Heidi Talbot
Making her debut Shetland Folk Festival appearance is Heidi Talbot, who is celebrating 20 years of touring as a professional singer this year. Having first come to prominence as a member of Irish-American female group Cherish the Ladies, Heidi’s 2008 breakthrough solo release swiftly assured her promotion to the premier league with critics mooting comparisons as diverse as Björk, Enya, Linda Ronstadt, Norah Jones and Kirsty MacColl.
Hailing from Co. Kildare, Ireland, and having spent several years in New York, Heidi slips effortlessly between the musical worlds of Americana and Celtic folk, but retains a personal modesty rooted in tradition. Heidi Talbot is known for her stunning voice, sweet melodies and intricate arrangements of traditional and contemporary material. Now firmly established as a solo artist with seven albums and numerous guest appearances for leading folk artists such as Boo Hewerdine, Eddi Reader and many more, she has also earned rave reviews for her records and live performances. Heidi has had extensive Radio play on BBC Radio 2 and BBC 6 Music, and her television appearances include RTE's Late Late Show in Ireland, BBC Hogmanay Live, and CBS This Morning.
Her most recent album projects include a collaboration with firm Shetland favourite Adam Holmes and their ‘Arcade’ project, and also the release of a winter album, A Light in the Dark, recorded with three of Sweden’s finest folk musicians including 12-string guitar player Roger Tallroth of Väsen fame.
Heidi will be releasing a new album in the Spring of 2022 - Sing it For a Lifetime, featuring brand new music with exciting collaborations and produced by Appalachian fiddle legend and country producer, Dirk Powell.
Sing It For A Lifetime was forged in a pressure cooker: it was recorded in one sound- proofed room in a house that was being sold, as Heidi Talbot looked after her two daughters and negotiated the split from her husband of 11 years, the folk musician John McCusker. A planned recording stint in Louisiana, cancelled because of Covid, turned into a remote real-time session over two different time zones, 3000 miles apart. An international group of musicians including her friend Mark Knopfler somehow came together so smoothly, you can’t hear the seams. The result is a crowning achievement in her 20-year career. It shows a UK folk veteran going transatlantic, an unconscious return to her earliest years as a performer. But most importantly, it features her most raw and open-hearted work to date, as she finds a new voice away from the long- standing recording partnership with McCusker, who produced her earlier records.
