Interview with Maria Butterly

Maria Butterly is an award-winning Irish singer/songwriter who lived in the US for 17 years where she toured extensively. Maria headlined at the Angelica Heuston Gala Event at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel and supported The Pogues, The Hot House Flowers and the late Hal Ketchum in concert in the US. Maria won the award for Best Celtic Sound at the New York International Film and Music Awards. Since moving home in 2008 she has performed her original compositions live on TV and radio programs such as RTE, Virgin Media One, TG4 and SKY TV. She composes music for both Film and TV, and specialises in music for video games. Maria is also a teacher and teaches a songwriting workshop called Music is the gateway to well-being. She has released 3 albums and recently released her new single, HERO which addressing issues of anti-social behaviour & bullying and was inspired by her work with the youth of today.

Connect with Maria:

WEBSITE: https://mariabutterly.com

FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/maria.butterly

Welcome to the confidence in singing Podcast. I’m Aideen and my guest today is Irish singer songwriter Maria Butterly. Hi, Maria.

0:40
Hi Aideen, thanks for having me on your podcast today.

0:44
You’re very welcome. I am looking forward to having a great conversation with you. But let me tell everyone about you before we start, so Maria is an award winning singer songwriter and she lived in the US for 17 years where she toured extensively. Maria headlined at the angelica Houston gala event at the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel and has supported the Pogues, the Hot House Flowers and even the late Hal Ketchum in concert in the US. Maria won the award for Best Celtic sound at the New York International Film and Music Awards. Since moving home in 2008, she has performed her original compositions live on TV and radio programs, such as RTE, Virgin Media 1, TG4, and Sky TV. She composes music for both film and TV and specializes in music for video games. Maria is also a teacher and teaches a songwriting workshop called Music is the gateway to well being, she has released three albums and recently released her new single Hero, which addresses the issues of anti social behavior and bullying, and was inspired by her work with the youth of today. Tell us a little bit about your single how that came about. Yeah, hero,

2:03
I guess at first, I had written it kind of the lyrics. After working with a lot of teens and young people, I was getting a sense of kind of challenges and struggles that they were kind of being presented with in school. And when I teach them, you know, you get to know them quite personally, and they do open up to me, because I’m trying to draw them out, whether they’re here for their music lesson, whether for vocal lessons, you know, I can see in their body language, that, you know, if they, if they’re kind of challenged at school, if there’s something kind of, you know, distant you can you can see it in the body language, you can hear it in their singing performances as well. So I worked on that, I suppose that’s why I titled the songwriting, you know, to a gateway to the well being, because music is a creative outlet, not just for creative side, but for, you know, stimulating the mental side and the emotional side and opening that up for the channels. So Hero came about, I guess, I decided, you know, maybe to theme something on that. I mean, I would have been maybe bullied a little bit in school, in my younger days, but I certainly don’t think it’s anything to what, you know, teens or schools or even adults in the workforce are being challenged with today, it seems that it seems more vicious kind of, you know, the effects, the more lasts longer lasting impact negative effect on people today, you know, I would have just dusted myself off and got on with it afterwards. But it just seemed a bit, you know, more deeper, goes a lot deeper, I think, for the for the kids today in school. So I guess I the the story around that. And the story, you know, what you would hear in the lyrics is young teen coming home school, crying, you know, being called names. And she then one night dreams of a fictional character, which is an internal or an external, a hero kind of representation of oneself to, you know, to, I suppose, a dream of a hero character that will maybe challenge and address, you know, the bullies in school. So that’s really kind of, but it’s a positive, upbeat, it’s not to really on the negative even though it touches on a very hot, you know, important issue. It is quite an upbeat song. And the chorus reinforces like a positive message to say, you know, you can stand up you can fight for and be strong, you know, come for the night when the hero you know, strikes their tone, because the tongue is like the deadliest weapon you know, that’s originally tied to this weapon of tongue, but I thought maybe that was a bit harsh of a title for you know, trying to relate to the the teens and I didn’t want to use a weapon as as, as a negative kind of connotation and so I turned it around to be hero, you know, that’s what that’s what

4:51
sounds like that’s a really, really great, tell us a little bit about your journey as a singer because for my audience, they confidence in singing audience, were really wondering like a little bit about what where you got your confidence from what it is that brought you to music where your love of music came from, and we’d love to hear a little bit about your journey.

