song, bottoms up.
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Speaker 3: And such a catchy chorus.
4:36
Speaker 2: I love it. It was released around Saint Patrick's Day
4:39
Speaker 2: and the song one American songwriters Shamrock and roll road
4:44
Speaker 2: Ready contest. There's also another music video for this song.
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Speaker 2: It was filmed at an Irish pub where you grew up.
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Speaker 2: You guys are having a great time just drinking jamison
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Speaker 2: in the music video, and it also features your childhood
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Speaker 2: friend Luke Manley. He was an actor and Marty what
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Speaker 2: was filming that music video? Like, it's so fun.
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Speaker 3: It was so so we get to the bar. It
5:05
Speaker 3: was like three o'clock. I told some people in the
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Speaker 3: town that we're doing this, and I pull up and
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Speaker 3: the bar was more crowded than it was on like
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Speaker 3: a Friday night there, Like it was packed if we're cheering, chanting.
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Speaker 3: And then Luke came in and like he obviously it's
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Speaker 3: from our hometown too, so the bar went crazy for him.
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Speaker 3: And it was also just like hanging out with all
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Speaker 3: of your friends and like your favorite hometown bar. The
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Speaker 3: mayor came. Uh, my dad's featured in that one too.
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Speaker 3: He's playing the guitar.
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Speaker 2: Awesome.
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Speaker 3: It was just like the most fun day. And like
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Speaker 3: at one point I get up on the bar and
5:40
Speaker 3: the sound actually went off in the pub, like the
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Speaker 3: music couldn't play, and I was like if I was
5:44
Speaker 3: anywhere else with anyone else, this may be awkward, but
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Speaker 3: I was like, guys, just clap and let's figure it out,
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Speaker 3: and they like maybe go like just another Friday night.
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Speaker 3: It was so good.
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Speaker 2: I love the clips too, of like Luke like whipping
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Speaker 2: around the towel behind the bar and the music video.
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Speaker 3: He was he is the nicest man in the world,
6:01
Speaker 3: like truly, like and so funny. So when I texted him,
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Speaker 3: I was like, can you be in this?
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Speaker 2: He's like, of course, of.
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Speaker 3: Course, thank you for having me. Like he's just such
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Speaker 3: a big personality. He's like, I've never been a bartender
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Speaker 3: though before, and I don't know how to pour drinks.
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Speaker 3: So I was like, man, we'll make it up. And
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Speaker 3: that's why there was a shot of one guy, uh
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Speaker 3: drinking a bunch of jamison because Luke had bored like
6:19
Speaker 3: a little too much in the take, so of this guy,
6:22
Speaker 3: the local local friend of ours, just like was like,
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Speaker 3: I'll take the shot.
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Speaker 2: So fun, so much fun. And you said your dad
6:30
Speaker 2: was playing a guitar and music video. Was he always
6:33
Speaker 2: playing music growing up? Was he like an all influence
6:36
Speaker 2: of yours?
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Speaker 3: Oh for sure? Yeah, Like I grew up my mom
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Speaker 3: and dad were both that's how they met. They both
6:42
Speaker 3: sang and my dad was an Irish American singer up
6:44
Speaker 3: in New York just a had a bunch of pubs
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Speaker 3: and stuff, and then over to Ireland. You would do
6:47
Speaker 3: little pub tours when he was there. And yeah, I
6:50
Speaker 3: feel like I hear myself or hear him in the
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Speaker 3: way I sing, Like a lot of my my qualities
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Speaker 3: come from listening to my dad my whole life builting
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Speaker 3: up songs. So I had to have him in the video.
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Speaker 2: That's awesome. Yeah, and you go to ire back to
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Speaker 2: Ireland quite a bit. You studied at the University of Galway,
7:07
Speaker 2: spent summers there. Do you have a lot of family
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Speaker 2: over there in Ireland? What part of Ireland are you from?
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Speaker 3: So I have a lot of family over there. My
7:15
Speaker 3: grandmother just moved back there full time with my aunt
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Speaker 3: and that's that's our main place we go is County Westmea.
