An Interview with Poppy Fardell

A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to attend the Vic Allen gig at the wonderful Green Note in London. Poppy Fardell opened the afternoon’s proceedings with a short set, which was highlighted by her debut single ‘Hayley’, which recently received an airing on Country Hits Radio.

I caught up with Poppy this week and chatted about her career and that latest single!

To start, can you tell us what it is about the country genre that grabbed you in the first place?

Well, it was my mums dream to be a country singer, and I’m dads a musician, so I grew up around so much music. The first record I owned was Dolly Parton, Greatest Hits. I don’t think I took the headphones off for weeks! I was instantly in love with the stories told through country music, Coat of Many Colours (DP) Not Ready to Make Nice (TDC) etc. I think it doesn’t matter what age you are, you can always recognise truth, and I think that’s what country music tells.

And which country artists have inspired you in your career? And who are you listening to at the moment?

I would say most influential people for me were/are Dolly Parton and The Dixie Chicks, because they were the ones who kind lit the flame (along with my parents… thanks Mum and Dad). Others are Shania Twain, Cam, Taylor Swift etc.

At the minute I’m loving Cassadee Pope’s album ‘stages’, everything by Lainey Wilson – she’s rocking it! Miranda Lambert, Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris… and I’ve also found my way back to Patsy Cline.

Have you got a particular highlight in your career so far?

Well recently I performed Backing Vocals for Jake Morrell at The Long Road, and supported Vic Allen at The Green Note, which were both really amazing. But I suppose the highlight so far was releasing my first single! It has been something I’ve wanted to do for so long, and despite being fairly new on the scene, the support has been amazing and I’m so grateful.

Last month you released that debut single ‘Hayley’ – can you give us an insight into how the song came about?

Well, I wrote this song back in January on my bedroom floor in about 30 minutes. It was a lot longer originally, too. It felt like it came out of nowhere… At the time I was teacher assisting in a class learning about Boudica, and that night I had a bit of a strange dream, which left a strong image in my head of of some fiery red head fighting for her freedom in a time when it wasn’t acceptable to speak up or act out. At the time I didn’t think the song was about my life in the slightest… now I kind of look back and realise that, subconsciously, and I think this happens with songwriting a lot, I was writing about myself (minus the fiery red hair).

 

To finish, let us know what we can expect from Poppy Fardell in the coming months, and where can we find you on social media?

So, I have a new single hoping to drop end of Nov/early December, and I’m also working on an EP to be released in the New Year, which will again, be produced by Tim Prottey-Jones.

You can find me on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter where I’m always posting little updates of my music (or my dog).