5:14
Okay, thanks. Well, for all the listeners out there, I have to say I wasn’t always a good singer. And certainly, it took I suppose I went around the long way to things I never took the easy road and didn’t have a choice. In 1994 I got a green card, you know, which there was a lot of visas given out at that time in the lottery nearly and I got one. And I had a sister living in New York, I had tried here, I wasn’t very confident here, I would sing in the bedroom, and I would even sing in front of my family, you know, God forbid, they give me a critique and crush me. But so I didn’t have a lot of experience playing out, you know, so until you do, you know, you really have to be willing to expose yourself and just expose your rawness, your vulnerability and make mistakes, you know, people say, I can’t do that, because I have to be perfect. You know, that’s not the way to think about it. You know, if you ever get someone you know, in to clean your house, and they say, I can’t bring the cleaner in, you know, because our house is filthy, we have to clean it before we bring the cleaner. And you know, or if you’re let’s go jogging, oh, you know, I can’t climb a mountain because I’ve never, you know, I’d have to, you know, get fit to try and get fit. It’s the backward kind of thinking. But my confidence really came I suppose when I went to America, because I went quite young. And I was actually a hairdresser before hence my colors. I just packed my bag. So my little car, and I was working in a salon in Dublin. And I went and I did have my sister in New York to go to first off, you know, so I was doing like the waitressing tables, and I had lots of fun. Absolutely lots of fun. But my music really started the confidence. I wanted to go to Nashville. So I packed my bag. And I said, right, how can I get to Nashville? So I had met one person there and I took this train. I don’t know how well actually, yeah, I from there. And my brother and my brother Dan teamed up with me. He got a green card, he came out. And he’s just two years older than me. And he went to Colorado. So I went down to Colorado to him and but the snow was coming in and I just wasn’t really into getting stuck in the snow. So I met one lady who lived in Nashville, and she said, Oh, come out to me anytime you want. So I said okay. You don’t have to ask me twice or once. So I got on a train and it took me like four days to get there. And I we went through this I was on my own traveling with my guitar and my suitcase. And eventually got there to as like Crossville Knoxville to Crossville got a train for four days through Washington, Chicago, and out then to

7:44
oh, gosh, where was it? In South, what do you call, I can’t think of but anyway, it will come back to me. And but anyway, not Alabama is another place. Come back to me. And so anyway, yeah, long story. So eventually got to Nashville. And then I started working as waitress there. But that’s I started going to all the open mic nights, you know, and I was it forced me to kind of sit and write my songs. And I thought my songs were great, you know, and I thought it was really a superstar there, you know, I would go down to Music Row in Nashville, and I would knock on all the doors have all the record labels, you know, in my lovely pleated skirt, and my you know, my curly hair, and, you know, so I wish, I suppose, but I was so naive, which was probably good because I had no real nerves, then I was just like, oh, you know, what do you think of this song, you know, I just, I was just in this bubble, you know, of like, Oh, they’re just gonna love me because I’m Irish, you know, from all this way here. And my song was just the greatest, because I never had my song exposed to really anybody to, to critique it, you know. So I just thought what I had was great. So I was pretty, you know, put in place very quick. But they were very nice about it, you know, in Nashville, they really entertain you. But like, it’s a polite note, you know, come back a couple of weeks later on. And you know, you got to work on that song there. And if you come back two weeks later and do this, you know what I mean? That’s what you have to do, you know, but I was Gosh, all I heard was rejection. Like I was like, I’m not going back there. He just rejected me. Gosh, that was the wrong thing to do. But anyway, I started working with you know, other musics songwriters in Nashville, and I started getting into workshops. So I really started honing in on my craft then. And, you know, playing down the circuit there, just the experience of it was just something else, you know, it really, really was fantastic. And, you know, I was just working the circuit there as much as I could. And so then, my father had taken ill at the time. So I came back to Ireland, and I ended up back here for a year and a half. And then I said, right, where do we go now? I just wasn’t getting anywhere in Ireland again, because I always wanted to do original songs. You know, I didn’t want to be a cover band to do a cover, you know, and Ireland was very much into like the wedding bands and, you know, a lot of that seen, you know, it was hard to get gigs to be doing original music, you know? So I just thought right? Where do I go again? So a friend of mine, a school friend actually I remet again. She was living out in LA. So she invited me out to LA. And it was the best decision of my life. So, and it was the best time of my life. LA is just, it’s the place to be where you’re young, free and single and just ambitious. And, you know, really, and I do, I suppose part of me does feel that I do have a bit of a benefit being Irish, I’m not trying to sort of be you know, in but Americans are very welcoming to Irish and as they are very other cultures, but I just found them very warming. And, you know, there is a connection there. And they, they, they will give you time, and they take you on board. And if you’re willing to do the work, they’ll help you up the ladder, you know, really, really just give you and America is that sort of way where everything is possible. And you can do anything you want. If you work hard enough for there’s no like begrudging. There’s no like, if you’re getting above yourself, there’s no you know, if you get anywhere that you’re anyway, dummies for that you’re not really, really supported in that way.