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Speaker 3: That's just like throw a dart in the middle of
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Speaker 3: the country. And my aunt uncle have a sheep farm
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Speaker 3: out there and we was finn every summer there with
7:27
Speaker 3: my cousins. So that's like just a special place to me.
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Speaker 3: But we have family in Dublin and Galway and then
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Speaker 3: County Lee Trim as well, So it's kind of like
7:37
Speaker 3: a straight line across the country. And yeah, you hit
7:39
Speaker 3: some stops and see a lot of family, great people
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Speaker 3: and friends. Now from college, I have a lot of
7:45
Speaker 3: the people that live in Galway still. Yeah, so it's
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Speaker 3: it's the best best of both worlds, Like you know,
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Speaker 3: live there full time, but when you go, feels like home.
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Speaker 2: That's awesome. And we were just talking about how Nashville
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Speaker 2: now has non stop direct flights to Ireland, so people
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Speaker 2: listening in from across the pond, they can come over
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Speaker 2: here to Nashville and listen to you here or if
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Speaker 2: you're playing over in Ireland.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, I actually end this August. I'm doing a few
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Speaker 3: shows in some in Dublin and then one in Monroe's
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Speaker 3: in Galway. Second and third week I'll be over there,
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Speaker 3: but definitely take that direct flight. A funny story, I
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Speaker 3: was on the way back last summer and there was
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Speaker 3: a batchelorrette party they call them hen parties over there,
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Speaker 3: and they were dressed to the nine in like pink
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Speaker 3: sparkle outfits and the cowboy hats as you see on Brooklay.
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Speaker 3: But I'm like guys, this is a seven hour flight.
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Speaker 3: We're about to get out, and then they're dressed ready
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Speaker 3: to go oh wow before the flight. But I'll tell
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Speaker 3: you what, when we got off, I was like, they're
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Speaker 3: gonna be exhausted. Nope, same energy. They must have been
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Speaker 3: bottoms up on the plane.
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Speaker 2: Youever, they were ready to go to hang out in Nashville.
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Speaker 2: That's awesome. So other songs on your new album that
8:53
Speaker 2: pace tribute to your Irish heritage includes Galway Girl and
8:59
Speaker 2: Lose Me to Doblin. So do you and Ed Sharon
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Speaker 2: have the same take on Galway Girls because you both
9:05
Speaker 2: have a Galway Girl song.
9:06
Speaker 3: We will have the Gollay Girl. He made his own
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Speaker 3: Gollway Girl song and it's like a rap kind of fire.
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Speaker 3: He actually filmed in this great pub o'connells. But I
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Speaker 3: did a cover of Steve Earl's song, and Steve Earle
9:18
Speaker 3: is actually like a country artist, a Nashville kind of guy,
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Speaker 3: and but it's a really well known song over there.
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Speaker 3: I just I did two or did three covers on
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Speaker 3: this album, and it's a Willie McBride Golly Girl and
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Speaker 3: then the Parting Glass. But Galway Girl, I was like,
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Speaker 3: I have to have this song on. It's a very
9:34
Speaker 3: well known song, but like it's just a pub song
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Speaker 3: that gets people going as well. And like I feel
9:39
Speaker 3: like I'm a bit of a Galway girl just for
9:40
Speaker 3: my time over there. So I want to pay tribute
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Speaker 3: to Galway and my nuig year that I was there.
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Speaker 2: So I love and Willie McBride the Murding Glass or
9:49
Speaker 2: those Irish folk songs, yeah us what those are?
