AHEAD of her Roots Unearthed gig at St David’s hall next week, Irish singer/songwriter Cara Dillon chats to Andy Howells.

When I chat to Irish singer /songwriter Cara Dillon we find we both have a common denominator we are cooking tea for our children.

Although the singer/songwriter lifestyle is a far cry from that of your humble entertainments writer, Cara who plays St David’s Hall as part of the Roots Unearthed season next week, comes across as natural and passionate for her love of music as well as been a busy mum!

“I’d be lying if I said it was just plain sailing, “she tells me, “Its making sure you’ve got everything organised before you go away. I feel really lucky and blessed about what I do. I love it. I don’t really see singing in any way shape or form as a job, it’s my passion and even more so now since I've had children. Its my chance to be myself and I get to escape from the daily life of packed lunches, homework, school runs to just be myself and stand on the stage and sing. I feel very lucky that its worked out so well.”

Cara’s musical career gained her personal brownie points with her young children a few years ago when she sang two songs Come Flying With Me and Summer’s Just Begun for the Disney movie Tinkerbell and the Great Fairy Rescue, “They couldn’t believe I was singing with all these fairies,” she laughs.

I ask her how performing the songs for Disney came about. “The in-house engineer who was putting together a lot of the Disney stuff in Abbey Road studios had seen me doing a concert in Dublin. He suggested me because he thought my voice would suit it well. It opened up so many doors. I got so much from it like performing with an orchestra at Abbey Road which is so far removed from singing folksongs, a whole new thing I had no idea about.”

Cara’s been writing and recording for the best part of two decades and has worked extensively with her husband and musical collaborator Sam Lakeman. The pair recently formed their own record label Charcoal Records.

“We decided we wanted to have a go at signing an act and putting an album out for someone else,” says Cara, “just putting something back after all the experience we’ve had. We discovered this band called Winter Mountain. Sam recorded and produced their album.”

Cara will shortly be releasing her new album A Thousand Hearts on the label, several songs will be played from this release when Cara is joined by fiddle player Niall Murphy and accordionist Luke Daniels in Cardiff next week.

“Every song on it is about different affairs of the heart, all the things that stir your soul,” Cara tells me, “I'm very proud of it.”

“The majority of the songs on the new album are traditional. The traditional songs always seem to find me I don’t go looking for them, I’m from a very strong traditional background in County Derry. A lot of the local people often suggest to me, “have you ever tried that song?” or “ Did you ever hear the man down the road singing that one?” There’s such a wealth of material to draw from.”

A Thousand Hearts also features a cover of Shawn Colvin’s Avalanche, a fan favourite at all Cara’s concerts, “We’ve been singing that lots on our live sets and the audiences are all raving about that version. Then we’ve got a song called Bright Morning Star which is a spiritual type with lots of guest vocals and quite a big track. There’s lots of light and shade on the album it was good fun to make.”

Tickets to see Cara Dillon can be booked at the box office on 029 2087 8444 or online at stdavidshallcardiff.co.uk. For the latest Cara Dillon news visit caradillon.com