We continue our video-celebration of our summer of festivals with a recent single from the great Aoife O’Donovan, who is performing at Cambridge Folk Festival on Saturday 27th July 2024. Get your tickets here and you’ll be treated to a fabulous line-up, including Larkin Poe, Dean Owens & The Sinners, Darlingside and Robert Plant Presents Saving Grace Featuring Suzi Dian. Held each year since 1965, Cambridge Folk Festival is one of the longest-running folk festivals in the world, attracting large crowds and celebrated artists.
The new album from the GRAMMY-winning O’Donovan, ‘All My Friends’, is a commentary on women’s rights in the USA today. The nine songs on O’Donovan’s first self-produced record were inspired by the passing of the 19th Amendment and the letters and speeches of campaigner Carrie Chapman Catt. Today’s video, created by filmmakers Steph Jenkins and Brian Lee, is for the title track from the album. The powerful lyrics are presented alongside found footage that reinforces the song’s message. O’Donovan’s melodic voice is beautiful, rising over the absorbing textures of brass, an orchestra and a girls’ choir. O’Donovan says of the song: “The seeds of this song predate the entire project as a whole. This song is about camaraderie, companionship, people united in common struggle against oppression. I imagine the women literally marching in Tennessee as the dawn lifted over the fields. I imagine the struggle of needing just one more state to ratify, and just how much weight that final vote held. I imagine the collective longing for the country of our birth to open her arms. The opening, featuring my voice in harmony with The Westerlies, sets the tone for the record. Slowly, the strings enter, enveloping the chorale in rich tones, and then when the band kicks in after that first verse, we hear the gorgeous aching sound of the San Francisco Girls Chorus.”
As well as releasing four excellent solo albums, O’Donovan is part of the award-winning trio I’m With Her alongside Sara Watkins and Sarah Jarosz. She’s a hugely talented artist and ‘All My Friends’ is a fine example of her stunning song-craft. Enjoy.