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Speaker 3: Yeah, so Willy McBride. It's also called the Green Fields
9:54
Speaker 3: of France and it's a song based It's just a
9:58
Speaker 3: song sung a lot in Ireland. I actually don't know
10:00
Speaker 3: if it's even written by an irishman, to be honest,
10:02
Speaker 3: but it's about this guy from World War two. He's
10:05
Speaker 3: walking through a graveyard. It's just a great storytelling song
10:08
Speaker 3: and you see in all of these gravestones and one
10:11
Speaker 3: of the names is William mcgride, and this guy just
10:12
Speaker 3: starts to wonder, like what his life could have been
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Speaker 3: if he didn't die so young, and if war wasn't
10:17
Speaker 3: so prevalent and all these So I just felt like
10:19
Speaker 3: that was just a beautiful message. And my dad sang
10:21
Speaker 3: that song my entire life, Like I can just hear him,
10:25
Speaker 3: so I wanted to include that and like have a
10:27
Speaker 3: little tribute to my dad's for that song as well.
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Speaker 3: Then the Parting Glass is one of my favorite songs,
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Speaker 3: an Irish song, and it sung a lot like at
10:36
Speaker 3: the end of the night, so it's kind of like
10:37
Speaker 3: our closing time. But it's like a really beautiful, typically
10:42
Speaker 3: acapella ballad and it could be sung at a funeral
10:45
Speaker 3: as well. It's just like a nice farewell piece and
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Speaker 3: just as like did I enjoy be with you all?
10:49
Speaker 3: So that's how I end up the album.
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Speaker 2: It's so beautiful. I'm sure so special for your dad
10:54
Speaker 2: to hear your take on the other Irish folk song
10:56
Speaker 2: as well.
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Speaker 3: I mean, yes, he's my biggest fan, him and my
11:00
Speaker 3: cousin a man that would be my biggest fans now.
11:03
Speaker 3: But there, he's just so happy that I have a
11:05
Speaker 3: connection to Ireland and he's brought me over there, you know,
11:07
Speaker 3: all these years and a lot of other family members
11:10
Speaker 3: have gone, but like I really just grabbed onto it
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Speaker 3: and he taught me so much about our heritage and
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Speaker 3: our family there that I think he's just happy to
11:18
Speaker 3: see like it really landed with me and I am
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Speaker 3: carrying the tradition forward and stuff.
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Speaker 2: So that's so cool. And where did you record this
11:26
Speaker 2: new album? Across the Pond?
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Speaker 3: I recorded all of these songs with Evan Sealing, my producer.
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Speaker 3: Absolutely amazing guy. He plays pretty much every single instrument
11:35
Speaker 3: on every track. He's brilliant. We did all but one
11:40
Speaker 3: song in his brand new studio. The other one was
11:43
Speaker 3: in his like a transition studio. At that was how
11:47
Speaker 3: long we've been working on this, Like it's been two years.
11:51
Speaker 3: Chasing Rainbows was the first one we did. But yeah,
11:53
Speaker 3: all of it with Evan and his new studio is
11:56
Speaker 3: just like an oasis you go there feels like upstate
11:58
Speaker 3: New York. It also just it was a lot of
12:00
Speaker 3: rainy nights we would go and record, so it had
12:03
Speaker 3: an aura while we were in the studio. It was
12:06
Speaker 3: really for this album, like it just I feel like
12:08
Speaker 3: that shines through sometimes for the songs. You can kind
12:10
Speaker 3: of hear the energy that Evan's a fantastic creator. I
12:13
Speaker 3: love working with very cool.
12:15
Speaker 2: YU say, there was upstate New York where the studio actually.
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Speaker 3: Here, but it feels like an upstate New York like
12:20
Speaker 3: log Cabin and cu cool and New York as well.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, there you go, Yeah, I love that. That's wonderful
12:28
Speaker 2: and your album it really does map out these three
12:31
Speaker 2: distinct places, New York where you grew up, Nashville, and Ireland.
12:35
Speaker 2: How do these three locations speak to each other musically
12:39
Speaker 2: on the record.
