When the Queen of country music stood on stage at Glastonbury and told how she came to write one of her most popular songs, before launching into the opening verse, the crowd roared its approval.

Dolly Parton smiled and explained  Jolene was written after she had noticed her husband becoming over friendly with a local bank worker by that name.

That was 2014, but a few years earlier, Dolly revealed a different tale about the song’s origins altogether. She said the idea popped into her head after a little girl called Jolene had asked for an autograph at a gig, and Dolly was struck by how pretty the child was.
It all goes to show that songwriters have wonderfully fertile minds and that the themes for their songs can emerge from all sorts of situations and experiences, personal and imaginary.

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For Scots singer-songwriter, Kara Conway who is releasing her first single from a forthcoming debut EP next month, inspiration came from a rather unusual, time-travelling source.

Due out on June 5, Kara’s song Two Hearts took shape because the 24-year-old from Bishopbriggs is a huge fan of the long-running TV series, Doctor Who. “The song reflects on Karen Gillan’s departure from the TV show. It’s a break-up song,” said Kara, who plans to bring out the EP, titled This Life, later in the year. 

“I am a massive Doctor Who fan and I wrote Two Hearts while re-watching The Eleventh Hour, which was the first episode together for the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), and Amy Pond, played by Karen Gillan, and this was after Karen’s exit as his companion. 

“In the episode the Doctor is forced to leave, but promises the young Amy he will return in five minutes. Instead, he arrives 12 years later. 

“I was just really struck by the image of the little girl sitting on a suitcase in her back garden and I wrote the song as a bit of a soundtrack to that.  

“At the moment, I have to say that this is my favourite track from the EP because it’s the one with the big vocal and I just love singing with a piano accompaniment.”

The title track, too, is linked to something she saw on television.

Kara said: “I began writing the track This Life on New Year’s Eve 2018 and finished it just after the bells. At the time I was on complete vocal rest, having had laryngitis for over a month, and was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t be able to sing again. 

“So, while all my friends and my two brothers were out partying, I stayed home with my dad. My mum is a nurse and was on nightshift.

“We watched a programme on the singer-TV presenter Jane McDonald. Up to that point I was aware of who Jane McDonald was, but didn’t know much about her backstory and how she’d overcome so many setbacks to get to where she was in her career.

“I was so inspired by her that I went up to bed and wrote the song This Life.

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“The track is about my own love of music and reflects the madness and excitement of being out and about singing, and trying to establish a career in music. These feelings were even more heightened than usual at that time because I had completely lost my voice and was unable to get out there and just go for it.”

Kara has been playing the piano since she was a young girl and says she spent her childhood singing along to her father playing music by The Beatles, Eric Clapton and The Eagles on guitar and participating in her local choir.

While studying English literature at university, she began teaching herself to play guitar so she could perform her own material at open mic nights in and around the city, as well as covering Nick Drake and Crosby Stills and Nash songs.

She has appeared at the Danny Kyle Open Stage at Glasgow’s Royal Concert Hall as part of Celtic Connections, at the Killin Music Festival and at Scottish singer-songwriter, Dougie Maclean’s annual Perthshire Amber Festival.

Recently, Kara began hosting an hour-long, Sunday morning show on Celtic Music Radio, where she plays a mixture of music from up and coming and established artists.

The This Life EP was recorded at Chem19 Studios in Blantyre where it was produced and engineered by Derek O’Neill (King Creosote) and was mastered by Paul Savage.

“It was amazing working with them,” she said. “Hearing my songs come to life was such a lovely feeling and I’m so grateful to Derek and Paul for all they did for me.”