10:53
I was wondering, did you do a lot of singing before you left for the US and what your background with singing was as a child, like where did that love of music came from?

11:05
Well, I guess I’m the youngest of seven. And I kind am the only one who kind of took up singing. Like there is my mother. Definitely. She had the golden voice. She, you know, it was often said If my mother didn’t marry and have seven children she would have, she could have went on to be an opera singer if she wanted to. You know I wouldn’t be operatic, but I do have good range and my voice. So I definitely you know, on her side, there would definitely be music, you know, from from her side. My dad’s he loves country music. So maybe a little bit of the American country bluegrass that I absolutely love that you can hear some of that genre in my, in my music, and I love the Celtic rhythm. So the Celtic and the American kind of bluegrass country. I love that, you know, that real edge. So definitely, that’s where I would have would have got, I suppose. Did you

11:49
sing a lot as a child?

11:52
No, believe it or not, I did not. Because I was too shy. What I actually took up first was the instrument guitar. So I got my first guitar from Santa when I was 10. And I started self playing, I got a book and I started looking at the chords but I just had a musical ear. I had a musical ear and I was able to play you know, I was always playing the Bon Jovi songs, I was always playing the heart songs. I loved listening to Bryan Adams, you know, those kind of rock guitar real all guitar kind of, you know, stuff that just loved the depth, um, you know, so I would definitely be in listen to that. And then I taught myself on the piano, actually, I couldn’t read music. My attention span just wouldn’t allow it. You know, I was probably just, I don’t know, from deslexia, to OCD, or whatever. But I used to listen, I remember tape cassettes came out of Richard Clayderman. And I can still hear that melody, you know, Dadda Dadda Dadda. So I started picking out the notes from the right hand to the left hand of what he was playing. And then that’s how I learned I taught myself how to play kind of the piano. And then I started kind of coming up with my own melodies. So I was really focused on all the piano playing and the guitar, I would sing, but the singing was always behind. Maybe that was just a crutch, you know, I was nervous. So it was really when I went to Nashville, really, when I went to LA, and I just started doing open mics. Every night I was up there, open, like, you know, they had music every night of the week somewhere where you could get up and do a saint, you know, get up and do a song for two songs you get picked for to do suit two songs, I even get the bluebird cafe in Nashville. And that’s really where I started learning my mistakes, what it was like to be onstage, what to do, what not to do, how I sounded how, what worked, what didn’t work. So that’s how I started to really hone my craft is just get out there sing, get up into the open mics, you know. And then I started you know, I got, I got together with another guy who played another instrument mandolin and he showed me two chords on a mandolin. So I decided right I’m a mandolin player. So I picked up mandolin, I started teaching myself the mandolin. So and then so the two of us used to do little gigs. So we kind of caught on because my music was catchy Celtic, you know, and then we got you know, then I got a bass player. Then I got a drummer, and then we started kind of gigging around the area. We were getting known then in the Irish circuit, and then we started you know, then I started pushing for festivals, and we were doing the festival circuit as well. So we played all over we played in in Vegas. We did we played everywhere around the California area

14:13
fantastic. That sounds like you’ve had a lot of fun while you were there. What Why did you ever come back to Ireland?

14:20
When Yeah, when you leave your 20s, your 30s your 40s and, you know, it was kind of a fluke that I came back it wasn’t like a full decision that or I just decided to come back and that was it. I came back for I did a tour here for like three months then I stayed for six months and then and then my mom she had kind of started to slow down in her age, you know, start to get unwell, so I decided that I would stay a bit longer, but I was still kind of going back and forward. You know, I still leased out my apartment I was still hanging on. And you know I did a lot of the conventions there. There was like the NAMM show which It’s a big music convention there. You know, I was sponsored by a lot of big music like Samsung company, I got my guitar sponsored, you know, from from that from Garrison guitars. So, you know, I was building up my name, so I still didn’t want to leave that. And I still don’t, I still kind of go back and forward, people didn’t want to come back. But I guess, as I started to settle here a little bit, you know, it just, it just kind of happened, you know, it just slowly kind of happened. But for me where I’m at now, I think it was the best move. For me personally, to come back, I’m very happy at home. I wouldn’t want to grow old in California, I think, to be a bit more settled here, it’s just a little bit slower paced. For me, it’s just easier. I would have had to Hustle Hustle a long time and continue to maybe I don’t know, if I would have branched on to composing for visual media. If I hadn’t come back home here. Funny enough, it kind of just came to me when I was back home here. You know, otherwise, I would just push and push and push for the gigs, gigs gigs. And you know, that can that can take take

15:58
it out of you too. You know?

