Rising country star Catherine McGrath features alongside Pale Waves and Mabel on the cover of the new edition of Music Week, a 2018 preview special featuring our list of the 10 new artists set to light up the year ahead.
In our interview, the singer – who first appeared in Music Week in March 2017 – spoke about her plans for 2018, including the release of her highly-anticipated Warner Bros debut Talk Of This Town.
“I have a good feeling about 2018,” McGrath told Music Week. “I get to finally release my album, do my headline shows and properly show people who I am. I can show everyone all my songs and everything they haven’t seen yet that I’ve been working on. This year’s the time when I can properly be me.”
I fell in love with country music because of the lyrics... Everything felt so real
Catherine McGrath
In 2017, McGrath wowed crowds at the annual Country 2 Country Festival and has been hailed by Warner Brothers president Phil Christie for “writing and singing world class pop songs”. In the interview, McGrath told us more about her musical influences.
“I think my music is a blend of country and pop,” McGrath said. “But country music is so much about storytelling and lyrics and I think the pop comes through in the production. That’s why I fell in love with country music, because of the lyrics and everything felt so real. I hope other people can see that as well.”
McGrath also commented on the numerous, positive comparisons her work so far has drawn with early Taylor Swift material.
“I actually really love being compared to her because that’s the reason I got into country music,” said McGrath. “It’s interesting to see how she’s developed, but I really love her older sound. I couldn’t see myself doing anything as poppy as Taylor Swift is now, but we’ll see what happens… I actually met her after her show in Dublin but didn’t really say much, I was very star-struck!”
Read the full interview in the latest issue of Music Week, or subscribers can find it in full online here.
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You can watch the video for Catherine McGrath's latest single Talk Of The Town below: