Adjust your knickers folks: Imelda May hits town Tuesday, Oct. 4. The Irish born singer, a sensation in the U.K., will be bringing her own distinct mélange of American styles—blues, jazz, rockabilly, etc.—from her latest album, Mayhem, as well as earlier efforts Love Tattoo and No Turning Back.
On record, May's voice is brash and audacious, belting in line with stuttering surf guitars and horn blares. But in conversation, she speaks with a sweet, quiet brogue. All the same, on record or in conversation, May brings an enthusiasm to whatever she's talking about. She had much to say about the making of her last album, Mayhem, the first on a major label.
""The normal way of doing it is to call in a big producer, but I fought hard to produce Mayhem myself."" In particular, May related an incident that involved hoodwinking her record company. ""I pretended in the record company that I was meeting some producers, but I went into the studio and started recording, on the sly, secretly,"" May said. In the end, it didn't matter much. ""I played it for them, and they loved it.""
May had many positive things to say about making the album with her band, which includes her husband of 14 years, guitarist Darrel Highman.
""I was singing with my sister's boyfriend at the time, since he was a musician, and he was invited over to London to sing, and to play, and he needed a singer so he asked me to go along—I was gigging around in Ireland,"" May said. ""So I went with him to London and ended up being introduced to Darrel by a friend.""
She discussed bonding over the weekend with Highman before returning to Ireland, and what followed. ""He chased me, he came to Ireland looking for me, found me, and eventually convinced me to move to London with him.""
For May, who's been ‘gigging' for over 20 years now, touring the U.S. with her American-influenced music has been a treat.
""It's great in that the American audience get it immediately,"" she said, when asked about touring the U.S. ""You've been brought up on this music; it's your music, so people get it immediately.""
She also had much to say about performing in Europe, particularly England. ""England would be different in that they have a lot of different scenes, and certainly London, a lot of different underground scenes, and they'd all be separate.""
She added that this wasn't the case in Ireland, something reflected in her eclectic style.
""I remember once in Ireland, I'm hearing a woman shouting, ‘I don't know what they're doing but I love it!' And I loved that she just didn't care and went with it.""
Playing the U.S. is close to May's heart because of the history of Irish immigration and American music. ""When you're in America, certainly to do American root music, but there's also a big, strong relationship and a strong bond between traditional Irish and old American roots music also.""
May's touring experience, however, has been far from easy. ""I got in a stand-in drummer [once], and the drummer that I got to step in for the night ended up being in a car crash on the way!"" May said. ""He arrived late and disheveled, but decided to do the gig. He was absolutely shaken, like a leaf.""
Despite looking back on these horrors, May sounded quite happy. Be sure to catch her show Tuesday night at the Majestic Theater.
