Daniel O’Donnell told David Hennessy about his new album and why he has decided it is time to take a break.
Daniel O’Donnell this week releases his new album, Now and Then.
The album is described as a return to the music that shaped him.
It will also be his last recording before he takes a break.
Daniel announced earlier this year that he won’t be performing live next year barring some special selected show as he takes a break for health reasons.
Now and Then is a collection of original songs alongside timeless country classics and a few unexpected covers.
Featuring 14 carefully chosen songs, the album captures what Daniel calls ‘the best of everything I love to sing’.
For the first time on record, Daniel offers his rendition of Take Me Home, Country Roads, the John Denver classic also covered by Olivia Newton-John and Lana Del Rey, a favourite from his live shows.
“The album also features beloved country gems such as Don Williams’ You’re My Best Friend and Keith Whitley’s original country version of When You Say Nothing at All.
Another chart hit he could not resist revisiting is Stevie Wonder’s I Just Called To Say I Love You, which Daniel, having enjoyed singing on tour, felt it was time to finally record.
Yet Daniel’s commitment to nurturing Irish songwriting remains with Now and Then featuring new songs from Irish writers, including Running Out Of Reasons, Never Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger, As Happy As We Were, and The Last Song, written by acclaimed Limerick-born songwriter and Irish World Award winner Don Mescall.
To coincide with the release of Now and Then, Daniel will tour the UK from October 9–15, performing in Bridlington, Stockport, Croydon, Llandudno, Newcastle, and Edinburgh. These shows will offer audiences a final chance to see Daniel live before he takes a well-earned sabbatical in 2026.
There is a second disc that includes duets and performances with Dominic Kirwan, Charley Pride, Loretta Lynn, Derek Ryan, Mary Duff, and more.
Daniel O’Donnell chatted to us about the new album and his forthcoming break.
Are you excited about the new album coming out?
“Yes, looking forward to seeing what people think. I hope they will enjoy it anyway.”
It’s described as a return to the music that shaped you, is that how it feels to you?
“I suppose there’s originals and there’s older songs there.
“That’s what I always did in the beginning. People would give me songs and I recorded some new ones and we looked at the older songs, and that’s really what this album is so yes, it does sort of take me back to the early days as well as where I am now.
“I have an endless pool- I have a well to swim through doing the older songs so I hope people will enjoy them.”
There are certain songs you haven’t recorded until now even though you may have been singing them for a long time..
“Yeah, well Country Roads I would have sung it periodically, who hasn’t sung it at some point?
“I never really sung On the Road Again but I have sung bits and pieces of it.
“And the others are just songs that you would know like I Just Called to Say I Loved You, the Stevie Wonder song.
“When that came out, I loved it.
“I loved it.
“You won’t probably remember but it was played off the radio.
“And I thought, ‘Maybe someday I’ll sing it’, but it took me a long time.
“When You Say Nothing At All, although I suppose a lot of people associate it with Ronan Keating- Ronan had a super version of it- I was in Nashville the day that Keith Whitley’s funeral was on.
“I wasn’t at the funeral but I remember at the Opry that night, Lorrie Morgan sang that song as a tribute.
“Songs bring you back to times in your life and that’s how far back the song goes for me.
“I don’t know would it be ‘89 he died, I can’t remember but I was in Nashville a lot at that time and that had been a huge hit for him.”
Many people do think of that song being sung by Ronan, was it your tribute to Keith?
“Yeah well, I remember that’s when the song impressed upon me.
“Obviously I knew his version and I kind of use the words of his version.
“There’s a few different lines to Ronan’s but I used the Keith Whitley version.”
Take Me Home Country Roads has long been a special moment in your live set, now you have got around to recording it..
“Everybody sings it.
“Any time you sing it live, you only need to start it and everybody’s in there.”
As you say a lot of people have sung it. One person is your late friend, Olivia Newton- John so I’m sure you thought of her..
“I do surely.
“We met Olivia a good few times.
“She was a lovely person.
“When Majella was diagnosed with cancer, one of the first messages she got was from Olivia Newton-John because she had had cancer prior to Majella. It touched Majella very, very much at the time.
“And of course, from the pen of John Denver. It’s a great song.”
There’s the song called The Last Song which you described as ‘a little different’ to what you usually record but a song you just love..
