Puppy love sees Lisa release new track

Ballyhaise singer/songwriter Lisa O'Neill was among a plethora of Irish music stars who performed together on the Late Late Show last Friday to promote the upcoming launch of an album in aid of the charity, Dogs in Distress. The brainchild of fellow Irish female singer, and 'Dogs in Distress' charity advocate, Cathy Davey, the pre-Christmas release features contributions and collaborations with a number of Irish artists, including Lisa, the Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon, Sharon Shannon and Villagers to name a few. The song performed on the Late Late Show last Friday, 'One ear up', written by Hannon, and attributed to a group calling themselves 'Harry Holler and the Hooligans', is but one of 15 album tracks, all of which are about dogs:

&noredirect=1 "We've had a listen to it and it's a brilliant album, really good," Lisa told the Celt this week. Lisa's involvement in it came six months ago after she was approached by Davey. Though never a pet owner herself, Lisa mused over ideas for her contribution, proffering instead an endearingly quirky song called, 'Dogbaby'. It was instantly accepted. Like her début album 'Has an Album', Lisa's music expresses personal experience in a personal way, and 'Dogbaby' is no different. "It's a hard story to explain, but it's a silly one. It's about when we told my little brother when he was younger that a new baby born in the town was a half-dog half-baby. It's a running joke but I told Cathy the story and she said 'yes, put it into a song'." Lisa adds that her involvement with Cathy on the project has also really opened up her eyes to the work carried out by Dogs in Distress and is confident, given the calibre of the contributions on the album, that it will raise both much needed funds and awareness for the charity. The Dogs in Distress charity album is due for release in early December.