Southern Star Sessions are back! It’s our way of celebrating local musical talent. For our first session we invited Mary Greene & Noel Shine of Greene & Shine into our Southern Star Studio. Keep an eye out for the next Southern Star Session in July.
Southern Star Sessions are made in partnership with Baby Hannah’s, Skibbereen.
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When they aren’t helping us spotlight local talent, they’re serving up the best of West Cork daily from 12:30 PM. From pizzas, snacks, and full lunch/dinner menus (with takeaway available!) to their brilliant beer garden and live sports, they are the ultimate hub for local food and live music in Skibbereen.
Talk me through your song writing process
Mary: It can start with a melody, which is actually slightly easier, because lot of the time I start with the words. Sometimes if you're very lucky, they both come at the same time, which is the dream. I find if Noel presents me with a tune, that I can actually fit songs or fit words to it more easily.
What has inspired your latest album, Like Sweet Summer Rain?
Mary: I suppose it's a little bit darker than previous albums, and there's a couple of songs on there that are provoked, rather than inspired, by world events and the rise of the dictator globally. There's a song called Chalk It Down that deals with that from inside the head, as I would imagine, of a dictator. So that's quite a rocky dark sound.
How did you two meet?
Mary: I was always in the front row at every gig that had a good guitar player, and that's where I first saw Noel Shine! I thumbed up from Waterford to busk when I was 18. The Cork Folk Festival was on and I wanted to go and I had no money, so I went busking and I saw him upstairs in the Donkey's Ears.
Noel: I was playing with John Spillane at the time.
Mary: So, I remembered him and I wasn't introduced to him till about, I'd say two years later. But he stuck in my mind!
What’s your favourite aspect of performing together?
Noel: The audience's feedback would have a lot to do with it. It's really encouraging if you've a good audience. It makes a difference to the gig.
Who's a dream artist or band you'd like to collaborate with, dead or alive?
Noel: Well, The Onlies played in the Baltimore Fiddle Fair this year, they're a beautiful band and I wouldn't mind playing with those sometimes. We're influenced by them even though they're way, way younger than us.
Mary: I'd love to do some song writing with Ron Sexsmith. I think he's an amazing songwriter, or else Mark Knopfler whose song writing I just love.
What song or album have you been listening to on repeat lately?
Mary: I've been listening a lot to an album called Dirt Road by Chris Whitley, who died very young and he was an amazing guitar player, very innovative and a very unusual singer. His songs are very unusual as well.
Noel: The Onlies.
Watch the full Southern Star Sessions performance here:
