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Orla Gartland sets her own rules on 'Everybody Needs A Hero'

courtesy of the artist

The music industry is notoriously difficult to navigate, but speaking to Irish songwriter Orla Gartland, you get the impression that she'll find her way through it, even if it means charting a completely new course.

Recently, Gartland toured North America promoting her latest album, Everybody Needs a Hero. There was such a high demand for tickets that some of the shows were moved to bigger venues. An impressive accomplishment for the self-funded independent artist, but it's something she's been working toward since she started uploading her performances to YouTube at the age of 13 and, later, busking on the street in Dublin.

In this session, Gartland shares her story, talks about making the new album, and about what it means to be truly independent as an artist.

Set List

  • "Backseat Driver"
  • "Little Chaos"
  • "Mine"
  • "Why Am I Like This?"

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.

Raina Douris, an award-winning radio personality from Toronto, Ontario, comes to World Cafe from the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation), where she was host and writer for the daily live, national morning program Mornings on CBC Music. She is also involved with Canada's highest music honors: Since 2017, she has hosted the Polaris Music Prize Gala, for which she is also a jury member, and she has also been a jury member for the Juno Awards. Douris has also served as guest host and interviewer for various CBC Music and CBC Radio programs, and red carpet host and interviewer for the Juno Awards and Canadian Country Music Association Awards, as well as a panelist for such renowned CBC programs as Metro Morning, q and CBC News.
Miguel Perez is an assistant producer at KERA. He produces local content for Morning Edition and KERA News. He also produces The Friday Conversation, a weekly interview series with North Texas newsmakers.