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Speaker 3: Hmmm, that's a great question. I feel there are certain
12:45
Speaker 3: songs that are leading more of my time in Nashville,
12:48
Speaker 3: where I've really like enhanced my songwriting and cool written
12:51
Speaker 3: a lot with other Nashville writers, and that country sort
12:55
Speaker 3: of sounds so like songs like Spara Keet. I feel
12:57
Speaker 3: like that kind of leans into that Nashville look great
13:00
Speaker 3: and I'd be lying as well so and Chasing Rainbow's
13:05
Speaker 3: like I wrote all those with amazing co writers and
13:07
Speaker 3: just kind of like grasped that country feel. And then
13:10
Speaker 3: there's a lot of New York kind of honesty, grit,
13:13
Speaker 3: and I mean there's drinking culture in New York as
13:17
Speaker 3: well as Ireland, but it leaned into that dive bar
13:19
Speaker 3: hometown feel for songs like Bottoms Up, it's such like that.
13:24
Speaker 3: And then yeah, Ireland. It's funny because New York, Ireland
13:29
Speaker 3: and Nashville, there's so much actually similarities in the music there,
13:32
Speaker 3: especially Nashville and Ireland, like the country storytelling, and like
13:38
Speaker 3: the and the musicality, like so many instruments at crossovers,
13:41
Speaker 3: so I feel like that they it was easy to
13:44
Speaker 3: kind of blend them as well sonically. But the d
13:48
Speaker 3: just like there's a lot of like words that I
13:50
Speaker 3: would use that are more Irish, and there's a lot
13:52
Speaker 3: of references and lose me to Dublin, specifically to other
13:54
Speaker 3: Irish songs that are kind of like Easter eggs in there.
13:58
Speaker 3: So yeah, I just I grabbed all of the places
14:01
Speaker 3: that yeah, shaped me and kind of blended them into
14:05
Speaker 3: this project.
14:07
Speaker 2: That's beautiful. Yeah, the album definitely takes you across the
14:10
Speaker 2: pond and back on a more serious note. And twenty twenty,
14:15
Speaker 2: a diving accident that you had caused a cervical spine
14:19
Speaker 2: cord injury that temporarily left you partially paralyzed. You had
14:23
Speaker 2: to relearn how to hold a guitar pick. What did
14:27
Speaker 2: that experience teach you that made you want to make
14:31
Speaker 2: the transition to move to Nashville.
14:34
Speaker 3: I've always had music be a presence in my life.
14:37
Speaker 3: I've always loved it, but I was always afraid to
14:39
Speaker 3: give it my all and fail to be honest, I'm
14:42
Speaker 3: a bit of a perfectionist, and I was doing the
14:44
Speaker 3: safe route. But then when I broke my neck and
14:47
Speaker 3: I had that accident, the doctors had told me like,
14:50
Speaker 3: there's no way you're going to be able to walk again.
14:52
Speaker 3: You might get your right side back, like you're not
14:54
Speaker 3: going to wear keels again, I'll be saying, you know,
14:56
Speaker 3: And I was just like what, Look, I didn't even
14:58
Speaker 3: get started on my dream, like I did. I'm and
15:00
Speaker 3: still in law school, like, so that just showed me
15:04
Speaker 3: how scary something could be ripped away from you. So
15:07
Speaker 3: I just said, I'm pursuing everything and I'm just not
15:09
Speaker 3: going to care about what happens. I'm going to give
15:12
Speaker 3: it my all. So it just kind of like took
15:13
Speaker 3: that fear of failure and swashed it, like because you
15:18
Speaker 3: only get one chance to do what you want to
15:19
Speaker 3: do with in this life and to make a difference,
15:21
Speaker 3: and so like do any embarrassment or worry or concern,
15:25
Speaker 3: I just said, whatever, I don't want to. I don't
15:27
Speaker 3: know if we can curse on you, but fuck it.
15:29
Speaker 3: Like I was just like, get out of here. So
15:31
Speaker 3: I kind of proved a lot of the doctor's wrong.
15:34
Speaker 3: But it was an had amazing medical staff, therapist and
15:37
Speaker 3: all the things. And after I was able to get
15:39
Speaker 3: out of there and recover, I was like, I'm giving it.
