Ireland's rising country star aiming high after becoming radio hit
Singer and Today FM country music presenter Clodagh Lawlor says she's ready for anything and now has her sights set on a television music show.
Rising star Clodagh Lawlor reveals how landing her own country music show on Today FM has given her career a massive boost — and introduced her to one of her idols.
Singer and now radio presenter Clodagh, who is a native of Newmarket-on-Fergus, Co Clare, first shot to fame when she won The Late Late Show search for a country star in 2019 and landed the opportunity to tour with Nathan Carter.
But she tells Magazine+ that her new Wednesday night country music show on Today FM has taken her to another level.
Clodagh says: 'I just love that people know my name now and tell me 'oh, we listen to you on the radio.'
'I'm manifesting that I'll have a music show on RTE television next. That's what I'd love, something like The Kelly Clarkson Show… The Clodagh Lawlor Show.
'I have my boots on now and I said it at the start of the year that this year is going to be my year. When I was in Nashville with my mother we met a guy who was working in the Boot Barn store… we were chatting away and he said he was also a songwriter, adding: 'I just wrote a song for Tim McGraw and he's going to hopefully cut [record] it.' He said to my mam, 'When preparation meets opportunity nothing can stop ya.'
Clodagh with Lainey Wilson
'You are prepared so much in your lifetime for these things to happen. Now I'm like, throw anything at me and I'll be ready because I'm finally comfortable in my own skin.'
A fan of America's contemporary country music stars, Clodagh is now getting the opportunity to meet and interview them thanks to her Today FM show.
'I'm now getting to meet my idols on a huge scale,' she tells me. 'I was so excited meeting Lainey Wilson when she headlined the C2C festival in Belfast recently. They always say never meet your idols, but she was so incredible.
Clodagh takes the mic at Today FM on Wednesday nights
News in 90 Seconds - May 17th
'She was also so encouraging to me. Lainey herself didn't have overnight success and that's what I love as well. She said, 'Girl, I should have given up a hell of a long time ago. I'm 15 years in Nashville and I should have left after year two and I didn't.' She just kept the head down.
'She was asking me how long I was doing the radio job and I told her 'two months!' She said, 'You're a natural.'
'I was 30 at the weekend and she said, 'when I was 30 things just started to happen. I was doing a lot before that but nobody really saw me.'
'In the Irish country music scene I was trying to figure out what I really want to look like and sound like and what kind of artist I want to be.
'But I'm getting the idea of who I want to be now and that's exciting for me, that I finally know what I want to do and I know I can do it and I can sit there with the likes of Lainey Wilson and not be so starstruck that it's written all over my face. Put me in any situation now and I can do it.
Country singer and Today FM country music presenter Clodagh Lawlor
'I absolutely love the radio, it's such a different side of things. I always said when I was growing up that I want to be in the entertainment business, regardless of what I do. Once it revolves around country music that's what I'd be happy with. I live, breathe and eat it. I just love it so much.
'Country music is getting so big as you know. Now nightclubs are tapping into it and playing country nights. It's so commercial nowadays that all kinds of people are now embracing it.
'I recently got my first DJ job where I'm playing country music for four hours in a nightclub. Never in my life did I think I was going to be behind the decks. I have a month to get my DJ skills in order before I do it. It's the radio that opened that door for me as well.'
Despite being in a good place career-wise, Clodagh admits that she still panics about the future. 'I'm an awful panicker,' she admits. 'When I turned 30 at the weekend I was crying the whole time because it just hit me with emotion that life has to begin now. I feel so bad about it because at the same time I feel that there's nothing that can stop me really.'
Clodagh has weathered many storms in her career. Her star was shining in 2019 after winning the Late Late Show search for a new country star, but then Covid shut down the live entertainment business.
'That was a shock because I was worried about people forgetting me,' she admits. 'I was only getting started, introducing myself to people and getting my name established and I was afraid that people wouldn't remember who I was when the pandemic was over. I'd only had my 15 minutes of fame on the Late Late Show the previous year.
'But, looking back today, I'm thankful that Covid actually gave me the chance to figure out the type of artist I wanted to be. I wouldn't be the type of performer I am today doing concerts and shows if it wasn't for that time.
'I found what I want to do looking back on the records Mum and Dad had at home and reliving the '90s country music with women like [American stars] Martina McBride, Faith Hill and Trisha Yearwood… and that helped me to figure out where I was going with my music.'
Clodagh, who once worked as ground staff with Aer Lingus in Shannon Airport — 'I remember people like Jamie Dornan, Tommy Tiernan and Shaggy checking in' — adds that whatever happens in her career, Ireland will always be her home.
'Ireland is a beautiful country and I am so fortunate that there is a great country music scene here,' she says.
Tune in to Country Hits with Clodagh Lawlor on Today FM every Wednesday from 10pm to 12am.
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