Introducing Izzie Walsh
We first featured Izzie Walsh earlier in the year just after the release of her first single and it’s been amazing to see the year she has had. With standout festival performances and sold-out shows since, as well as the release of the E.P and some big news about an upcoming trip to Australia, we caught up with Izzie to find out more.
Hi Izzie, great to chat to you for the first time. You’ve had quite a year so far, with the release of the E.P. and a string of critically acclaimed live performances. How do you look back on 2018 so far?
2018 has been crazy for us, we recorded our E.P. Take Me Back at the start of the year and travelled across the UK gigging and promoting it. We’re happy to say we’ve had a lot of support in the release with airplay from BBC Radio and local country music radio stations.
Across the summer we had such a fun festival season playing at Buckle & Boots and Blue Dot, we met so many great bands and people whilst being able to perform our music and improve our network and fanbase. We’ve had such positive feedback so far and want to continue this in the future.
And if you had to pick a particular highlight from the year, what would it be?
It’s tough to choose just one! But my highlight was playing our hometown gig at The Deaf Institute and our first headline gig in London at The Slaughtered Lamb, both shows sold out and were such an amazing experience – it’s not an arena tour quite yet but these intimate venues are great to perform at.
Your ‘Take Me Back’ E.P. is a wonderful listen. Which songs from the E.P. have you most enjoyed taking on the road?
I’ve really enjoyed performing ‘Silver & Gold’ the second track off the E.P. it’s a song that can inject energy into the audience. It may not be your traditional country song but it shows some dramatic dynamics – it’s not halfhearted it’s kind of like me, all or nothing!
How would you describe your music to anyone who hasn’t listened to you before? And which artists have influenced you in your music career?
I wouldn’t pick a specific genre to describe our music, is just a mixture of everything Country, Americana, Bluegrass, Folk and Rock, so if you like any of those genres I am sure there is a song you’ll like from the E.P. My main influences are bands such as Old Crow Medicine Show, Trampled By Turtles and Turnpike Troubadours – so not the usual choices but I think they have influenced me to be myself and not worry too much about trying to fit in.
It was announced this week that you’ll be heading to Australia as part of the ‘Buckle and Boots’ British Country Music Tour. That must fill you with excitement! How does it feel to be flying the flag for UK country?
It feels great to be able to showcase our music to an international audience, me and the band cannot wait to get on the road and show the popularity of the UK country music scene. Hopefully we can represent it successfully and spread the word about all the talented acts we’ve seen this year as well as building new relationships with acts in Australia.
To finish, apart from Australia, tell us about your plans for the coming months!
Me and the Band are going on tour across the UK in November and December supporting our good friends Curse Of Lono, we have performances at Manchester, London, Glasgow, Birmingham and many more that you can find on my socials! So of course we are looking forward to that! Overall we’ve made such amazing connections with fans across the UK it will be a special end to the year seeing them again.Then in 2019 we have some exciting plans that we cannot wait to share with you.