15:40
Speaker 3: I'm giving it a go, and I don't I don't
15:42
Speaker 3: care what happens.
15:43
Speaker 2: So it's definitely a wake up Paul, that makes you
15:45
Speaker 2: realize that life can be so fragile. An is. Yeah,
15:49
Speaker 2: now you're here, you're wearing your heels, you're back on stage.
15:53
Speaker 2: And I think it was amazing that you went to
15:55
Speaker 2: law school school and passed the bar before were coming
15:59
Speaker 2: down here.
16:00
Speaker 3: I know, I was lucky, yeah, luckily, like I've always
16:02
Speaker 3: loved school and go to school, you know, but I
16:05
Speaker 3: had the full scholarship to law school and everything, and
16:07
Speaker 3: but yeah, it was it was COVID. It was just
16:09
Speaker 3: and when I broke my neck and it was just like,
16:12
Speaker 3: you know, life had stopped. And I was like after
16:13
Speaker 3: Everferend's like take a year off, and I was like,
16:16
Speaker 3: I need to get down to Nashville. I need to
16:18
Speaker 3: go to music City. So yeah, I just finished up
16:20
Speaker 3: the third year law school and took the bar, luckily
16:22
Speaker 3: passed it first time.
16:23
Speaker 2: And here I am, wow, I love that and you
16:27
Speaker 2: also do a lot of special work with special Olympics.
16:31
Speaker 2: You volunteer with musicians on Call. I volunteer with them
16:34
Speaker 2: as well, playing Yeah, I'm playing music at the It's.
16:36
Speaker 3: Where you look so familiar.
16:38
Speaker 2: Maybe we met at a musicians on.
16:40
Speaker 3: Call event I and I'm okay, yeah, so that is
16:44
Speaker 3: ringing about like maybe like a social event where you're
16:47
Speaker 3: getting to know everybody. I think I met you there
16:49
Speaker 3: one time. That makes sense.
16:51
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love musicians on calls. And then I mentioned
16:53
Speaker 2: we had them on the podcast too.
16:55
Speaker 3: Yeah. I was just a voluntary volunteered at uh. They
16:58
Speaker 3: did like a silent auction music Heels Lives yeah last Wednesday,
17:02
Speaker 3: and it's just yeah, but god, like they had so
17:04
Speaker 3: many examples of just the power of music and music
17:08
Speaker 3: heels and I just volunteered yes uh Wednesday at the
17:10
Speaker 3: VA Hospital. I love it. It's seriously like the highlight
17:13
Speaker 3: of my week when I do that, Like just seeing
17:17
Speaker 3: the patients, you know, you know, you know, you walk
17:19
Speaker 3: into the room and they're special, they could be down
17:21
Speaker 3: for they could not be and then afterwards they're tapping
17:24
Speaker 3: their foots. Yeah, like you're just like, ah, this is
17:26
Speaker 3: what it's about.
17:27
Speaker 2: Did you experience them at all or any sort of
17:29
Speaker 2: music visits when you were in the hospital.
17:31
Speaker 3: Sadly, because it was COVID, oh there was, it was
17:35
Speaker 3: so limited. Visitation was even really limited, like my mom
17:37
Speaker 3: and dad were not even able to come in at
17:39
Speaker 3: the same time and only for certain hours. So I
17:43
Speaker 3: think that also showed me like if they're When I
17:45
Speaker 3: found out about musicians on call, I was like, oh,
17:47
Speaker 3: could you imagine like having a virtual visit during that time?
