Derry country singer Abbie Mac releases debut single ‘Dead Inside’ ahead of huge O2 London gig

The talented 17-year-old will celebrate the release of ‘Dead Inside’ on Friday by jetting off to play on a bill that includes established American country acts Old Dominion, Brothers Osborne, Elle King and Drake Milligan in the huge arena on Sunday.

It will be a surreal experience for Abbie, who is known as Abbie McGlinchey to her classmates at St. Mary’s College, where she is currently studying for her A-Levels.

Her debut single is an accomplished ballad drawing on her own experience and invoking some of the eternal themes of the country genre, as she explains.

“It came from a period when I was really hurt by someone. I was angry but didn’t know what to do with that anger, so I went to the studio and the song just kind of came out of me.

"It was like therapy in a way. I had been so down, so depressed, so sad and this song was me turning a corner and asking him the questions that I needed the answers for.”

Abbie’s musical journey began in Derry at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when she was only 13.

She was a student at the Oonagh Hannigan Singing School at Studio 2 in Galliagh.

The former St. Thérèse's Primary School pupil grew from strength-to-strength under Oonagh’s tutelage.

Proud mum Lisa says: “She was with Oonagh there until just last year. Her confidence grew there. She did the odd school solo and has always been in choirs but she was never one to put herself out there with a, 'oh look at me type of thing'.

"She was very quiet and reserved. Then, during lockdown, she posted a few wee videos on Facebook just entertaining people.”

Readers will recall that during those bleak days of lockdown Derry’s Hidden Talents group toured the city staging roadshows and cheering everybody up.

"My sister posted a video of Abbie on Facebook,” says Lisa. “They saw it and she went on that wee tour around the communities with them and they got her involved with Life if Beautiful in England.”

It was at this point she caught the attention of Good Human, a music management company in London.

After a year of doing her take on popular country songs – a genre she loves – she garnered over 1 million likes on TikTok, 30,000 followers and amassed over a million streams of her music.

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But for Abbie that was never enough.

“I’ve loved doing my covers, it was so interesting to really pick apart the songs – ask what made them so good? and find a way to re-record them in a style that represented me.

"I especially loved looking at the way Luke Combs and Zach Bryan wrote their music and I think they have been the biggest influence on writing my own stuff.”

And what about the style?

“I like to think that I’m doing country music in a different way – don’t get me wrong, I love and adore Dolly Parton but I’m just not that bubbly, upbeat girl that everyone associates with country.

"My music is darker, it’s more reflective of what’s going on in my life and I think this single came from a very sad time. I can hear all my musical influences in it and I think that’s the magic of what I’m trying to do, combine everything I love about country music and make a version of it that I would like to listen to. If I don’t love it, why should anyone else?”

Abbie played at the Camden Club in London recently and a number of years ago supported Tyrone-folk rockers The Whistlin' Donkeys in Sligo.

“That was really good for her,” says Lisa. “That was her first concert down there. She really enjoyed it. It boosted her confidence. She has been in the Camden Club as well. Now she has this huge slot in the O2 on March 10.”

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Remarkably Abbie will be singing at St. Mary’s on ‘Dead Inside’s’ release date before heading off to London to play a gig that will be attended by many thousands.

“She is singing in school on Friday then she is heading off at the weekend. We are going over to see her in the O2 in London. She is doing two half hour sets and I'm all excited for that. She is doing two covers and three originals,” says Lisa.

Abbie will be playing the Icon stage after impressing with recent live shows in London and Manchester.

“I can’t wait to play the song live and see what people think about it. I’m nervous of course, it’s the biggest audience I’ve ever played, but there is nothing like playing live to an crowd and I am ready for it!”

Her mother, needless to say, is proud as punch.

“We are delighted. We are just beaming from ear to year. We've been very careful because she is still at school. She is doing her A-Levels and we wanted to keep her grounded because this has been going in since she was 13.

"The main thing was her GCSEs, to keep her in school, because she is very bright and able, and then to just see what happens. Everything has gone perfectly. Fair play to her. We are all chuffed to bits,” says Lisa.

‘Dead Inside’ is available at https://bfan.link/dead-inside-7 and https://open.spotify.com/artist/467qknUESqMDT271rxa5GO?si=p6IKGLrgSwmmM-EEmp8L7w

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