For almost two decades, Foy Vance has been known as an acclaimed, influential singer/songwriter who has a powerful, soulful voice. He’s had success both as an artist, and as a songwriter who’s written with top artists for their albums. He has released seven albums to date, and he’s excited about the new songs he is releasing now for his next album.
Vance recently released the first two songs (“Feel The Cold” and “Know By Now”) from his new album project that is called IF. Then on October 30, Vance will be releasing an EP called IF:WE that will contain these two songs plus three new songs. Then in the coming months, Vance will release a second EP and a third EP, before releasing the full, 16-song album IF on April 30, 2027.
Produced by Anderson East (a Nashville-based producer who has worked with Lukas Nelson and Waylon Wyatt), IF is a new chapter in Vance’s impressive body of work. The process for this new album began when Vance handed over 100+ songs to East, and he asked him to select the songs he wanted to produce for this album. Some of these songs were co-written by top Nashville songwriters such as Lori McKenna, Natalie Hemby, Gabe Simon and Ross Copperman.
Vance explained what his album IF is about. “From a young age, I was told that if you want to live your life right and decent, IF will show you how. It’s tied to everything I was gleaming from writing these songs over the past 27 years, and in a way it’s like the arc of life itself. You’re born into the ‘we’ of a family, then you find your ‘you’—the person you move through life with. And eventually, you realize everything begins and ends with ‘I’.”
Vance grew up in the seaside city of Bangor in Northern Ireland. In 2007, he released his first album called Hope, which received acclaim in the U.K. Then in 2013, he had a breakthrough when his second album Joy of Nothing, received widespread notoriety and featured performances by Ed Sheeran and Bonnie Raitt.
It was around this period that Vance began co-writing several songs with Sheeran, including “Galway Girl,”“Tenerife Sea” and “Afire Love,” which appeared on Sheeran’s multi-platinum second and third albums. He has also written songs with Alicia Keys, Sam Smith, Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert.
Here’s the video of Foy Vance performing his song,
“Know By Now.”
It was in 2017 that Vance released his third album, The Wild Swan, which was on Sheeran’s label, Gingerbread Man Records. Notably, this album was executive-produced by Elton John. Then in 2019, Vance released two albums: From Muscle Shoals and To Memphis. Those records were followed by the albums Sign of Life in 2021, and The Wake in 2026.
In addition to his latest project IF, Vance has been busy with his concert tour. He recently completed a tour of Europe and Scandinavia, and he’s currently playing shows in the U.K. Then in November, he will be launching the first half of his U.S. tour, playing shows in the Western United States.
We are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Foy Vance. He discusses his new project IF, his earlier albums, and the songs he’s co-written for other artists.
DK: I read that you’re from Northern Ireland, and you released your first album, Hope, in 2007. Can you talk about the early years of your career, leading up to making your first record?
Foy Vance: I actually recorded an album before I released Hope, that I have shelved and has never been heard. I think I put an onus on myself to release seven albums that felt pertinent to me personally. So it took me until age 32 to put the first album out, because I wanted to get it right. And then once I released it, I realized…Oh, I didn’t get it right. And t’s not just about getting it right. It’s about feeling, and feeling better and better, you know? So I guess it took me a long time to get a body of work that I felt made sense on album, hence waiting till I was 32.
DK: In 2013, you had a breakthrough with your second album, Joy of Nothing, which featured Ed Sheeran and Bonnie Raitt. Can you talk about making that album, and how you connected with Ed and Bonnie?
Vance: Ed (Sheeran) reached out to me about co-writing when he was making his first album. At first, I didn’t co-write with him. I wasn’t co-writing with anyone at that time, but we stayed friends. Then later he sent me some songs and I was like, “These are great, man, but I’m not your guy. I don’t know what I would add.” And the reason [we co-wrote] is because that song became this sort of family anthem for a mutual friend of ours who lost his father, and hence us doing it together.
Here’s the video of Foy Vance performing his song,
“Feel The Cold.”
With Bonnie Raitt, I can’t say her name without smiling. She reached out, or I think she got a copy of one of my first EPs, and then she invited me out on tour with her. And yeah, we get on like a house on fire. And the song I wrote that she features on, “You and I,” was largely inspired by my time with her.
Bonnie and I had a tricky conversation. I called up Bonnie, who’s a 10-time Grammy Award winner, and said, “Would you sing backing vocals on this song,” because it didn’t feel natural for her to take a verse in that one. But I wanted her represented on the record somehow, and thankfully the gracious legend that she is, she agreed.
DK: Earlier this year, you released your album, The Wake, and I like your song “A.I.” that’s on it. Can you talk about your album, The Wake?
Vance: Well, that’s the seventh album in my series of records, and it was the final record as far as I could tell at that point in time. I thought that might be my last one, although not in any dark way. And I didn’t have ideas of stopping playing music or anything. It was that I’d never envisaged more than seven albums. I always thought that would be enough.
You know, you go in make a record, and on The Wake, I went into that one with a weight that I’d put on myself, like I knew it was gonna mean something to me. I knew it was the seventh album in a series of seven that I’d set out to make. And I went into that sort of caring so much that I knew I had to get myself completely out of the way. It was a profound experience because I barely spoke the entire time.
