The wait is nearly over for Lisa McHugh who will put her stamp on Electric Picnic next weekend as the first country music act ever to play the event.
The Hillbilly Girl singer is set to take to the stage on Saturday as Ireland’s biggest music festival returns to Stradbally, Co Laois, after a two-year hiatus.
Lisa, 34, took a well-earned break from rehearsing to chat with the Irish Sunday Mirror as she fine-tunes her 45-minute set.
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She said: “It’s been something that we’ve been trying to to be a part of for the last few years.
“We were on the bill for that fateful year in 2020 but Covid came and that put a tin hat on that for everyone.
“I’m delighted we’re finally going to be on stage this year, it’s a festival I’ve known for years, I’m so excited for it. I’ve never actually been able to get to Electric Picnic, I’ve heard so much about it over the years.
“So this will be my first time at the Picnic, and my first time performing at it as well.”
Mum Lisa, who welcomed baby son Milo seven months ago with husband Nathan Khan, has already brought the hoedown to Kaleidescope and several other festivals this summer.
She added: “We’ve done a few festivals and have a good run of them now for the next few weeks which is great fun. I’m just delighted to be back on stage again. I’ll be playing some of my newest material and all the classics as well.”
The sold-out Picnic is back for the first time since 2019 from Friday, September 2, to Sunday, September 4, at Stradbally Hall. Music lovers – all 70,000 of them – can look forward to an impressive line-up that includes Dermot Kennedy, Arctic Monkyes, Snow Patrol, Anne-Marie and Picture This.
This year’s event also features a brand new Fishtown carnival area with Gerry Fish, The Frank and Walters, The Blizzards and Jack Lukeman.
Lisa, who hails from Scotland but now lives in Co Fermanagh, will be reunited with Picture This who wrote her new single Dynamite and they share the same manager.
She said: “I feel very lucky over the last ten years to be recording and performing for that length of time.
“My sound is definitely progressing into a more modern pop country sound, whereas it would have been more
traditional before. Three or four years ago I decided to release more and more of my own material, songs that I’d written myself.
“Songs like The Scandal and You’re Gonna Get Back Up, they definitely have more of an American country pop sound than older material like Apple Jack or Hillbilly Girl.
“I just wanted to challenge myself.”
For Glasgow-born Lisa it’s the timeless Watch Me that strikes a chord with her every time she performs it live.
She added: “I wrote that song when I was just at the beginning of trying to make it. We all go through periods where we feel we’re knocking on doors and getting no answers.
“I wrote that song at a particular time when I felt that way – I just wanted to write a song that would give me determination. I still get knockbacks to this day, life is not plain sailing, but I always go back to that song and revisit it.
“Every time I perform that on stage it gives me a great boost of confidence.”
While she can’t wait to “soak up the atmosphere” at the festival, Lisa will not stay overnight as Milo is too young to bring on tour.
She said: “He’ll be at home waiting for his momma so I can’t stay.
“He’s a great baby and is very easy going. We went to Tenerife on honeymoon, the three of us, and it was great. Because we were bringing Milo with us we didn’t want to be travelling too far away on a plane.
“He was a dream, he slept for three quarters of it. He’s been up and down the road to Dublin, he’s been to Glasgow.”
Like everyone else, the pandemic was tough for Lisa who went for long spells without being able to see her family in Scotland and had to postpone her wedding twice.
In a double blow she had taken a year off touring to concentrate on her songwriting before everything went into lockdown.
She added: “The plan was to come back and do shows with the new songs, but then Covid came along, so I’ve been off for three years now. I was more than ready to come back. I fell pregnant as well during that time which I was thrilled about, and then there was the wedding.
“So that was a lot to deal with... now we’re in the stage of organising tours, I want to be back touring.
“I’m over the moon to be a mummy but I want to still be an artist and continue with my music career. But Milo absolutely comes first. We have great family support, my mum and dad are over a fair bit and Nathan’s family are here.”
Lisa, who dated Nathan Carter a decade ago, met husband Nathan Khan on a night out but dismissed any suggestion she might be fixated on the name.
She said: “No, definitely not. To be honest, the Nathan story seems to linger for years, I’m even married with a child and it was 10 or 11 years ago, so long ago now.
“Myself and my own Nathan are very good friends with Nathan Carter, he’s one of my closest friends.”
Asked if she hopes her former beau finds love again she replied: “I want him to be happy, whatever his happiness is I hope he gets it.” Reflecting on a whirlwind year, Lisa counts the birth of Milo as undoubtedly her highlight.
She said: “The wedding also was extra special because Milo was a part of it and he wasn’t originally in the plan. The pandemic forced everyone to physically stop and realise what was important.
“For me I realised the importance of how short life can be – all the material things in life don’t really matter, it’s your family and friends that matter.”
Lisa McHugh plays Electric Picnic, Stage 3, from 2.30pm to 3.15pm next Saturday.
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