Voice that is 'both awetruck and tender'

KILDARE born singer Heidi Talbot is an emerging voice in folk music with the New York Times describing her as singing “in a voice that's both awestruck and tender".Having spent six years touring with vocal harmony group Cherish the Ladies and, more recently, playing with Eddi Reader, Talbot is embarking on a promising solo career. The talented singer plays The Crane Bar, Sea Road on Sunday, October 11 at 6.30pm.At the age of 16 Talbot enrolled in Dublin’s renowned Bel Canto music school and was tutored by frank Merriman, a former teacher of Sinead O’Connor.“I went for about a year, once a week and then at weekends he’d have a group class,” says Talbot. “I found him really good at the time. His way of teaching things wasn’t technical; it was all about the story of the song.”The next step in Talbot’s career happened when she finished her Leaving Cert and went in search of adventures abroad.“I’d wanted to go to Spain to get a summer job,” Heidi recalls. “My brother was in a job he didn’t really like, he wanted to go to New York and I’d no one to go to Spain with. So he said 'I’m not going to Spain, will you come to New York for the summer?’ So I said Ok.”That trip turned...