Press Releases, Reviews & Interviews:-
Please choose a review from below:
What the media say...
Don Mescall plays London's Troubadour, July 2005
Don Mescall supports Richie Havens on his Irish Tour (Whelan's, Dublin July 2005)
"You Don't Love Me" EP by Don Mescall (Curb Records)
Sept 2001 RTE Guide - Passion and Peeves
Concert Review by Carey Mitchell (Kentucky Press)
Don takes centre stage - Limerick Leader interview, May 2010
Don Takes Centre Stage
LIMERICK LEADER- 8th May 2010
Interview by Kevin Corbett
He is one of the most sought after songwriting talents in the world, but Limerick’s Don Mescall is now keeping some of the good stuff for himself, as we will find out at his Absolute Hotel gig this Sunday, writes Kevin Corbett
IT MIGHT sound
like a line from a
sci-fi potboiler, but
Don Mescall got the
last flight out of
Heathrow before
the ash cloud closed off
Irish airspace.
"Mother Nature, she's
striking back," says the
songwriter who is back in
his native Limerick for a
special show this Sunday
night in the Absolute
Hotel. He spends more
than his fair share of time
in the air - far too much for
his liking.
"Based between UK and
Nashville? Yeah," he says,
and wonders if he can say
he's based anywhere at all.
"I've a daughter in the
UK so I come as often as I
can and spend some time
with her. I try not to be
away for too long at a time.
I do a month in Nashville
and come back for three or
four weeks.
"I'm trying to change
that part of my life because
the travel will kill you in
the end. The whole time
zone thing is a bit of a
nightmare, because I'm not
the best sleeper anyway."
But he has a plan there.
Having spent the last seven
years in and around the
music business hub that is
Nashville, Tennessee, he
has built up relationships
with the writers and artists
he has worked with. Soon
he hopes the mountain will
come to Mohammed.
"I've just bought a place
in Kilkenny and my plan
would be to invite some of
those writers and artists
over to a studio I'm building
and I wouldn't have to
be going away all the time,
put down some roots for
the first time in my life."
Until that is ready, however,
he will still be spending
most of his time in
Nashville where his skills
as a songwriter are very
much in demand.
The list of artists who
have had success with his
songs is long and diverse
including the likes of Rascal
Flatts, Boyzone, Backstreet
Boys, Frances Black
and many more.
"Nashville is a very
vibrant music business
town and a lot of the writers,
artists and publishers
are there," says Don.
"If someone is making a
record, the majority of the
best session musicians in
the world are there, they
really are. So for a songwriter,
of course, that's
your way in, you're trying
to get songs on those
records, so it's the right
place to be."
Songwriters like Don
have been fuelling the
fame of artists for decades
and you'd wonder is there
a part of him saying 'that
glory should be mine'.
"No, not really. The
exciting part for me is writing
the songs, I've always
loved writing, I write all
the time, so when your
song goes to an artist and
they have a lot of success
with it, it's like putting a
child out into the world,
you're happy for it.
So successful has he
been at the songwriting, it
has all but swallowed his
own singing career. It has
been four years since his
well-received debut Innocent
Run and bar a couple
of EP releases and a show
here and there, Don's performing
life has been on
hold.
"What happened with
me was I got caught up in
the songwriting. I made a
record four years ago for
an American label and I
promoted that. Then the
songwriting thing took off
in a big way and it's like a
rollercoaster, it's difficult
to get off it, because if
you're having success then
your manager and your
publisher will keep putting
in co-writes and requests
for people recording
albums wanting to work
with you.
"So, it wasn't a conscious
decision that I was
going to give up performing,
but the songwriting
just took over for a while
and I found myself writing
in America all the time and
the performance side of it
dwindled.
Read original press feature here
"But then last year I
made a new album in
Nashville with Doug Lancio.
I'm just finishing it.
Doug had produced a lot of
the albums that I loved
with people like Patty Griffin
and Nanci Griffith, so to
work with him was a
dream come true. We
worked together for about
two months and recorded
maybe 15 songs with some
of my favourite players
playing on it.
"Then things started
getting busy and I had to
put it on the back burner.
Now I'm recording and
mixing the last maybe
three or four tracks. I'm
excited about it, it's a
record I've been waiting to
do for a long time.
"So the plan," he laughs,
"or I'm told my plan is,
when this record comes
out I'm going to concentrate
on the whole performance
side of it."
To that end, a slot supporting
Ronan Keating on
his recent UK and Ireland
tour has helped get Don's
eye back in.
"They were sold out
venues, four or five thousand
people every night,
and I loved it. I hadn't
played in so long and it was
great to get back up in
front of people and play
new songs, and that gave
me the spur to get the
record finished.
"Performing is what I
started out doing and it
has a big place in my heart.
What I'm doing now is getting
back into performing.
I've a lot of work done on
the songwriting, so my
publishers have been kind
enough to give me time to
get this record out and
that's what I'll do
"I think also I wear two
hats. There's a type of
song, possibly, that I write
for America and for commercial
records and I think
there is another song I
write for myself that's
more intimate and personal
and I guess there are
similar ingredients in both
types of song, but I tend to
perform and write songs
that are slightly different
for myself."
Of course, as with some
numbers on his debut
album, these songs often
get covered in any case
"Yeah, they're the ones
that slip through the net,
I'm trying to hold on to a
few of them for this record,
I really am, that's sort of
funny.
"There's a song I'm
putting on my new record
and I remember after
doing this thing in
Nashville a couple of
months ago my publisher
was saying 'give me that, I
want to try that out with
Alison Krauss' and I said,
'hang on, I want to put that
on my own record'."
"Not that I wouldn't love
an Alison Krauss cut, but,
let me put it out first!"
Don returns to the studio
next week to work on
the final three or four
tracks on his album to be
called 'The Growing Years'
which he expects to be out
at the end of the summer.
With some talented guests
singing on it he's excited
about it and it represents a
departure from the
Nashville sound of his
debut.
"This album is very
stripped back, very
acoustic-based and it's
very much like what I do
live, some tracks with
added instruments and we
went for live takes too. It's
not polished like Innocent
Run was, this is loose and
raw, that's how I like to
keep it.
"I'm always trying out
new songs. In the Absolute,
it's going to be a slightly
different show, it's going to
be more intimate. I'm
going to be picking early
songs and later ones and
it's solo. Just myself and a
few guitars, kind of like an
Unplugged thing, I'm going
to be telling people about
the songs and I'm looking
forward to it."
Maybe if the ash cloud
hangs around for a while
we might keep him here to
do a few more.
