Sing It For A Lifetime is the sound of an Irish folk veteran finding her footing after being thrown off balance by a series of life-changing events, most notably a divorce from her husband and longtime musical partner, and a global pandemic. Heidi Talbot was supposed to record the album, her first solo release in nearly six years, in Louisiana but Covid upended her plans. Instead, she holed up in a soundproofed room in her soon-to-be sold Edinburgh home and recorded the songs via real-time sessions with artists across the globe - including her pal Mark Knopfler, who added his guitar skills to the single "Empty Promise Land," among others.
The song is an emotional duet between Talbot and Appalachian fiddle player Dirk Powell, who also served as her producer - a job formerly reserved for her husband, John McCusker. The role change left Talbot unsettled but with a newfound sense of independence.
"Not to have that person there, for good and for bad, was a big jolt," she admitted. "It was freeing, it was also terrifying. I had to man up – woman up – and ask myself what I really thought, stand by my choices. It really forced me to work on my own and examine my own music. I wanted to make a totally different kind of record. I can't make the same type of record without John."
Here, Talbot takes us track by track through Sing It For A Lifetime, set for release on May 20, 2022, including revamps of tunes by Leonard Cohen, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson.
Sing It For A Lifetime
I love walking in the woods where I live just outside Edinburgh. I wrote this song very quickly after a two-hour forest ramble - it took 15 minutes. That never happens to me. I like to think I caught it there that day. I spent so much of lockdown walking and singing or writing ideas into my phone. I really think where you are informs your creativity and for me, the forest is vibrant with creative energy.Famous Blue Raincoat
Leonard Cohen's song, darkness and beauty intertwined in the lyrics and the melody. The wonderful Seonaid Aitken arranged the strings for this one. She did such a great job of coloring the instrumental break. A wonder of a song to sing.Empty Promise Land
When Dirk first sent this to me it was called "I Found My Old Diary." Written by Dirk many years ago but never recorded, it fitted perfectly with the other songs we had gathered and written. The lyrics really leant themselves to a duet so we decided to sing it that way, with Dirk taking the male lead. It dramatizes the end of a relationship, male and female voices reaching a shared place of resignation: "This woman whose life is boiling underneath her skin, This lonely man who's just longing for his dreams again." Featuring Mark Knopfler whose guitar sings like a dobro.I Let You Go
I wrote this song in the form of a letter. One of my most personal songs, I hesitated at releasing this song baby out into the universe but it was healing and uplifting to stand in my own space and in a sense let go. Seonaid Aitken's strings enhance the sweet melody, and my great friend Adam Holmes contributes soulful backing vocals.She's Gone
Bob Marley songs are like a prayer and a spell to me. We reimagined this as a country Americana song. I love the build up in the "if you see me crying" pre chorus. Adam Holmes and Amelia Powell sing me up to the last chorus, supporting and strengthening the energy with Dirk's electric guitar and Bill Smith's drums.Let Your Eyes Get Used To The Dark
Some of the greatest healing is done in darkness. Boo Hewerdine wrote this song for the album – a piece of classic country reflection about letting your perspectives adjust to a new life and seeing things fall into place.
There You Are
I heard Willie Nelson's version of this song and didn't love the production - such a beautiful song though. Dirk Powell, who produced my album, sent me a phone recording of him playing the piano and singing it in how he imagined it could be treated and it made me cry. Mark Knopfler added his magic on guitar. I love the simplicity of the lyrics - they perfectly convey that sense of longing for someone.Wandering Roads
I cried when I first heard "Wandering Roads," written by Rhiannon Giddens and Dirk. "On the day your journey's done, before a new one has begun, What will you be thinking of, what you owned or who you loved?" It forms part of the album's final promise, the sense of walking towards a new and better horizon. Guy Fletcher plays gorgeous Hammond organ on this track.Broken Mirror
I wrote the lyrics to this song in Edinburgh and sent them to Dirk late one night. The next morning I woke up to music delivered from Louisiana where he had written a sparse, elegiac melody around my wounded words.When Possession Gets Too Strong
This is a cover of a Dolly Parton song from 1970. We leaned into more of an Americana vibe with the arrangement. A kick ass song with great lyrics.Bring Me Home
"Bring Me Home" is a hymn of hope, with Mark Knopfler's guitar gently shadowing my vocal. We originally recorded this with just piano and vocals but went back to the pre-production version I had recorded with my baritone ukulele. Sometimes it's what you don't play (or say) that has the most resonance. I love how sensitive all the musicians on the album are to this truth.May 17, 2022
Find information about how to stream or buy the album at heiditalbot.com.
More Song Writing
