Musical love letter to a hometown

Nineteen-year-old singer-songwriter Klara Carolan, a rising folk artist from Bailieborough, has just launched her first music video. It is a tribute to the town where she was born and raised and she hopes it will be as special to the locals as it is to her, not only because it is “the first Christmas song ever written about Bailieborough”.

Carolan describes her song ‘Christmas Time’ as a “love letter to my hometown”, addressing both the joy and the poignancy of the season.

“I wanted to capture the quieter side of Christmas,” she explains. “In towns like Bailieborough, the pubs come alive with music and laughter, but they also carry a quiet weight - of people we’ve lost, or those who’ve moved away.”

The song reflects the celebration and longing, offering what she hopes will feel to listeners like a story told beside a winter fire. That storytelling feeling shaped the musical arrangement as well.

A multi-instrumentalist, Carolan recorded every part herself, opting for a simple acoustic sound featuring guitar, piano and low whistle.

“I wanted the lyrics to breathe,” she says. “The low whistle imitates the melody, almost like someone sitting beside you and telling a story.” The video features Carolan and a group of local musicians travelling on a moving céilí through several local pubs, capturing what she calls “the craic and the ceol” of the season. Instruments on the day included fiddle, viola, cello, guitar, flute and bodhrán - a very traditional Irish composition, but in no way outdated. Klara sees Irish music breaking into social media platforms more and more.

“There's short videos on Tiktok and on Instagram. I love to see Irish tradition being brought back into the country."

Though not yet 20, Carolan has already built a musical life that stretches beyond Cavan. Now a music student at Trinity College Dublin, she continues to busk regularly, performing in Galway City, on Grafton Street and anywhere her weekends take her. Busking, she says, helped her grow both as a singer and a person.

“It’s helped me break out of my shyness,” she says. Her September release ‘Not the Time to Be Shy’ reflects that journey. With the backdrop of the town’s festive lights in their full winter sparkle, the video is a visual love letter to Bailieborough at Christmas. Carolan credits videographer Noel Joyce for guiding the project and expresses gratitude to local publicans who opened their doors for filming, as well as the musicians who joined her.

'Christmas Time' was released on Friday, December 5 and can be purchased in Bailieborough shops.