And baby makes three
Singer Emer Kenny Fades into Day
By Deric Green

Emer Kenny is balancing a lot of things these days. There's nine-month old Rosie on one hip, a new album on the other, plus a Western U.S. tour and then another CD in the works.  But that's the way that songstress Kenny likes it...keeping busy.

And, well, she did have some help on her most recent Yankeeland swing.  Mom Rita came along for the Disney-craic and to help keep on eye on Rosie, while new daddy John Murphy was also into the nappy-changing mode between mid-March performances and filming a video.

The Kenny-Murphy combo had hit the road running in San Francisco, Austin, Los Angeles and even Greeley, Colo., to plug their latest Triloka Release, Fades into Day.

"I just can't keep still," Kenny laughed in a phone interview between Rosie-feeds and preparing for her shows. "I'm just glad to be out of Ireland with all that hoof-and-mouth. We live in Dundalk and there were blocks and the like on the roads, where the police were even taking sandwiches from people. Imagine that!" she offered.

At their Victorian-era home, Kenny and Murphy have a soundproof state-of-the art studio in a coachhouse where they keep all their gear. "And we still trip over all the instruments in the house," she pointed out bemusedly.

Of course, a sunny stint in a Santa Monica apartment owned by the record label was a nice bonus on this jaunt, rather than hoteling with a babe in arms.  "I've had enough of Ireland's gentle mists for this winter. It's good to be in California," Kenny exclaimed. "I'm glad my mom, Rita, came along. Yet I guess with her and Rosie, this trip isn't as quite as 'rock 'n rolly" as it could have been."

"This is our first child. Jeez!" Kenny added.  "But when Rosie was only eight weeks old, we had her here while we were recording the album."  She's expecting to continue taking the baby while on subsequent tours, as well.      
     
What kind of changes might that mean? 

"Well, we have to live our lives, don't we?  And make adjustments.  Of course, it's not easy but on the flight over here on Aer Lingus, everybody just made a big fuss over her," said the proud mom. 

  And what's in store for Rosie?

  "I secretly would like her to do something art, like dance or music.  But we won't be shoving her into something. She can be a cop, a hairdresser, whatever she wants and is happy at it," said Kenny.

Speaking of arty, Kenny herself began playing harp around age 9, living in a musically-inclined family that has enthusiasticlly supported her as she moved up in her career.  In fact, her dad and brother play a couple of tracks on the new disc.  "We were expected to play music as kids, although I was never pushed in this direction. I actually wanted to be a vet and dabbled a bit in acting.  Glad I didn't go the animal doctor route now, though, now with the hoof and mouth disease thing," she said.

She's also a keyboard whiz and and plays the bodhran with a fierce intensity.  Kenny attended the College of Music in Dublin, where teacher Mercedes Garvey put the young student through her early paces. "She was a kind lady, lent me a concert harp until I could afford my own," Kenny recalled.

"I'm not much of a teacher myself, although I have taught harp. I find that a half hour leading a class is like four hours! Not all students work at it or have the capacity to do it. Teaching is two-way street," she said.

In this latest release, Kenny and Murphy partnered on much of the writing, with Murphy handling the engineering and mixing chores. Individual tracks were laid and the final sound worked up from there.  "It developed slowly," Kenny pointed out.  "We don't have a band, so it was interesting to work around such a situation.  A lot of people had creative input."

Kenny's own musical interests are as eclectic as her performance styles.  "I'm definitely not folk-country, although I enjoy most other kinds of music," she said.  "Certainly, we are influenced by what we hear.  Yet our albums are so personal and this one is less traditional, I suppose than the first ones.  It's hard to describe, like describing one's own personality. But everything thinks it's really different. At least it doesn't sound like anyone else."

On Fades into Day, Kenny sings in Gaelic and plays the harp, which is sure to please her fans.  Yet the disc's 12 tracks are truly modern works, with songs touching on today's Ireland and some presented in a jazzy, funky mode.  Murphy and Kenny utilized the talents of 14 solo session musicians and a string sextet to round out their writings, including principal players from Ireland's National Concert Orchestra.

"I explored my cynical and bitchy side here," she laughed again. "The album is more in your face, yet melodic and soulful.  It's kinda like the world, which is a lovely place that can be screwed up and made ugly by greed, hypocrisy and hatred," she said in a November conversation shortly after Fades was finalized.

Murphy's punk band background was also evident from the technical side and Kenny credited him with bringing out her more "funk" elements.  In some tracks, there were loads of bass and even some '70s string and guitar modes, certainly a big change from her debut in 1997 work, Emer Kenny: A New Celtic Voice.  That discourse was really emotive, with her songs of loneliness, love, redemption and sadness combining to create an attention-grabbing, haunting sound. 

Will audiences who loved that melodic gift follow her as she Fades into Day?

"We tried to do what's best musically," Kenny offered simply.