“Oh, it’s lovely.
“I love it.
“When this thing came up about The Last Song and I had said I am taking a break, a lot of the fans thought, ‘Oh my God, this is the end of the line’.
“It just was coincidental that the song was called The Last Song, but it’s a beautiful melody.
“It’s a lovely sentiment.
“I suppose if the world could live by this song, we wouldn’t be where we are in this very, very knife edged world that we’re in at the minute.”
You just mentioned the break you’re taking. You’ve been going 45 years, is it time to relax and take a it a little easier?
“I just felt this year that the touring was a bit more tiring than before and I did have a lot of allergy issues.
“I’m very well.
“I’ve had a lot of help.
“I’m taking medication that seems to be helping me but I don’t want to go on taking medication so I want to find out why I’m getting the allergies.
“I suppose when I stop touring, I’ll try and get off the medication to see where I’m at with it, so that’s a big part of it.
“But I did find that, even though I don’t feel old, I suppose the clock ticks at a different pace when there’s more numbers behind it.
“I think it’s the right time for me.
“I’m not retiring and there’s a few things I’m doing that’s going to keep me involved.
“We have shows up to the end of the year.
“I’ll do the Mary from Dungloe and we’re doing the Opry shows that I do for TG4 and then the Gertrude Byrne Cruise.
“I’m booked for that for the next two years so unfortunately for those who would rather not hear me, I’m not being silenced completely.”
As you say you’re coming to the UK in October swiftly after the album’s release, could those shows be special for being the last here before your break?
“Yes, I have great support and the people are amazing.
“’We’ll be looking forward to seeing you when you get back on the road,’ That’s the messages that you get.
“I suppose I announced it early enough that we would have Irish shows and the UK.
“We’re obviously not getting to Australia and New Zealand before the break but in America, a lot of people travel from all of North America, a lot of people travel so we have them shows and then the UK.
“Hopefully people will be able to get to a show if they want to.”
We just mentioned Olivia Newton- John but other people who figure on the second disc, and have sadly left us, are Charley Pride and Loretta Lynn..
“Well, I was very lucky to get to meet both of them.
“I loved Loretta Lynn, she was just my all-time favourite singer.
“Nobody, for me, comes close to her, and Charley on the male side. I got to know both of them.
“Charley came in 1989 and was actually on the pilot show for the first TV series I presented on RTE, Charley was the guest.
“We had met just before that in Nashville but I never got a long time with him and then over the years, we did many things together.
“And Loretta then came actually to be the Kinncasslagh festival.
“They used to have a thing called The Belle of the Ball night and Loretta came.
“My sister Kathleen, God rest her, was in charge of getting the celebrity for that and Loretta came in 1997. I had limited contact with her before that and then after that, we kept in contact.
“And then when I was doing the Country Boy album.
“Sean Reillyy was my manager at the time and I said to Sean, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if I just got to duet with Charley and Loretta?’
“So they made the contact and both of them had no issue.
“We picked Crystal Chandeliers because it was such a big hit for Charley.
“I Wanna Be Free was one Loretta had written and we felt I could duet with her on it.
“So I got to spend time with them privately.
“I visited Loretta at home in Hurricane Mills.
“It was lovely.
“It was lovely for me now to have those memories of both of them, that we had had the connection.
“I did more professionally with because Charley but anytime I went to see Loretta, I would get up and sing with her or sing a song on the show which was lovely.
“They were great.
“They were very down to earth, both of them.
“I still talk to Rozene every so often, Charley’s wife, just to see how she’s doing.
“They just made such an impression on music, not just country music but on music in general.”
I was watching you present the recent Mary From Dungloe crown to Ellie Ward..
“That’s right, and she’s from Dungloe.
“She’s from the town and she’s a very, very popular winner.
“When we came down the town after the Crowning Cabaret, the people were just ecstatic.
“The local people gave her such a reception that I stood back and I thought, ‘This is a very popular young girl and well known among everybody’.
“And even when her parents came out on the stage in the street, they got a huge applause so the family are very well known and liked.
“It was a great night. It was a great week.
“The girls were just amazing.
“They’re all beautiful physically as well but they’re so strong and accomplished and able to just conduct themselves.
“I know Ellie is going to be a great ambassador for the festival and the town and the Rosses in Donegal and throughout the world.”
