There was one little piece of C2C history that went relatively unpublicised and that was surely the longest gap between appearances at the festival, which must now be claimed by Maria Byrne. Jessi Alexander commented at the Songwriter's evening that it had been 10 years since her last appearance, yet Maria can pip that by another year as it was 2014 when she last graced a C2C stage, The Armadillo Stage apparently where she was sandwiched between Stephen Kellogg and Sonny Walters. Naturally #TEAMw21 could not let this C2C landmark go unnoticed and it seems we were not the only ones with BBC's Mark Hagen also onlooking.
Now normally we get a little sniffy about people playng to backing tracks however this year there was a lot of it about, even on the Main Stage where piano sounds would appear when clearly no-one was playing one. It was also not really practical to bring a band from Ireland for one slot, so her band of "Dave's", would appear via the wonders of technology.
In truth Maria made a good fist of making it as seamless as possible which meant that we got to see a fair representation of her talents.
Impeccably turned out, with her guitar case open in front her with her name emblazoned for all to see, Maria would kick things off with "Faraway Hills". The verses would be almost spoken, the verses sung with a gentle Irish lilt, all performed with a bright smile.
Things would speed up with "Sweet Burden", one of the songs she probably played on that inaugural performance from her "Back To You" EP, enhanced with lovely guitar work. Also on that EP was "Tennessee" which was full of well observed lyrics about living in London.
As Maria would sing of morning commuting, anyone who who has had to suffer that torment would know exactly of what she was singing
"There's 25 people getting in my way
And now the bus conductor decided he's had enough
And the guy giving who is giving him grief just won't get off"
or
"There'a lady stood next to me and those shoes look like they hurt
And there's a man sat next to her, he's looking up her skirt!"
Mixed with dreams of being in Nashville, it was certainly our favourite of the performance, all set to a suitably jaunty tune.
Even more upbeat in tune at least would be the following song "Poor Man" due no doubt to the prominent fiddle.
Playing "All I Ever Needed" from her 2023 EP, Maria's sound would change , on this song about whether things are sometimes just meant to be. It was a softer more subtle sound over which Maria's voice would gently float.
There would be a hilarious introduction over "Go To Sea" involving the local white witch from Cobh where she lives. it would duly be something of an jangly shanty of a song
Another song touching on Cobh would be "Home To Me", a simple, gentle piece of heartfelt country that Maria gamely got through fighting off the sniffles of a cold as she sang about everyday life there.
"Cobh is where my heart is a small town by the sea
Cobh us where my heart is, and it will always be home to me"
A final song "One More Day" inspired by the death of her sister, once more saw Maria able to pick out tiny personal details in her lyrics. The song helps keep her sisters memory alive, and was a fitting tribute, also managing to finish just before the tannoy made a security announcement which would have totally ruined the moment.