Singer Órla Fallon Braves It On Her Own

Órla Fallon said she was either “mad or brave” to leave the wildly successful female vocal troupe Celtic Woman. But here she is back on her own touring this weekend with pianist Jim Brickman at the Providence Performing Arts Center. She appears Friday night at 8.

Fallon said she had great times with Celtic Woman but decided it was time to “take the plunge.” She is just out with a new solo album, “Distant Shores,” which is true to her Celtic roots but has a little bit of the country sound she has assimilated from spending so much time in the United States.

“I wanted to be true to my roots,” she said, “but push things by broadening the sense of a country and Irish music. Irish and country have a lot in common.”

Asked about how things have been going since she struck out on her own, Fallon says “so far so good.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but I’m no stranger to hard work. And the album seems to have struck a chord.”

The singer-harpist and new-age pianist Brickman seem to have struck a chord of their own. They both share the same management and Brickman asked her to join him on his “Beautiful World” disc, which was recorded at Niagara Falls. And now he has turned up on one of the tracks in her new album.

Together at PPAC they will be singing holiday favorites.

As for “Distant Shores,” that’s all about love, said Fallon, about love of God, love of parents and good friends. “Dancing in the Moonlight,” one of the songs from the album, is about being in love for the first time, she said.

Fallon was calling from a small town in the “sunny southeast” of Ireland on a particularly rainy day. “I like living in the country,” she said. “I’m sort of an outdoors person.”

She grew up singing in the lap of her grandmother, vocalizing almost before she could talk. She said she picked up the harp at a boarding school in Dublin where her parents sent her.

“I’m grateful,” she said, “I wouldn’t be doing half of what I’m doing without it.”

Fallon, who released her debut album in 2000 before joining Celtic Woman, is married to an accountant who likes sports but has since become quite a musical authority.

“He’ll complain about the mix and comment on whether I can be singing better. I think it’s all those years of carrying the harp around that has begun to rub off on him.”

Fallon plans to have a single of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” out in time for Thanksgiving.

By Channing Gray
The Providence Journal
Providence, RI
01:00 AM EST on Thursday, November 12, 2009