16:01
Yeah, yeah. So I’ve burnt out why geez,

16:05
I’d say so because, you know, it’s the touring and the traveling and the moving things, and it’s lack of kind of, you know, kind of off, you don’t have time to switch off, which is so important. But I know that you’re passionate about songwriting, and that, you know, teaching songwriting, and even teaching Songwriting with with teenagers, and I’d like to encourage my students, you know, to, like, I kind of put the hint there, you know, maybe you’ll start songwriting as well, because I feel like there’s a lot of people have this, they feel a kind of, oh, a songwriter is this type of person, and that, you know, you need to have, you know, be, you know, amazing at songwriting to even attempt it, which I think blocks people from, from exploring songwriting as something that anybody can do the way that anybody could pick up a paintbrush almost and, and have a go. So what would you say to someone who doesn’t sound right at the moment? What would you say to them to encourage them to try it?

17:09
Well, you’ve really hit on a really, really relevant point there. And it’s, I’ve heard that many times from some of the students, and I’ve gone into some of the classes here in schools schools have brought me in to do a two day workshop with the transition years, you know, or the, what would be high school for, you know, their last year or whether they’re doing their juniors leaving cert, what would that would be in the States can’t remember, but in high school, and for the music, even if, like some people well, I don’t write songs, or I don’t, you know, I got them just to do a storyboard. You don’t have to be musically inclined, you don’t have to have the talent to know how to write lyrics or melodies. And that’s the whole idea of my workshop is that I go in, and I’m drawing out and finding out, you know, what is your thing, there is some interest there. They don’t know. And maybe they do have the talent for it, but they just don’t know how to reach it, they don’t know how to tap into it, they need somebody to be able to show them to bring that out, like the classes that I’ve done, you know, they’re like, Well, I don’t say I don’t do this, and I don’t know how to write, but at the end of it, like, you know, as a group together in the class, you know, which kind of they didn’t, they’re not like, subjected to be on their own, they work as a group, and I put them into little groups, and you say, right, let’s think of a theme for the song, maybe, you know, what’s the theme for your school, so each person is contributing something to it, they’re working as a group as opposed to be on their own and everybody’s included. So if there’s somebody in that group that’s doesn’t have, you know, what I don’t know how to write maybe somebody in that group does. So you put them together to show them how to do it. So somebody might have melodies the other guy might be just a lyricist. Or he might be good on rhythms or he’s got on the technology side, you know, he can set up the software recording he’s good on the media, he can get all the stuff out on social media with the songwriting so I I teach them how to do the creative writing how to draw out their thoughts and put them down on paper to get the ideas that when they see that ad on paper, then they start seeing it come together and the melodies I show the melodies I we listened to different songs we take apart some songs what makes a good hook what makes a good read? What’s an ostinato? Can it be lyrical? Can it be with rhythm? Can it be with words, so there’s all different like Eminem, you can have something going on just on a rap, you can have something like, you know, Queen, you know, we will rock you know, music there if that’s just your foot, you know, your your, your your rhythm and some words, we will we will rock you, you know, how amazing is that? Jaws? The music for JAWS is two notes, two notes that made that music guy, a millionaire, you know, two notes that made that whole thing was like data, data, you know, C to D or whatever it is, you know what I mean? So, it’s really, really easy. So when they start seeing that you You know, I present to them different little parts of songs of how it can be done. Just simplifying it down so that they see that it’s accessible, that it’s doable, simplify it. So you get the melodies you get your your, your lyrics, you get your theme, you get your storyboard, let’s come up with stories, what’s challenging you at the moment, write it down, write down five things that you feel could be, is something challenging at the moment, what do you feel you’re stressed out about? Or did your school win something? Or what do you want to talk about? So you’re tapping in, you’re pulling from them all the time to you know, as opposed sitting there, so you’re helping draw them out, because they wouldn’t know necessarily how to do it by themselves, you know, but when you when you kind of tap into them, they realize how much they can try it. And then I talk about, so we then we get the melodies we get the chord structure down. And then I talked to them about the songwriting or the recording options, you know, that’s what they really, really want to know, the software that’s available to them. Especially from a student’s point of view, they don’t have a lot of money. So what’s available, what’s accessible to them, I can show them different types of software that are free like GarageBand, which and then you could have Logic Pro, which is an upgrade from GarageBand. Yeah, you pay with Logic Pro, and I show them what’s available on the software’s to help them even if they’re not musician, you know, there is sounds that they can just use with a little MIDI keyboard to be able to trigger the sounds that are in software, they can have guitar, or violin or bass or drums, anything so they can make music loads away to experiment with that. So then I show them to set up a little studio What microphone, you know, what’s a decent microphone? What’s a little interface that you can get, you know, a microphone and a cable and, and then the set of headphones. So I’m talking realistic, like what type of headphone what type of microphone, just keep it simple not to get overwhelmed, where you can go to buy this, how much you should spend on that. And that’s all you need for loop Studio, you know, and then recording options and then the business of songwriting as well. They need to know, you know, I have so you have a great song. Where do I go now? What do I do? You know how to protect your song a little bit?

