Allison Russell and Aoife O'Donovan
Listen On
“We’re working moms, so the best undisturbed time is between midnight and 4am.”—Allison Russell
“I’m not the ‘lounge around’ type of person. There’s not one wasted hour in my day.” —Aoife O’Donovan
At one point during my conversation with Allison Russell and Aoife O’Donovan, Russell said that, up until recently, “I’ve never had a room of my own.” She was speaking quite literally about finally having her own space to write. Her words immediately recalled the Virginia Woolf essay “A Room of One’s Own,” in which Woolf writes:
A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction.
And for the songwriter who is also a working mother, I’ll add a third necessity: time. Russell and O’Donovan are full-time songwriters of course, but they’re moms first. So what you won’t hear in our conversation is how wonderful it is to wake up, have a leisurely cup of coffee, lounge on the couch with a guitar, and write undisturbed. Songwriting ritual? What’s that?
What you will hear is the phrase “we’re working moms” several times from both of them. You’ll hear how Russell writes between midnight and 4am because it’s often the only alone time she has. You’ll hear how she develops melodies and plays beats on her body while she’s in the shower—and how the shower was where she went to cry when she was a new mother. You’ll hear how O’Donovan gets so many of her song ideas while she’s running; sure, exercise spurs creativity, but it’s also alone time. You’ll hear how the practicalities of being a parent and full-time songwriter involve driving kids places and being without childcare and trying to help with schoolwork—all while trying to write an album. And you’ll hear how during the early stages of the pandemic they were managing school lessons over Zoom, and how in the heck can you write songs when your kids are home and your time is someone else’s?
It’s no wonder O’Donovan told me there are no wasted hours in her day and that she writes best while her body is in motion. Because when you’re a working mom, when is it not in motion?
We have four kids, so I know busy. But I’m a dad, not a mom. I will not presume to know their experiences. I can say this, though: if their kids are like ours, even when Russell and O’Donovan do get that room of their own, there’s probably a tiny knock at that door after about five minutes. Which is why I also thought of this defiant Virginia Woolf passage after our conversation:
Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.
Despite their limited time, both women have put out fantastic music recently. Russell’s first solo album Outside Child has been nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Americana Album, and the single “Nightflyer” has been nominated for two GRAMMYs in Best Americana Roots Performance & Best Americana Roots Song. O’Donovan has a fantastic new album Age of Apathy. The song “Prodigal Daughter” features Allison Russell, and if this song and their vocal harmonies do not give you chills, you have no soul.
