Molly is on the right track with new music

A WEST Cork musician is raising spirits with her newly released single.

Molly O’Mahony, musician and singer songwriter from Ballydehob, has just released her debut single as a solo artist called Remember to Be Brave.

She has spent the past decade writing and performing with art-folk group Mongoose, who have shared stages with the likes of Glen Hansard, Mary Coughlan, and Eddi Reader.

She returned to Ballydehob last March at the outset of the pandemic and along with her four siblings and wrote the track.

It is the first release from an album she’s due to record this summer.

‘This is a song of hope, recovery and forward movement.

‘I send it out to everyone affected by the crazy year in our wake, and as a rallying cry to look up, open outwards and keep her lit.

‘The world and the people in it are actually wonderful,’ she said.

As a teenager living in Ballydehob, she performed as one half of a jazz duo with local guitarist Norman Collins. They played a regular spot at Ballydehob Jazz festival for consecutive years.

After winning a local singing competition, the pair used the prize of studio time to record an album together entitled Quiet Nights of Quiet Stars, a collection of blues and bossa nova standards, when Molly was just 17.

Gutsy, raw, and heartfelt are how she describes her music, and she cites Joni Mitchell as her musical inspiration.

Meanwhile, Polly Barrett a singer-songwriter living in Schull recently released her new single Thinking About You which has selected for the RTE Radio 1 Recommends Playlist

The single has also been chosen to feature in a Discover Ireland campaign for West Cork this year.

Polly began her music career 15 years ago, writing songs while training to be an actor in London.

Her return to Ireland in 2007 brought Polly into the bosom of the Irish music scene, seeing her release two albums, Mr. Bookshop in 2011 and Probably Me in 2014, and tour Ireland and the UK extensively. This included playing support to acts like Agnes Obel, Julie Felix,and Roddy Woomble.

•See page 18 for more.