By Janelle Faignant
ARTS CORRESPONDENT
“Almost every song in this show I have never performed live,” Irish singer-songwriter Maxine Linehan said. “We recorded the album last year but we didn’t ever get to perform the songs. So the backbone of the show is the album, and the catalyst for creating the album was always that someday there would be a show.”
The world premiere of Maxine Linehan’s holiday concert “This Time of Year” takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 4 at Southern Vermont Arts Center’s Arkell Pavilion in Manchester.
Typically Linehan, who lives in Manchester Center with her family, creates a show and then her popular shows are recorded. But because of COVID it happened the other way around this time.
“We created the record in the studio first as a traditional recording and now this year we built the show from that album,” she said.
The heartbeat of the show and the aspect most noted by critics about the record last year was that it wasn’t all Christmas lights and candy canes — there was a lot of weight to the album. That was because Linehan wanted an honest reflection of the emotions that the holidays can elicit, happy or sad.
“Our sadness gets brushed under the carpet at the holidays because we’re supposed to be joyful,” Linehan said. “But I think coming out of the year and a half that we’ve just had, many of us have not been able to go home. I haven’t been home to Ireland in years, and I feel like a lot of people are feeling that change after this pandemic.”
“It’s a healthy thing to recognize that there’s lots of joy around the holidays but there’s also a sense of loss and sadness for many people, too,” she said.
In addition to a concert orchestra comprised of local Vermonters and regional artists, Linehan also collaborated with internationally renowned artist and set designer Adrien Broom to set the mood on stage.
“So it’s not only going to sound incredible it’s going to look amazing with a fully designed set,” Linehan said.
“In a show you have to create an emotional journey because you’ve got a captive audience,” Linehan said. “So you start with the first song and you hope you get them, and then you have to keep them with you, feeling all the different emotions that you’re feeling, in an order that makes sense. That’s the musical piece, then in all of my live shows a big part of it is my dialogue and how I talk to the audience (which) I write from scratch.”
Linehan’s dialogue is usually inspired by why she chose the song she’s about to sing, and the first song on the album called ‘This Time of Year’ was the core out of which everything else grew.
“It was written about how much I love Christmas,” Linehan said. “It’s my favorite time of year and I love my children’s experience at this time of year, but it’s also the time of year that I absolutely miss my parents the most. And that juxtaposition of those feelings … many people (relate to). It’s bittersweet. I think experiencing those feelings together in a concert like this is going to be really moving.”
Tickets had almost sold out at the time we spoke and she anticipated a good crowd, saying, “I think we’re all looking forward to a holiday season of cheer, and maybe a tear here and there, but I think it’s going to be a very special night and I’m so looking forward to it.”
janellefaignant @gmail.com
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