17:50
Speaker 3: That would have lifted my spirits like so much. But
17:53
Speaker 3: I actually went back to my rehab facility that I
17:56
Speaker 3: was impatient in, and I went back and I sang
17:59
Speaker 3: for the oh coatients there afterwards. It was before I
18:01
Speaker 3: knew about musicians on call because in New York, where
18:04
Speaker 3: I'm from, we don't have that. In the city, they do,
18:06
Speaker 3: but not in my area. So like I just went
18:09
Speaker 3: and sang for patients. But when I moved down here,
18:12
Speaker 3: I went to do that again and they were like, nope,
18:13
Speaker 3: we're booked. I'm like booked. They're like, yeah, there's programs
18:16
Speaker 3: here that they're booked and busy. I'm like, that's amazing
18:19
Speaker 3: music city, of course, Like it's a great problem to
18:22
Speaker 3: be overbooked and I was like, yeah, so then that's
18:25
Speaker 3: when I learned about it when I moved here. But yeah,
18:27
Speaker 3: I would have loved to have some music I've tried
18:30
Speaker 3: to play, but you know, yeah, I had a piano
18:32
Speaker 3: in my room, so music still was a part of
18:35
Speaker 3: my therapy.
18:36
Speaker 2: Yeah, in that but yeah, I'm glad you're on the
18:38
Speaker 2: other side of that now. And you also do a
18:40
Speaker 2: lot of work with Special Olympics too.
18:42
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I just sang it there opening the opening
18:45
Speaker 3: games for their Summer Olympics ceremony. Cool, so much fun.
18:50
Speaker 3: I apps like my cousin in Ireland, who is my
18:52
Speaker 3: favorite person in the world. She has Down syndrome and
18:55
Speaker 3: she's the light of our family and she competes in
18:59
Speaker 3: Special Olympics there and she's a big part of Down Syndrome,
19:02
Speaker 3: like the National Association over there. So I just like
19:06
Speaker 3: loved spending time with her and her friends and and
19:09
Speaker 3: just seeing like the joy that music brings her and
19:11
Speaker 3: like she just is the best. So when I was
19:15
Speaker 3: down here, I was like, I'd love to get involved
19:16
Speaker 3: in some way, and yeah, I was just like again,
19:19
Speaker 3: like the highlight of my week playing because like they're
19:23
Speaker 3: just so pure happy, nice, and like just so much
19:26
Speaker 3: love in that room, and who wouldn't love to be
19:30
Speaker 3: a part of that. So I was really lucky I
19:31
Speaker 3: was I was able to sing for them.
19:33
Speaker 2: Very cool. I love that you're a part of that.
19:35
Speaker 2: We talked about your upcoming shows and Ireland this summer,
19:38
Speaker 2: and you're about to do a release show in New
19:40
Speaker 2: York for your new album Correct next Friday at Patti Riley's,
19:43
Speaker 2: so it'd be great awesome. We look forward to looking
19:46
Speaker 2: at your upcoming shows. Last couple of questions for you,
19:50
Speaker 2: what do you miss most about New York or Ireland?
19:54
Speaker 2: And what do you love most about Nashville?
19:57
Speaker 3: Great questions. I'll start with Natville, just because we're here,
20:02
Speaker 3: so I love that it is such an amazing city,
20:05
Speaker 3: But it does feel like a small town in a
20:07
Speaker 3: lot of ways. So like I live in East Nashville,
20:09
Speaker 3: and I feel like it's very neighborhood residential, but in
20:11
Speaker 3: five minutes I could be downtown in the hub of
20:14
Speaker 3: it all, and it does feel a lot more like
20:17
Speaker 3: small town. Ask even like you run into the same
20:19
Speaker 3: people even though it's a big city. So I do
20:22
Speaker 3: love the feel of Nashville and just that any day
20:25
Speaker 3: of the week. There's music from ten am to five am.
20:28
Speaker 3: I think it's amazing. No other place has that New York.
20:32
Speaker 3: I missed the food a lot. I love love Italian food,
20:36
Speaker 3: and I missed my family I do, and the people there.
20:39
Speaker 3: The attitude is the quickness, and it's a little slow
20:41
Speaker 3: for me here. Yeah, So when I get home, I'm
20:44
Speaker 3: reminded and I walk. I always walk in the house
20:47
Speaker 3: with my mom and my grandma are chatting a million
20:49
Speaker 3: miles an hour. I'm like, okay, this we're back, like
20:51
Speaker 3: this is home. And then Ireland. I love like the
20:56
Speaker 3: guinness there when you when you go, like it is
20:59
Speaker 3: so like creamy and smooth, doesn't taste bitter at all.
