I wanted to put my own stamp on these old songs – but I’m writing my own tracks now, says Muireann Bradley
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MUIREANN Bradley is a young lady who sings the blues. Listening to the Irish teenager is like being transported back in time to the heyday of Billie Holliday, Ella Fitzgerald or Nina Simone. Now Muireann, who turned 18 this month, has signed a transatlantic deal with Decca and Verve Forecast, labels synonymous with those three iconic singers.
![[At an age when most girls listen to Taylor Swift on repeat, Muireann Bradley is immersing herself in old blues songs from America’s Deep South.]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/muireann-photos-pr-supplied-959475028.jpg?strip=all&w=695)
It is a deserved reward for her beguiling voice and dazzling finger-picking guitar skills. Her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues, has been remastered for re-release in February and comes with an extra track, When The Levee Breaks — a song she loves to sing live.
![[Her debut album, I Kept These Old Blues, has been remastered for re-release in February]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/muireann-photos-pr-supplied-959475024.jpg?strip=all&w=686)
Some of you might remember Led Zeppelin’s full throttle, electrified When The Levee Breaks which closes their fourth album. But Muireann returns the song to its folk roots, basing her interpretation in equal parts on Memphis Minnie’s original and a take by Philadelphia guitar picker Ari Eisinger.
![[I was very shocked at the standing ovation. It was an amazing experience, says Muireann]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/NINTCHDBPICT000959470768.jpg?strip=all&w=960)
The lyrics tell of the devastating Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, which makes Muireann’s story all the more remarkable when you consider that she hails from the hills of County Donegal just outside the small town of Ballybofey. At an age when most girls listen to Taylor Swift on repeat, she is immersing herself in old blues songs from America’s Deep South.
Many of the original singers had poverty-stricken lives but became acclaimed in later life during the 1960s blues revival. Now Muireann is launching her own revival of their rich and important legacy. As she tells me via video call: “Nobody of my generation has heard of artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson or Blind Blake.
