Country singer Effie Neill told David Hennessy about her Cowboys and Heroes success, making it to the final of Glór Tíre and taking home a Hot Country award at last year’s awards.
West Cork’s Effie Neill is about to release her new single, The Fiddle on the Wall.
Effie, 22, made it to the final of TG4’s Glór Tíre last year.
It has been all go for Effie since she won a competition at the 2023 Cowboys and Heroes festival.
Her debut single Country is the Best was very warmly received and she was honoured with an award at the Hot Country Awards last April.
She will join a line up that includes Louise Morrissey. TR Dallas, Barry Doyle and more at the Hot Country TV Country Music Dancing Weekend 11- 13 April.
It was not that long ago that the 22-year-old, from Ardgroom, in Beara was working as a receptionist at Kenmare Mart, but she has been playing gigs since she was 14 and says country music was in the blood.
Winning that award at Cowboys and Heroes impressed revered Irish country singer Michael English who thought she had a great voice and a great stage presence for her tender years.
It was Michael English who was Effie’s mentor on the TG4 show.
It’s been a hell of a couple of years for you really, hasn’t it?
“It’s been crazy.
“I’m on the road about 18 months or so.
“I suppose it started off in 2023 when I won the Cowboys and Heroes festival in Leitrim.
“Then I met up with Hot Country and Hugh O’Brien and Eilish O’ Sullivan and then released my first single Country’s the Best which is actually written by Hugh’s brother, Niall O’ Brien.
“Yeah, it kind of went from there then.
“That song got me going.
“It appeared here, there and everywhere between Scotland, England and all over Ireland really.
“So yeah, it’s going good.”
Has it always been music for you? Have you always known you wanted to sing?
“Yeah, I suppose music was always in the household growing up between my grandmother and my mum as well.
“They would have been lovely singers so it came from that really and the love grew more and more for it.
“That was always my dream to be doing it as my job and I’m very, very lucky that so far, so good. That it’s coming true.
“I was around 12, 13 when I started playing the guitar.
“My first gig in a pub was when I was 14 in O’Reilly’s Bar in Kilgarvan, Co. Kerry.
“Then I kind of went into, like I said, about 18 months ago into the country scene, the dances and the social dancing and I’m absolutely loving it.
“So far, so good.”
Tell us about Cowboys and Heroes and winning that. What did that do for you? What was that feeling like?
“It was funny.
“My parents were with me.
“There were two heats of it and when I heard the other contestants I said to my mam and dad, ‘No way am I gonna win this’.
“I said, ‘Look, be prepared. We’ll be coming home tomorrow with our tale between our legs’.
“But I won it and it was a great feeling that after making the journey up from West Cork.
“It was great and then the ball got rolling then when I met up with Hot Country and it’s been a rollercoaster since then really.”
Effie is coming over to the UK in April, she was over with Barry Doyle in November..
“That was his annual weekend over there in Blackpool and it was a great weekend and a great crowd.
“And I’m back there again next November and I’m sure again it will be a great weekend.
“I’m over in Scotland with Barry Doyle and Hot Country as well next year.
“I’m really looking to that, absolutely love working in Scotland and in England as well.
“They’re very, very welcoming the people there and it’s a home away from home really.
“Lots coming up and really excited for it.”
Hot Country TV’s Country Dancing Weekend in April has a bill that includes Louise Morrissey, Paddy O’Brien, Brandon McPhee, Tony Kerr, Janey Kirk, John Glenn, Lisa Stanley, TR Dallas, Norman Borland, Dee Morrissey, Barry Doyle, Joe Mac and Effie herself.
What is it like to share the stage with such people?
“It’s a dream come true really.
“They’re all people that I would have looked up to growing up.
“Louise Morrissey is such an inspiration to any young female out there that’s wanting to do music as their career.
“I’ve always looked up to the likes of Louise and Philomena Begley and Margo and all these people that brought country music alive really in Ireland.
“It’s a dream come true really.”
How did you enjoy the Glór Tíre experience?
“It was an experience of a lifetime really.
“I made friends for life out of it and it was an experience to work with such top class musicians in Ireland, and the whole experience of the cameras and the live shows.
“The live shows were nerve-racking but it was great and, like I said, experience of a lifetime.
“Sad that it’s over but glad I can look back and say that I did it.”
Was it a great disappointment after going all the way to the final?
“The way I look at it, I was delighted that I made the final.
“I didn’t even think that I would even make it that far to be honest with you.
“I was delighted.
“And around the time, unfortunately my mam wasn’t well and she actually got suddenly sick the weekend before the final so there was a lot to be thankful for around that time as well for me personally.
“I was just delighted for Jason McCahill that won it and delighted that I was on the show and experienced it.
“And very grateful so there wasn’t a big disappointment.”
The Irish World is pleased to add that Effie’s mother is now doing fine.
