- by Anne Finlay-Stewart

When I called Irish Mythen at home in Prince Edward Island, I knew this was precious time. The singer-songwriter who will be performing at Meaford Hall Wednesday night has an international touring schedule that does not allow her many days with her knees under her own breakfast table.
Here it was the day after Canada Day so we started the conversation with her chosen home.
When Irish first came from Ireland's County Wexford in 2006 to perform at the Stan Rogers Folk Festival in Nova Scotia and tour Canada's east coast, she immediately fell in love. There was such a sense of home about the place - the people, the landscape and the music. When the next year took her across the country, that was it - she started putting together her paperwork to stay - "And it worked!" she says with obvious delight.

Irish's songs come from deep places - they are about things that are not so talked about and hard-hitting subjects from which you cannot turn your face.

We spoke about Ireland, and the implications of the recent British election on some of the issues about which she is so passionate. Memories of the peace trains – Catholic and Protestant women working together to bring the troubles to an end – are back to top of mind. A guarantee that Westminster would not lean toward one party or another was part of the peace process of the mid-90s. To keep a tenuous hold on majority government, the Tories are threatening that always-fragile peace with their alliance with Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionists Party (DUP). What will the DUP want in exchange for their support? "The DUP scuttled same-sex marriage legislation," Irish says, "And women's rights to information and access to abortion."

The power sharing agreement in Northern Ireland and the promise of a "soft exit" from the European Union has so far kept the promise of an open Irish border, but the current politics of fear give Irish's song – If We Built the Wall – new bite.

Irish has two rules for her live concerts. First, she doesn't use a set list. "It's a personal rule - I know what song I'm going to start with and after that the crowd takes it. Where it goes depends on who is there and how they respond. It's exciting for me every single time."
And she asks people not to film. Each show is about that moment of connection between her and the people who are there. Freezing it in time on film would not honour that moment, nor the one to follow.

Irish understands her responsibility to the people about whom she sings. Keeping it real each performance is no challenge, because for Irish it is real. "If I can't do it authentically, I don't want to do it at all."

One of the show-stopping performers of last year's Summerfolk, Irish drew a whole new crowd of admirers; young and old, men and women, straight and gay. Her generosity, powerful voice, intimate story-telling and passionate lyrics brought them to giggles and sighs and to their feet. This show, I have not a moment of doubt, will do the same.