Emma Langford and Ann Blake have a chat with Galway artist Tracy Bruen, who was on the lineup of the first ever Limerick Lady event at the Limerick Milk Market in the summer of 2016. She reunites with Langford and Blake to catch them up on her life and career.

Over the last ten years, Bruen has toured extensively throughout Ireland and Europe. Her debut album Mirror was released in 2017. Singles from her sophomore album Waiting, released in 2023, have received extensive national and regional radio play, with ‘Dream Away’ and ‘Silence Crawls’ both reaching the top ten in the RTÉ Radio charts.

Over the years, Bruen has shared stages with some of Ireland’s best-loved acts, such as Mick Flannery and Mary Coughlan, as well as playing many major festivals, including Electric Picnic, Body & Soul, Sunflower Fest, and the Galway Arts Festival. She is continually and consistently developing her audience both at home and abroad, and she was dubbed Original Solo Artist of the Year in 2015 by the Galway Advertiser.

On this episode, Bruen talks about the cost – personal, emotional, and financial – of being an independent artist and the investment of energy that every show and new release takes. She talks about hitting her limits, coming through breast cancer, and the age-old issue among the self-employed of not listening to her body when it told her it needed rest.

Langford, Blake, and Bruen explore how hard it is to survive in the music industry, how an artist chooses the order of songs on a record, the current landscape of the industry in terms of gender balance, and why Bruen no longer plays old songs that she doesn’t connect with.

Bruen can be found on Facebook here and on Instagram here. You can download her music here.

You can listen to the Limerick Lady podcast episode #56 here.

The Limerick Lady is a grassroots movement based in Limerick, Ireland, with a focus on promoting conversation around gender, visibility, gender balance, and the arts. It was founded in 2016 by award-winning (and -losing) singer-songwriter Emma Langford, who hosts the podcast alongside fellow award-winning (and -losing) Limerick woman, theatre-maker, and musician Ann Blake. The Limerick Lady is sponsored by Ormston House and supported by the Limerick Post.

Image courtesy of the Limerick Lady Podcast.