Was Glór Tíre something you always wanted to do?
“100%, yeah.
“Watching it when I was a child I would always say, ‘I would love to be on that programme one day’.
“When I got the call to go on it, I was over the moon and I just jumped at the opportunity to do it, absolutely delighted that I made it to the final and I suppose did my family proud and my friends proud and my community proud.
“There’s a lot to be grateful for.”
You were mentored by Michael English, what was it like to work with someone like that?
“Yeah, that was just a dream come true.
“He would have been always the one I’d be going to see and never in my born days would I have ever thought that I would be mentored by him on Glór Tíre and singing a duet with him as well.
“It was an experience of a lifetime for me.
“We’re good friends now out of it and that’s something that I would have never thought I’d say in my born days but I am delighted and he was very, very good to me.”
You mentioned people like Philomena, who else would have been the big inspirations?
“I was a big fan girl of Nathan Carter growing up and Derek Ryan as well.
“And Derek Ryan being a songwriter, I wouldn’t be a big songwriter but he would always have inspired me to try and write a song even though it never made it outside the front door of the house.
“But people like that would give you the drive, the motivation to do something like that and Derek Ryan would have been that person.
“But when you talk American country singers the likes of Tammy Wynette, obviously Dolly and Rhonda Vincent, I would be a big fan of them.
“So yeah, a mixture of genres.”
You won an award at the Hot Country Awards last year..
“I did yeah, back in April.
“I won the Hottest Female Act.
“It was great to be up there amongst the likes of Michael English, Nathan Carter, Derek Ryan, Jimmy Buckley, all them.
“It was a great night and a pinch me moment.”
Another thing I noticed about you just looking at your social media is you’re always happy to do a bit of a charity gig or fundraising. You like to lend your support to a cause if you can, isn’t that right?
“I do, yeah.
“It’s very important.
“It was over lockdown and obviously people couldn’t get out or whatever.
“The Beara Peninsula would be a rural enough place, we would be two hours away from our nearest hospital and we’re dependent very much on the air ambulance.
“They’re now called CRITICAL and they’re now joined up as well with the national ambulance but at the time, they were just known as Air Ambulance and they weren’t funded by the government.
“There would have been a few instances in the Beara Peninsula that unfortunately people would need the air ambulance.
“Air ambulance from Beara to hospital in Cork city can make it in 20 minutes as opposed to a two hour car journey, so I set up a fundraiser online and I did it across two nights over Christmas, Facebook Live and then there was just a link so people could donate.
“I raised a couple of grand for the air ambulance which was obviously very, very helpful towards them.”
Effie told us about another fundraiser that was upcoming at the time of this chat but has since taken place raising €5,745 for the Castletownbere RNLI station.
“Actually coming up next week, I’m running another fundraiser for the RNLI.
“I’m delighted to say it’s actually sold out. I’m delighted about that.
“I try my best to do as much as I can for charity.”
Fair play. We were just talking about awards and stuff but I bet that means more than any award, does it?
“It does, yeah.
“If It will help one person, it’s a bonus to me. That’s the way I look at it.
“And I’m a member of my local coastguard station.
“They are funded by the government and that’s why I didn’t do it for them but the RNLI isn’t unfortunately.
“We work hand in hand with them.
“I would volunteer as much as possible.”
What’s next? Are there plans to do an album?
“I have a new album coming out early spring next year 2025 and I have a new single coming out the start of January.
“So yeah, plenty of music being released and lots of gigs, concerts and then lots of stuff with the Barry Doyle band as well.
“That’s the outlook of next year anyway.”
Can you tell us a little bit about that single that’s coming?
“It’s lively and the dancers, I hope, are going to love it.
“It’s probably one of my favourites that I’ve recorded so far.
“I’m just hoping that the people love it as much as I do.”
What do you like to do when you’re not performing or recording?
“Believe it or not, I like a little bit of farming.
“I actually would have worked in a cattle mart.
“It was actually only last year (2023).
“I like my walking. I like my running as well even though it’s hard to get around to that these days with the weather,with the frost and the snow and the storms but we get around to it when we can.
“And of course, I can’t forget the coastguard as well.
“That has been a big part of my life as well there for a long time, and still is.
“Even though I’m on just a little bit of a break at the moment, I do intend to go back.”
Great, I made a note that you one time shared a bill with Silm Attraction who is well known to our readers..
“I did, yeah.
“I used to play in Tiffty’s Tavern in Greenford.
“He was in there.
“He’s sound and a gas man as well.”
The Fiddle on the Wall is out 14 January.
Effie Neill plays at Hot Country TV’s Country Music Dancing Weekend 11- 13 April at the Grand Hotel, Llandudno, Wales.
For information and tickets, call Hugh O’Brien on 0121 512 2215 (UK number) or +353 87 685 9895.
For more information about Effie, click here.
