Mary Coughlan

Green Hotel, Kinross, December 11

Irish singer Mary Coughlan is planning a family reunion.

The County Galway chanteuse says she’s looking forward to seeing plenty of familiar faces when she makes her Kinross debut.

“A lot of my family moved to Scotland from Donegal in the ‘40s and ‘50s and I’ve got 15 cousins coming to the gig,” she reveals.

“They’re based all around Dunfermline and Fife, and Glasgow as well.

“I’m looking forward to it, it’s going to be great. There’s a kinship that Irish people have with Scottish people.”

Regarded as one of the British Isles’ most distinctive female vocalists, Coughlan, 60, had a major health scare this year when she was diagnosed with severely blocked coronary arteries.

Following heart surgery in September she insists she is fully recovered and besides extensive touring is also working on a follow-up to last year’s Scars On The Calendar album and a one-woman musical play about her eventful life.

“I’m never off tour, I’m always working,” she adds.

“I love it more than ever. I’ve been concentrating more on Australia and New Zealand, which are countries I didn’t go to in the first part of my career.

“They always seemed like a very far away possibility but I started going 15 years ago and I’ve been back every other year for a month and I have a huge audience down there that I love.

“I did the Sydney Opera House in 2011, a big tour of cities in 2013, and I’ve been invited back in May.”

The mother-of-five and long-term collaborator Erik Visser have reunited with Johnny Mulhern, who wrote The Ice Cream Man and Magdalene Laundry for her.

“Myself and Erik have compiled about 14 songs we want to do and I’ve written a couple myself,” says Mary. “I feel very energetic again. “We’ve chosen the songs and Erik’s working on the arrangements so it’s just a matter of being able to find time to get it done now.”

Coughlan’s smoky Irish drawl has deepened over the course of her 30-year career but remains instantly recognisable.

“I seem to have found some place really far inside me I can access to communicate with people, kind of really feel it,” she declares.

“The words have to hit me between my breast bone and my heart. That’s what drove me to music in the first place. The first time I heard Van Morrison or Christine Perfect singing I was moved deeply. I’m comfortable where I am now.

“Everybody in the band plays off each other and it’s marvellous for that feeling of being connected to go out into the audience.”

Mary Coughlan is looking forward to bringing her tour to Courier Country.