21:56
You do all this in one workshop?

22:00
Yeah, yeah, I do it in two days, two days, two day workshop. twofold. Okay.

22:04
Gotcha. If you tried to get information in one day.

22:09
Yeah, I just, you know, you just chip in like, you know, but you’d be surprised because, like, you’re there for them, like for four days, six hours, like, you know, minus their lunch. And then the second day, the first day is all about the song, right? The melodies, the lyrics, and the songs, we get that. And then the second day, you’d more or less like, class I just did last week, they were quite amazing. Now, by the end of the first day, we had, you know, two verses on a chorus and a melody. So once I have the lyrics, the melody to me, it’s the easiest thing to get them to do. The lyrics is always that bit trickier, but they came up they great lyrics, rhyming it and everything. And then the second day, then we’re talking about the recording elements, and then the business of songwriting. And like they just eat it up. Because they want to know, what’s the network’s we can get into how can you make money from your song, you know, you can get song placements, you could place your song, you know, license it out to get into a TV series or Netflix or to license to set make them sound tracks, and you can make money that way, you know, so and then the network’s that they can get involved in, you know, where to put them where to get the music, how to get it out there, once you have a recording an mp3, and then how to send it out on social media as well, just to get a little bit of notice.

23:17
It’s fantastic. It’s very comprehensive, then.

23:21
It sounds it sounds comprehensive, but very doable. You know, I’m just giving you the real details, I suppose elements of it in five minutes. Yeah, so it’s on my website, people can check it, check it out, you know, I do online workshops. I do, like all around the country here in Ireland. So that way that has taken off for me, which I’m happy to do because, you know, it’s it’s an easier kind of workflow for me. And because I have spent 30 years, gaining all that experience and all that knowledge. So to be able to give it to them firsthand. I know what I’m talking about. So like, I’ve lived it. I’m not just I didn’t come straight out of college thinking, I think this is how you do it. I’ve lived it. I’ve worked it. I know the do’s and the don’ts, you know, so you could you know, they could save themselves a lot of time, you know, but the young ones today, they have so much talent. Gosh, they’re so like the stuff they come up with like that is amazing. You know, I would not have been that quick years ago. So it’s amazing.

24:16
I think we were all more shy. And yeah, it’d be when a teacher hands it over to the students. I don’t think that that happened a lot in our in our school in school when we were younger. To have someone say okay, what do you guys want to do that very rarely happened in schools It’s a different way of teaching.

24:36
Yeah, exactly.

24:38
And what advice would you give because that you’ve been through it all you know when it comes to like getting your first record out and things like that. Is there any do’s and don’ts that you would like to share with our listeners today?

