DEIRDRE EGAN'S PATH WELL-TRAVELED
by Melissa Bergeron

Songbirds not only signify a hypnotic and beautiful voice, they signify grace, strength, confidence, and charisma. Deirdre Egan illustrates such qualities.
Twenty-six years ago Egan was born in Yonkers, New York, ten years after her father moved from Ireland to pursue his own music career. He put that career aside to support his family, but he kept music a major part of their lives.
As a child, Egan learned piano and Irish step dancing. While incorporating her talents into extracurricular activities such as plays, concerts, and recitals, Egan paved her own way for a career in music. "My original goal was to be a classical pianist," Egan says. "It didn't work out because I didn't want to do just that, I wanted to experiment with other genres." Now she soars as an acoustic songwriter and continues to dabble with Irish, folk, and classical influences.
In Egan's adult life, music is more than just an extracurricular activity. When she's not creating music she's using it to inspire others. Egan is a music therapist and has worked with people afflicted with Huntington's chorea, a neurological and degenerative disease that attacks all muscles and cells. "I use music to provoke any response, to train a skill, and to help them express whatever they need to. This line of work definitely affects the way I see the world and how I feel about myself."
The connection is evident. There's no mistaking the fuel for Egan's music; themes of love (past and potential), struggles, friendships, and family convey a self-reflection leading listeners on an introspective journey.
Perpetual hints of Joni Mitchell's gentle essence, Ani DiFranco's gusto, and John Fahey's satiated melodies glide with each song, but it is Egan's steady acoustic vocal punch, double melodies, mesmerizing harmonies, and percussive guitar beats that create a unique sound. For example, "Willow Tree," a folk/Celtic tune, displays soft melancholy undertones. With the bittersweet "His Ireland," Egan took the old Irish song "Dunmoore Lassies" and altered it into a jazzy piano accompaniment to capture the struggles her father first endured when he arrived in America and the life-altering changes thereafter. But Egan doesn't just portray her father's past in one song. As Egan explains, "I feel that I play music to resolve that for him. I help make him feel complete by being an extension of him. We're different musicians, but the way I express and play music, or the fact that I'm even doing music helps him."
Egan's journey has only just begun; plans to record a debut album in January and tour next summer are en route. Expect Egan to dabble a little more with her unique mixes of traditional and unconventional sounds. "I want it to be a different combo of simple but subtle contrasts, a musical contrast between songs," says an enthusiastic Egan. "Like pretty water colors in shades of blue."

Melissa Bergeron writes for Athens, Georgia's political, music, and entertainment magazine Flagpole.