Donegal musician set to embark on UK tour supporting English singer Paul Carrack
Amy Meehan from Drumoghill will support Paul, from band Mike + The Mechanics, on a tour this April and May
A Donegal singer and musician is setting off on a UK tour with English singer Paul Carrack.
Amy Meehan from Drumoghill will support Paul, from band Mike + The Mechanics, on a tour this April and May. Amy last toured with Paul in early 2020 and got to play in the prestigious London Palladium, balancing touring with her Leaving Cert studies.
Amy has released her new single ‘Big White House’, which is inspired by home. The single was played to thousands of listeners nationwide on the Marty Morrissey Show on RTÉ Radio 1 on Easter Monday.
After graduating from Ulster University with a degree in Music, Amy has spent the last three years playing at weddings and teaching guitar in local primary schools. She loves seeing how far her pupils have progressed over the years.
“The students are really impressive, like the stuff that they’re playing now, I’m really proud of them,” says Amy. “I wish that more people could hear them play and see how far they’ve come. I think it’s something that should be offered in the majority of schools. Guitar would be amazing, it’s something you can bring with you and play sessions and make friends.”
This year marks Amy’s return to focusing on writing and performing her own music.
“I love teaching and I love doing weddings and all that, but I did miss doing my own music,” she says. “I was very lucky to be so busy, but I didn’t have the time to practise any songs.
“It’s great now to have something that I can focus my time on, play songs that I want to play that I really enjoy and develop my own skills. There’s something about whenever a crowd is listening to you and they’re all quiet, you have the space to just play and sing and it’s very special.”
Amy was first introduced to Paul Carrack after she posted a video covering one of his songs to Facebook and tagged him. He reached out to her again for his 2026 UK tour, which came as a surprise to Amy.
“I couldn’t believe it, because I haven’t really done much since Covid realistically,” says Amy. “I had done a few gigs but I wasn’t making a big attempt to keep active on social media. I was with Bagatelle and Ashley Campbell and a good few people but nothing with my own music, so it was great for him to get back in touch after such a long time apart. I’m very lucky that he did. I’m so grateful to him as well.”
Amy has kept in touch with some of Paul’s fans and is looking forward to building on the experience of the previous tour.
“I’ve never been to Sheffield, which is where Paul Carrack is from so that’s the second show,” she says. “I’ve never been to Cardiff, Bournemouth, Brighton, loads of places, so it will be great to play new venues as well.”
While Amy enjoys getting to see new places, she is always drawn to home.
“I just love being able to do things locally,” she says. “Doing my teaching, doing my weddings, meeting people here locally and doing my own music as well. Then being able to go away and doing the odd wee tour like this and gathering up a fanbase so that possibly I can have a platform to showcase my own music in the future, that people will be interested in my songs and music that I like and coming to gigs.”
Amy’s next album will be released in the summer, recorded in Valley Studios Ballybofey with help from owner Terry McGinty. It includes a mix of original songs and covers.
“There’s a definite reason why every single track is on that album. One of them is Sea of Heartbreak, that would be very important to me. My granny would play it in the house, it’s a country song. There’s another song, The Girl from Yesterday by The Eagles. That’s a song my dad would always sing in the house when I was growing up.”
You can follow Amy on Facebook at Amy Meehan Music. Amy’s single ‘Big White House’ is out now on all platforms.