EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Janet Devlin Chats Backstage @ C2C 2025

Having recently released her first full-length country project ‘Emotional Rodeo’ back in November 2024, lifelong country music fan Janet Devlin made a dream come true by travelling to Nashville to record the project and has now made her debut appearance at C2C Festival in London further showcasing her ability within the genre. During the three-day weekend, Music and Tour News were lucky enough to catch up with Janet backstage.

So, first off congratulations on your first C2C Festival performance, how have you found the experience so far?

Yeah, the past week has just been nuts, it’s like as a fan insane. I’ve got to meet so many of my heroes, like see some of my heroes in the canteens and stuff and not speak to them haha and then playing has just been really unreal, People are actually listening and getting involved and singing my songs back to me, it’s so surreal cos I only dropped the album so recently that I didn’t think this would happen. I’m the last person to have been booked, I was booked in January so I’m just honoured to be here.

How did you receive the news that you’d be playing C2C?

My manager received the news. I go into the studio like five days a week cos I like to be in a working environment and yeah he’s come in and I remember being like “no, shut up”, I remember saying to people I will p[lay the stage before the stage even opens, just as doors open, I’ll busk like I don’t care I just wanna go. So, getting to do Berlin and Belfast and then London has just been so surreal.

How have you been finding the fans’ reaction during your slots?

Honestly, all positive like I haven’t heard anything mean, I haven’t seen anything mean. Today was amazing cos it was just a room full of people listening and it was dope, I loved it.

Is there one song in particular off the album that you feel is connecting most with audiences?

Well, it’s different every gig but in that room ‘Emotional Rodeo’ the song which I think is cos I dedicated it to the crazy girls like myself and it went down really well haha.

We’ve touched on the album there, how have you found the response to that project what with it being your first country release?

Oh my god, super positive, it’s got a lot of new listeners in and that’s something that I struggled to do for a really long time to get new ears in and now it finally seems to be happening. Obviously the goal with an album is that people listen to it so the fact people are is amazing.

How long did it take for that whole project to come together?

The plan to go country has been going on for sixteen years and I wanted to do it by age 24 but then lockdown happened but I did release my first country song in 2021 and it’s just a passion and I wanted to do it when I had stories and wanted to have lived life a little bit and wanted to feel like I was in control of my writing and I knew what was I doing so I feel like the stars aligned and it all just worked out the way it should.

So, you grew up on country music too?

Oh yeah, it’s a big genre in Ireland and I had a very rural upbringing and all the hobbies, you know horse riding, fishing so country music just made complete sense, cos you’re listening to music to resonate to and as a kid I loved Kenny Rodgers and I loved country as a child especially you felt like you had a story cos it’s the genre where people like to tell stories and like I remember listening to ‘The Gambler’ for the first time when I was really young and it was like your inner story world.

Do you have any dream collaborations that you’d love to make a reality?

There are so many. I knew that country was the right choice during my first trip to Nashville, I was on the strip and I was walking past all the bars and I knew every single song that was playing in every single bar and I was like “yeah. I think this is the right decision”, and that means I have country heroes from my childhood all the way adulthood and then also like Bluegrass as well, that was a big part of my younger life because I was doing traditional Irish music and that sometimes crosses over into Bluegrass. I’ve just always loved it. I always say I’m a country music fan first and then I’m a country artist.

You’ve also been played on BBC Radio 2 recently too, what’s that been like?

Yes, it’s our third playlist on Radio 2 and we were on the Breakfast show on Thursday. I’ve done a lot of cool stuff in my career but a lot of that was tied to TV so like as an artist Radio is like the biggest moment of my career. Seven to Eight million people listening live. We used to always listen to Breakfast driving to school and I just always had that dream of going on and talking and singing and to get two songs and a full chat that was hands down the biggest moment of my career so far.

So, on the back of C2C, and Radio 2, what else does 2025 have in store for you?

Putting out some new stuff cos I just got back from Nashville and we did twenty songs in three days and wrote the album in three weeks and we’ve already mixed a few in the interim of me coming back from Berlin and going to Belfast so for me get back in the studio, vocal all those songs and I’ve got a bunch more gigs and hopefully I’ll get more, I’ll go wherever they want me to play, I don’t care if it’s twenty people or two hundred people I’m chill.

We have one last question before we close this out. What would be your message to your UK fanbase?

I would say that luckily I grew up where it wasn’t embarrassing to be into country like when I was home it wasn’t but when I was in school it was but if you love it , embrace it. Go full-on into it, listen to whatever you want unapologetically, just do it. Like because events like this and country gigs in general, the community is so amazing, they’re so lovely, they’re so kind. There are groups that will buddy you up at gigs if you have nobody to go with and I just think if you love it do whatever you want and don’t think about what anyone else thinks about it.

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