21:03
Speaker 3: Like so the drinks, I mean, the people, the food, oysters,
21:06
Speaker 3: like everything's amazing. With the pulp culture there, it's just
21:09
Speaker 3: so great too, Like you could just spend all day
21:11
Speaker 3: and not get bored and just everyone would chat to you.
21:15
Speaker 3: And I like, it's just a very friendly, loving place
21:19
Speaker 3: with a lot of with a lot of character and
21:20
Speaker 3: a lot of humor. Yeah, you know, the weather's not
21:23
Speaker 3: always great, so that right, people got to make the
21:25
Speaker 3: most of it and keep uplifted somehow. So yeah. Yeah,
21:29
Speaker 3: but I luckily get to spend time in all those places. Nice.
21:32
Speaker 2: Yeah, I definitely got to get over there and have
21:34
Speaker 2: some soce. Oh that's so good.
21:37
Speaker 3: Yeah. One thing actually, I was wearing this thing. It's
21:38
Speaker 3: called a tree cycle and it's this uh it's symbol.
21:42
Speaker 3: It's on like all the cover art of the album
21:45
Speaker 3: and like any show posters and stuff, and it's the
21:48
Speaker 3: it's a symbol of threes. So it's like the three
21:50
Speaker 3: places that I'm talking about, but it's also like the
21:54
Speaker 3: three elements like earth, wind, fire and then past, present, future,
21:57
Speaker 3: and it's like an evolution kind of thing. So that's
22:00
Speaker 3: just another little like fun thing in the artwork which
22:02
Speaker 3: Favorite Records does, and they're brilliant, so very cool at that.
22:06
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that, you know.
22:07
Speaker 3: The artwork is really yeah. Yeah, they did a great job.
22:11
Speaker 2: My last question for you do you have a favorite
22:13
Speaker 2: pub in Nashville Pub mcnamaras.
22:17
Speaker 3: Honestly, I have to say it here we are no,
22:19
Speaker 3: I know it's sponsored. No, seriously, if you haven't been
22:23
Speaker 3: to McNamara's, like the best live music. The Irish music
22:26
Speaker 3: is so good. Food here is amazing too, so good things. Yeah,
22:29
Speaker 3: a Guinness is the best here for sure. Yeah, I'd
22:32
Speaker 3: say this is my favorite, and then I'll shout out
22:34
Speaker 3: Lost and Found as well. They're a new bar in
22:38
Speaker 3: East Nashville. It's like two blocks on the road. So
22:40
Speaker 3: I'll take my little dog for a walk and I'm like, world, them,
22:42
Speaker 3: just stop at this place. Yeah, it's become my new
22:45
Speaker 3: local and it's a really cool bar. I love it
22:47
Speaker 3: there too.
22:47
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of good pubs that you can
22:49
Speaker 2: find around.
22:50
Speaker 3: It can't go wrong. Like it's yeah music city and
22:52
Speaker 3: pub city really yeah, exactly.
22:55
Speaker 2: Well, Alexandra, thank you so much for being on Taking
22:57
Speaker 2: Along Nashville today. Everyone that can listen to your new
23:01
Speaker 2: album across the Pond on all streaming platforms, thank you
23:05
Speaker 2: and thank you so much.
23:06
Speaker 3: I appreciate you. Thanks for listening to Taking a Walk
23:10
Speaker 3: Nashville with Sarah Harrelson.
23:12
Speaker 2: Please check out our other shows produced by Buzznight Media Productions,
23:17
Speaker 2: Comedy Save Me and Music Save Me hosted by Lynn Hoffman,
23:22
Speaker 2: and Take It a Walk hosted by Yours Truly Buzznight.
23:26
Speaker 2: All shows are available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and are
23:30
Speaker 2: part of the iHeart podcast network.