24:54
When you put your when you get your song, you know record it, people say oh how do I call Copyright as you know, the minute you record something digitally, it’s logged digitally on, you know, your, your recording that that you have recorded that song, you own that song, register your song, there’s, there’s law, I know, in the States, you can register your song with ASCAP or BMI. And also in Ireland, there’s Imro, which is the Irish music Rights Association. So they will help you, when you become a member with them, you can, they will help you, you know, with all of that. So that’s the first thing I would do when you get your song, you know, just claim ownership of it, if you have written it with somebody else, then you put both names on 50% Each, you know, because you make your money anytime it gets commercially played on a radio or if it gets into a licensing on TV or something like that, you know, you want to make sure all your your your paperwork is done. And then you know, have a little video to your song. I think that’s the quickest way what I’m seeing teens do now is put a little video to that song because it helps drive the visual helps drive the song, you know, and there’s so much they know all about social media that they can put it up on from Facebook, to Instagram to Tik Tok, I mean, there’s so much more stuff available to them to get it out there. You know, you don’t need a label to get your music out there. That’s the fun thing to you have a studio at home, you can set up, you can do it all independently, you know, I think that would but you know, do it. Just go do it. Don’t say be wasting time thinking I can’t it’s not right. It’s not ready. If the stuff I’ve put out like oh, you know, I really need to do that. Again, if I had a chance, again, you know, I do this together. But you just got to get it out there. Put yourself out there. Don’t be afraid of the knocks. They’re just people’s opinions. It doesn’t mean it’s fact, you know, at the end of the day, you’re putting your work out, but it doesn’t happen overnight. The more you do it, that’s how you learn, you know, yeah, but just get out there and do it. Don’t let anyone else say your creativity is not ready. Even if it’s not ready, just keep doing it. You know, eventually it will be that’s how you get the experience. Like I said, I went to all the open mics, you know, that’s how I did it.

27:02
That’s how you do that just by purely throwing yourself into performances.

27:06
You Yeah, and networking, I suppose that would be the biggest thing. I would say, networking network, don’t hold your song to own it and be afraid, you know, I noticed the class, they were saying, when I didn’t want to give that idea away, because I want to keep that for myself later. Don’t be afraid, you’re not just going to come up with one song, you’re going to come up with lots more, you know, don’t be afraid to work with other people they can help get it out. Network is the absolute key. All the relationships I’ve built with people over the years, now they’re coming back to me now, you know, even if they don’t like my song, they like me as a person. So maybe they’ll give me some edge, you know, they’ll entertain me because they like my my personality. In that way I can maybe get in the door that way as well. Eventually, I will come up with the right song. And I’ve already established a good relationship with that person. So always keep good relationships with people and network. Yeah, very important.

27:57
That’s really good advice. So before we finish up, is there anything you’d like to say to our listeners before we before we wrap up

28:05
a little bit? Buy my music! No. Well, first of all, Aideen thank you so much for having me on the podcast. Absolutely. I was really honored that you asked me to do it. And, you know, I really appreciated the compliments of my work. And again, you know, because artists, we need that we need people to like our work, you know, otherwise it just sits at home. So it’s the public, it’s the fans that keep our music going, you know, to support the music to buy the music to support the artists to go to the gigs. So I have to say, actually, thank you to you. I’m so delighted to have that. And if anybody does want to check out anything that you said that my workshops or my music, or any of my music samples, they’re all on my website, mariabutterly.com. So thank you.

28:59
You’re very welcome, Maria, it’s a pleasure to have you it’s it’s such an interesting journey that you took. You were very brave. I don’t know, naive at times. Didn’t know

29:13
when the best time to know.

29:16
You had an adventure with it. And I think that that is that if you followed your heart as well, you were like, Okay, I’m gonna try this. And I really think it’s good to reiterate this idea that we need other people along the journey, that you don’t become a singer or songwriter or have a band on your own. You do it because someone’s kind to you and they you know, they teach you two chords on the mandolin and you know that you start to create these friendships really, and relationships with people who want to help you. Not because they’re going to necessarily make money from your music or anything like that, but because they like you. So it’s really just to be able to have a conversation with someone and just support other people, and then they will support you back and not be afraid not be fearful of your ideas being stolen to learn to be open to collaboration, because I feel like that has a huge part in certainly the songwriting world.

30:18
Yeah, very much so. Yeah, you’ve hit it on the head there.

30:22
Huh? Yeah. So I would love. We’re looking forward to seeing everything else you keep doing. And if anyone has, you know, teenagers in school that are interested in music, we’d need to get you into them. So you travel all around Ireland. So maybe in the US as well, you might be lured over to teach kids in the in the US as well. Yeah, well, I say online, you know, yes. Everywhere is open. Yeah. So best of luck to you, Maria. Keep up your hard work. And we look forward to seeing your music in video games, in films on TV. And there’s lots of your music available already for people to check out. So go to Maria butterly.com Find out more about Maria and we look forward to seeing what you do in the future.

31:08
Thank you very much. Aideen Thank you.

31:11
So that’s it for the confidence singing podcast today. I’m at my my guest today was Maria Butterly. And we’re very grateful to you the listener for listening in we wish you well. We wish you success with your own singing and your own songwriting or whatever els you’re doing creatively keep it up and and you know just go for it. Bye bye