Maghera singer releases duet record

“I have been busy touring and working on my new record as well as working on writing some new material,” Allie said.

“I released my first single from the EP ‘Simplest of Freedoms’ in April and we made a video for it made by the wonderful BigBad Lama productions. In March I did a two week tour of Ireland which was an amazing experience. I played shows in Dublin, Dundalk, Galway, Cork and Slane sometimes playing 2 shows a night.”

Allie has also supported NI Toursim Board favourite and fellow Mid Ulster musicians Silhouette on three dates of their Irish tour.

“I have also got a band together so have been practicing hard with them - we played our first gig as a full band a few weeks ago in Belfast and I loved it! I’m used to playing solo with a guitar so this was a new experience and it gave people the chance to hear my songs with the full sound that is present on the actual EP.”

Allie decided to make a record of duets after writing a song with Aaron Shanley while they were touring together.

“Aaron and I wrote a song one afternoon in Drogheda while we were hanging out before a gig,” she said.

She wrote ‘I need money’ with Aaron Shanley after hearing a song performed on tour.

“We heard a guy sing the line ‘I don’t need money because I’m in love’,” she said. “As a kind of joke and as we weren’t living on much money on tour- we decided we should write the opposite song ‘I need money ‘cause I’m not in love’.

“I had so much fun creating a song with another individual, honing the lyrics and melodies, that I thought it would be an interesting idea to collaborate with others with the objective of creating a collections of songs, specifically duets.”

The new collection of five songs shows the collaborative effort of some of Northern Ireland’s finest talent (Jamie Neish, Aaron Shanley, Mark Graham, Mark McAllister and Nashville based artist Kiernan McMullan).

She says that ‘Two’ has a different sound to previous work because of the collaborative influence from the other musicians.

“Each song is different as each collaborator had a different musical style,” Allie explained.

“I think that’s what makes it special, each song represents what that person is about and their songwriting technique as well as my own.

The record also features a cover of Nina Simone’s Be My Husband, after it went down well with crowds on tour.

She said: “I was really eager to record it. The male backing vocals really add to the song and as it is basically an acapella version. I feel that this song shows a new side to me a singer.”

Allie’s next big gig will be the EP launch show on 29 June in No Alibis Bookstore, Belfast and a UK & Ireland tour is planned for October.

‘Two’ is available now from online music stores.