FROM his toe-tapping guitar playing to his unique and captivating voice, Co Antrim singer Tiernán Heffron is well on his way to becoming a firm favourite on the Irish folk/pop music circuit with hits such as Strangers to Lovers, Happier With You and Forever.
Although he launched his first album Broken Dreams in 2019, it was his chance performance in front of pop star Taylor Swift in 2021 that brought him to wider attention.
“It was such an amazing opportunity,” Tiernán recalls.
“When I was younger, I always dreamed about getting discovered and I’m so grateful that it happened and that it was an artist like Taylor. Even to this day I’m still asked about it and after it happened everything opened up for me.”
But Tiernán’s musical journey began much earlier, at the age of just eight, when he received a guitar for Christmas.
“I would have my own concerts in my house, set the seats up, make my own tickets ‘Tiernán Heffron Live’ and charged my mum and dad like a pound and I’d have concert every night.
“But it came to the point where I think I was putting up my fee to like a fiver which I think was maybe a bit too far,” he laughs.
Now he is preparing to tackle his biggest headline gig to date in Limelight 2 on June 22.
“I did the Oh Yeah centre in 2023 and sold it out, which was amazing for my first ever headliner with no manger, no label, no nothing.
“So hopefully we can replicate that with the Limelight show.”
Despite Tiernán’s career going from strength to strength it has not been without its challenges, particularly last year when he was attacked by a heckler during a gig.
“My life is like a real-life country song sometimes,” he says, keeping it light-hearted.
At the end of the day I just want to be happy creating good, true, honest music that I’m proud of and that people will connect to
— Tiernán Heffron
But not willing to let the incident affect his relationship with music and performing he was back on the stage two days later.
“It is what it is, you have to move on from it.
“It was quite bad timing though because I’d worked in a special needs school for four years and it happened on the day I handed in my notice so that I could focus on my career full time.
“I can’t imagine how much everything would’ve changed if one of the glasses had hit me.”
Prior to pursuing music full time Tiernán was juggling his music career with a full-time job as classroom assistant at Castle Tower School in Ballymena.
“It was difficult,” he admits.
“I was wrecked a lot of the time because everyone else in work would get a chance to recharge at the weekend whereas I was working Monday to Friday and then gigging Friday, Saturday Sunday.
“I was determined to save up enough money to quit my job and go to Nashville to write music which was always the dream.”
His hard work evidently paid off as last summer the singer did in fact travel to Nashville to work with American music producer Brett Boyett on his latest single, We Were Liars. which was released on April 26.
“In 2018 there was a movie came out called Forever My Girl and both my mum and I loved it, and the main title track is called Enough.
“So I did a cover of it at Christmas time and I got this comment from Brett saying, ‘Thank you for doing such a great rendition of my song’.
“Initially I was quite sceptical because I didn’t know who he was and there wasn’t a lot on his profile. But then I Googled him and it turned out he was a multi-award winning producer/songwriter from Nashville.
“So I sent him an email and we got chatting and he said if I ever came out to Nashville he’d love to get me in the studio – which just felt like the opportunity I’d been waiting for.
“I booked the flights in 2022, hit him up when I got over there and we got together, worked on the song, did a few sessions and now we’ve released it under his label which is just amazing.”
Tiernán explains that his experience in Nashville also changed his approach to songwriting.
“Initially when I left my job, I tried to treat music in a similar way so I’d spend Monday to Friday trying to write new stuff and just keep plugging away at it.
“But since Nashville I’ve discovered I really love writing with people. It’s so much more enjoyable and it’s great to have someone to bounce ideas off. So now I’m trying to write with as many local artists as I can like Robbie McMinn who’s on the Limelight gig.”
Although he admits that even when writing with others nothing diminishes the fear he feels before releasing a single.
“There’s a real vulnerability when you release a song – like, in my song Still Not Over You there’s a line that goes ‘Crying alone in my bedroom’ and I remember thinking ‘What’s my dad going to think when he hears that?’.
“Then there’s a lot of anxiety around promoting it and its so hard to get the numbers on the likes of TikTok and Spotify, but when I start feeling that type of pressure, I just have to take a step back and appreciate that this is my career and I’m doing what I love.
“It’s all about having a healthy outlook - at the end of the day I just want to be happy creating good, true, honest music that I’m proud of and that people will connect to.”
