Music Is The Root Of All Ava

Ava McKechnie Burnaby Park FRI6MAR26

rom the moment she could first sit up and listen to her dad sing, it was clear that Ava McKechnie loved music.

It’s a love that has led her into the recording studio, to TV and radio stations, and to hitting stages all across Ireland and beyond.

Stages such as Electric Picnic (where Imelda May handpicked the Greystones singer for her Great Escape line-up), Brighton’s Folklore Rooms and Whelan’s in sunny Dublin.

As she gets ready for her hometown headliner at The Whale on Sunday, March 8th to mark the release of her new EP, Daydreaming, we thought we’d find out what songs can still make Ava break down and cry…

And just how she got suckered into this whole singer-songwriter nonsense…

I’ve always written songs. I have songbooks dating back to when I was seven years old, with incredible lyricism such as ‘I met you at a local fair, don’t pretend that you don’t care‘. A natural talent as you can see.

I grew up being sung to sleep by both my mum and dad. Dad would play his guitar and songs that he had written, and other nights mum would teach me lines of her favourite songs and how to sing them in tune. That’s about as far as I got with vocal and songwriting lessons.

It was always a hidden passion until I was doing the leaving cert and spoke to the career advisor in the school. She told me to choose something else, that music was a tough path I didn’t need to take. I said I still wanted to do it and she said to go give it everything, that I will get a lot of nos, so I have to be my own driving force saying yes.

I moved to Brighton in England as soon as I finished my exams and studied music for three years over there. I must have played a thousand open mics, and in the first year there, I recorded in a real studio for the first time.

I loved every second of it. And I knew I was well and truly hooked…

Scouting For Girls Elvis Ain’t Dead
This song genuinely only ever existed in my dad’s car as far as I was concerned. When I was eight years old I had believed it was some sort of exclusive in-car release and I could only hear it once Dad popped in his special CD. The day it started playing in Tesco I nearly had an existential crisis, I’ll never forget it. It felt like my birthday when I realised I could actually get the song on my iPod and listen to it every waking minute.

Train Hopeless
This is my everything song. It’s the one song I can play anytime, anywhere and always get the exact same feeling from it. If I could only listen to one song forever this would be it.

Taylor Swift Our Song
This has always been my car song. Most people are raised on The Beatles and Oasis, I was raised on Taylor Swift, thanks to my country-loving mum. There’s something about this song that instantly makes me feel good and it carries the nostalgia of a hundred car journeys.

Bette Midler Wind Beneath My Wings
‘Did I ever tell you you’re my hero?‘. It’s such a beautifully written song, and one that will always mean a lot to me. I sang it at my grandad’s funeral, so it holds a really special place in my heart. I haven’t listened to it since, but I know it’s one of those songs that will probably always make me tear up.

Elvis Presley Burning Love
This was the first song I ever knew all the words to- at about five years old I was fully committed to performing it, complete with singing and questionable dance moves. Somehow it still makes me feel like a kid again every time I hear it. The piano at the start is so instantly recognisable, and Elvis’ voice is just pure magic. I think five-year-old me gave him a run for his money though.

Damien Rice Cannonball
Every Damien Rice song makes me feel like I’m in some kind of movie scene, walking around deep in thought. His voice is so easy to listen to, and the lyrics he writes are just incredible. He’s easily one of my favourite songwriters. I actually saw him in The Happy Pear once and I dropped my Sally Seedy cookie because I was so shocked. I was listening to this song in my air pods at the time.

Playing The Whale on Sunday, March 8th at 4pm (tickets here), you can find out more about Ava McKechnie on Instagram here, TikTok here and Facebook here, and check out her music on Spotify here, YouTube here, Apple Music here and Amazon Music here.