Obviously there’s such a musical tradition in Donegal, I was looking at a recent picture of you with Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh from Altan and Moya Brennan from Clannad…
“I was down at the Fleadh and Mairéad was at the fleadh and last Monday I was in Dunlewey at a fundraiser, another cancer charity fundraiser that the Roarty family organized and Moya was on that, so we see one another.
“We’re very close geographically and then Moya organises the Club Beo in Leo’s every once a month.
“Majella and I go to that every so often when we’re home.
“It’s great.
“There’s an awful lot of young up and coming singers in our area, some of them are definitely going to get out and go out there.
“It’s not an easy thing to break through but some of them definitely will.
“They’re super.”
There’s a real resurgence with Irish bands and performers at the moment with a lot of bands like The Mary Wallopers or The Scratch and they’re really taking Irish music and breathing new life into it..
“Yeah, and there’s a huge amount here on the local scene here in Ireland like of The Tumbling Paddies and The Whistlin’ Donkeys and there’s young lads and girls that are coming out singing country music that are just super so it’s far from dead.”
You’ve always supported up and coming acts and songwriters also like Derek Ryan..
“Derek has written some great stuff.
“He’s written The Tumbling Paddies’ Just The Way I Am.
“That’s a huge song that’s gone beyond just a song that’s a huge song here in Ireland now.
“They’re sort of dipping their feet outside Ireland.
“Onóir is another one.
“They’re four lads, they’re from Donegal too. You should look them up, they’re fantastic.”
Will you miss the performing when on your break?
“Yeah, when I’m in Tenerife, I might end up with Fergal in the Hole in the Wall or up in The Irish Fiddler an odd night and sure, that’s as good as the Albert Hall.”
You have played the great stages of course. What is a highlight of your 45 years on the road?
“Well, it’s hard to pick one thing.
“I think the most amazing moment on stage was a night in Sydney in Nova Scotia.
“There’s a local song there that I’ve recorded.
“It’s called Song For The Mira and it was written by a man called Alistair MacGillivray who’s from that area.
“I sang it.
“The promoter who has since passed away, Leo Puddester from Newfoundland, said to me, ‘You should sing Song For The Mira in Sydney.
“I knew the song and I said, ‘I might’.
“I really like it so as part of the encore, I sang it and Alistair was in the audience. I acknowledged Alistair as I was singing the song and I called him up to the stage and the whole audience were standing singing this song and it was the most amazing moment I’ve ever had on stage.
“It’s hard to describe it.
“I wish we had it videoed.
“It was fantastic.
“But there’s been many things.
“On Top of the Pops in ‘92 was tremendous.
“And then Tipperary Girl, my nieces and nephew said that they played it in the nightclubs so all these things are fun.
“And then going back to My Donegal Shore when I recorded it first and it got the traction.
“It got huge play on the local radios so there’s lots of things.
“I was on This is Your Life and I got the honorary MBE, and so many things that I never thought would happen.
“I never even thought about, never mind to think they would happen.”
The relationship with your fans has always been unique and special, hasn’t it?
“They have been just fantastic to me and the support has been there through the years.
“I’ve known generations of families even.
“There’s grandmothers and maybe great grandparents that are gone, two generations gone and there’s two or three generations still coming so it’s incredible loyalty.
“Some travel endless journeys to be wherever we’re doing something.
“It’s been a brilliant time for me.
“It’s 45 years since I started with Margaret in January, then I made the first record in ’83, the first album was ‘84 so when I did all that in the beginning, I never thought that I would be still sitting here talking to you today.
“I couldn’t.
“I don’t think anybody could think that something would last that long at the level I’ve been allowed to do it.”
The important thing is you’re going to come back..
“Yes, I’m like Arnold Schwarzenegger: I will be back.”
Now and Then is out on Friday 3 October.
Daniel O’Donnell tours the UK in October. He plays Spa Royal Hotel in Bridlington on Thursday 9 October, Plaza in Stockport on Friday 10 October, Fairfield Concert Hall in Croydon on Saturday 11 October, Venue Cymru in Llandudno on Monday 13 October, Tyne Theatre and Opera House, Newcastle Upon Tyne on Tuesday 14 October, Usher Hall in Edinburgh on Wednesday 15 October.
For more information, click here.
