TPOE 345: Zoé Basha

French-American musician and composer Zoé Basha released her debut album Gamble on April 17. Blending storytelling traditions, Appalachian mountain songs, Irish traditional music, and American blues and ragtime, the album is a woozy melange. We talk about her life journey, travelling around the US, joining the Occupy San Francisco protests, moving to Dingle, Dublin, France to learn traditional French timber framing, and back to Ireland. Throughout it all, there's music, though she did fall out of love with it for a while before Rufous Nightjar started up with Anna Mieke and Branwen Kavanagh. And now comes her debut solo album Gamble. From the press release: Zoé’s debut is an intimate exploration of identity, grief, the deconstructing of societal norms, and the complexities of human connection, all delivered with a mesmerising voice that echoes the vulnerability and depth of her diverse influences. Inspired by the greats of times passed such as Billie Holiday, The Mills Brothers, Jimmie Rodgers, Joni Mitchell, Texas Gladden, Edith Piaf and The Steve Miller Band– as well as her peers in the Irish folk music scene, Zoé Basha savours the sounds of golden eras with contemporary nuance and shameless honesty. Zoé Basha tour dates: April 24: De Burgos Club, Galway April 25: The Glens Centre, Manorhamilton, Leitrim April 26: The Duncairn, Belfast April 27: The Record Room, Limerick May 1: Fennelly’s of Callan, Kilkenny May 2: Bray Jazz Fest, Wicklow May 3: The Crane Lane Theatre, Cork May 4: Blennerville, Tralee, Co. Kerry (co-headling with Rachel Sermanni) Buy Gamble: https://zoebasha.net/album/3407338/gamble