Young Northern Ireland singer-songwriter Taylor Lally has 'guitar sensibilities of John Martin'

A young singer from Northern Ireland has talked about her early years and how they helped her burgeoning career.

Taylor Lally from Millisle has been releasing her own music independently for only a year but in that time she's caught the attention of established names in the business, supporting the likes of Steve Forward and Mary Coughlan.

"It's been amazing to have that opportunity," she told UTV Life.

"It was actually Nigel Martin who came along and asked if I would like to support Mary Coughlan in December, this was in 2021, and I thought absolutely, yes please and then it just rolled from there."

Described as having the "voice the likes of Ricky Lee Jones with the guitar sensibilities of John Martin", the multi-talented musician started her music journey at the age of 14 playing guitar and from there continued to explore her sound.

However, the guitar wasn't her first instrument.

She said: "Strangely enough it was actually tin whistle. I loved it.

"Then I played clarinet at school. My dad was the one who bought me a guitar for Christmas one year and then taught me a few chords and it just rolled from there."

The young performer was nominated as the Cathedral Quarter Arts Festivals Artist of Residence this year.

Under the role she will be a supporting act for a range of international artists ahead of her own gig in the Sunflower Bar in May.

As well as music opportunities Taylor has also now featured in a movie by Cinemagic, So What If It Rains, featuring Belfast singer Brian Kennedy.

Speaking about the feature she said: "I did my first headline gig this year in February in the wonderful courthouse in Bangor and we were there filming before it opened.

"Basically a lovely woman Michelle McTernan was there and she called me the next day got my number and said would like to do this filming with Cinemagic, you'll be able to play a song in the bar and I said absolutely I would love it.

"And it came around literally a week later I was filming with Cinemagic and working with Brian Kennedy. Like how does that happen?"

The singer has released her new track Round and Round and explained that the inspiration for this song comes from growing up in Northern Ireland.

"It's a wee a bit about teenage heartache as well. There's a few lines in the song about how these city streets keep changing. So growing up I guess you're also getting to grips with Northern Ireland," she told UTV Life.

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