DK:You’ve said that The Wake was the seventh of a seven album series, but you’re already working on a new album called IF, and you’re releasing songs from it. Can you talk about your new project? I like your song “Feel The Cold” that you recently released.
Vance: The last song to be recorded for The Wake was a song called “I’m Not Celebrating,” and no matter how much we recorded it, I just couldn’t get it. I was playing the right chords and singing the right words and hitting the right notes, but the soul of it was gone. And Ethan Johns, the producer, was like, “What’s happening here, Foy? This is not doom. You’re not in the same place that you were with the other songs.” And I realized there was hope in that song where hope wan’t in the situation. And he said, “Well, let’s remove the hope. How do we remove the hope from this?” And I realized what I had to remove was just one word…IF. IF was the word. The word IF in that song gave it a hope that didn’t belong there. So when that album closed out, my seventh in the seven album series, I was left holding this IF. And I realized that I didn’t want to stop at seven.
Here’s the video of Foy Vance performing his song,
“Bathed In Light.”
I wanted to carry on, recording as much as I could, so I went into studio carrying this IF. And I thought…what if I keep going and make another one? So I dug through some old songs on my hard drives, songs that I’d written over the years, songs that when I wrote them, they were like, “This is the one for Hope. This is the one for my album Joy of Nothing. This is the one for The Wild Swan.” And then they just never made it, and then they disappeared into the ether. So I made a folder of all those songs that once were important to me but never got to see the light of day, and I sent them to my friend (producer) Anderson East.
Essentially I said, “Listen, I’ll come into your studio for two weeks, and if you pick the song, I’ll sing it.” So for the for the first time ever, I went in without a clue as to what we would be singing. Every day it was an absolute surprise—there was an IF to every day. All I had to do was just show up and respond to whatever song Anderson pulled out. So it was a very interesting way to make a record after 26 years of putting so much into the song choice of an album, and the arc of the album and what it was gonna mean. And I just let this one develop itself.
DK: You had mentioned that your last album, The Wake, was more darker. So is IF an album of songs that’s going to be more hopeful and optimistic? Which songs did Anderson East pick?
Vance: I think he picked a mixture of songs. There are some songs on there that I guess have dark undertones. One song springs to mind—“Ode To Anna Jean.” That’s coming up on the release next year. It’s a song from my father’s point of view, to my mum. It’s got a dark undertone, and even features my dad’s voice on it. I think maybe all the songs have a real mix of things, that they’re not any one thing. Like “Feel the Cold,” the first release for this record…I think feels quite upbeat. I guess there’s a real mix.
DK: I want to ask you about the songs you’ve written for other artists. You’ve co-written with Alicia Keys, Sam Smith, Keith Urban and Miranda Lambert. How did you co-write with these top artists for their records?
Here’s the video of Ed Sheeran’s song, “Galway Girl,”
which was co-written by Foy Vance.
Vance: By absolute accident, quite honestly. The first person to reach out to me about co-writing was Ed (Sheeran). I was on tour with Ed, and he was writing a song. He was playing it to me, and I suggested, “Oh, it should go here. And what if it did this?” Then (soon after) he asked for my publishing details, and I was going, “Why?” And he said, “Well, ’cause we wrote that song.” I was going, “What song? I didn’t write a song with you.” Then I realized, oh, if you’re doing it with the right people and it’s not a mercenary venture, it’s actually quite enjoyable. You know, there’s the way I write songs for myself, which I couldn’t write with anyone else, and it’s not about wanting to keep anyone out of it. It’s more that I can’t hear it if someone else is there. You know what I mean? For me to write for myself, I just need to sit and listen, really. I don’t write them…I just hear them. Whereas with other people, it became like malevolent sudoku. Like a musical puzzle to be cracked. I enjoy the craft of it, but I turn down more writes than I take.
I did co-write an album for (singer/songwriter) Bonnie Bishop, my partner. She wasn’t my partner when we started making the record. That was enjoyable. If there’s a chance to write with someone for a journey, maybe for a full album, I might be interested.
DK: Next month (November), you’ll be launching a new U.S. concert tour and playing shows. Can you talk about your new tour?
Vance: Yeah, I’m excited about it. I’m on the road with Bonnie Bishop and Peter J. McCauley. Peter J. McCauley is another songwriter that I’m massively influenced by. He brings an energy. In fact, they bring an energy, the pair of them. There’s something about being onstage with two artists that I admire and look up to, and try and stretch up to. It keeps me on my toes. We’ve just finished a European, Scandinavian tour, and we’re in the middle of the U.K. tour now. And we’re getting tight. And for the first time in a long time, I’m sticking to a setlist.
This is interesting, because usually I would wanna turn on a dime and sing what I wanna sing, when I wanna sing it. But I’m finding this really enjoyable. I guess it’s like doing a play, like a theater production. Finding new ways to express things.
I’m excited about it. I’m gonna give it whatever I’ve got. Whatever I’ve got that night is gonna belong to anyone that shows up.
