GRACE UNTOLD | VINYL RECORD (LP)

Heidi Talbot, With her ninth studio album, Irish-born, Edinburgh-based singer Heidi Talbot pays tribute to strength, resilience, and inspiration - from legendary figures to the unsung heroines within her own family. Rooted in both personal experience and collective lore, the collection weaves stories of women legendary and intimate. The warrior queen Grace O'Malley (Gráinne Mhaol), the goddess Brigid of Co. Kildare, and Anna Parnell, leader of the Ladies' Land League, appear alongside Talbot's grandmother Kathleen, whose recorded voice opens the closing track. Throughout, themes of resilience, love, ancestry, and grace echo across time.   Yet Grace Untold is not only about legend - it is also about intimacy, family, and memory. "Like You Were Never Here" is a prayer written in grief on a rainy day in Fife; "In Shame, Love, In Shame," sung with her daughter Molly Mae, reclaims dignity from a story of injustice; and "I'll Take You Home Again, Kathleen" entwines three generations of voices, carrying forward the thread of song. These moments remind us that the extraordinary and the everyday are bound together in women's stories.   Talbot's artistry lies in her ability to move effortlessly between the traditional and the contemporary, the universal and the deeply personal. Grace Untold is also the first album she has self-produced, marking a bold new chapter in her career. Across eleven tracks, she pays homage to early influences such as Mary Black, embraces the quiet companionship of Nanci Griffith's songwriting, and collaborates once again with long-time creative partner Boo Hewerdine.   Her career to date has seen her share stages and studios with artists as diverse as Mark Knopfler, Graham Coxon (Blur), Eddi Reader, Jerry Douglas, King Creosote, Tim O'Brien, and Idlewild - a testament to her rare versatility and artistry. Widely celebrated by critics and audiences alike, Talbot has been nominated for BBC Radio 2 Folk Singer of the Year, Best Traditional Song, Best Live Act at the Scottish Traditional Music Awards, and Best Female Vocalist at the Irish Music Awards. In 2023, she was named Composer of the Year at the Scots Trad Music Awards.   Following the critically acclaimed Sing It For A Lifetime, Grace Untold continues Heidi Talbot's evolution as a songwriter of remarkable honesty and depth. It is a record of stories - whispered and sung, remembered and reimagined - a woman's tribute to all women who have inspired, protected, and passed the song forward.