Elizabeth McGovern doesn't want her role as Cora Crawley, Countess of Grantham, to overshadow her identity as a musician. But she does admit it drives people to come see her band. Sadie and the Hotheads have just released a new album, Still Waiting. They'll be at Hartford's Infinity Hall on December 14.
"When we first toured the UK, there was a lot of people sitting in the audience with their 'Downton Abbey' books that they wanted to be signed," McGovern said on WNPR's The Colin McEnroe Show. "That’s happening less and less as time goes on. The music is starting to speak for itself."
McGovern sings, writes, and collaborates with six other musicians to create vivid, varied styles of songs, including a recent cover of "Little Drummer Boy."
McGovern said the rock band has been around since 2007. In an interview in The Daily Mail earlier this year, she said the lead singing role is a character she created "who was confident enough to sing. Sadie is that thing inside you that's unique to you. It's not about pleasing anybody else. It's your true inner voice."
"It takes time for people to come to the music, or not, as the case may be... for the music to establish and identity separate from the show," McGovern said. "It is quite different to what you would expect if you were looking for something that would be in 'Downtown Abbey.' It’s just completely a different world."
McGovern started her career in acting at Juilliard, and never expected "Downton" to take on the popularity it has. "It was for me like any other job you do. You try to do the best you can, and most of them come and go, and that’s the end of it," she said. "Why this one has really connected in the way it has is anybody's guess. I just don’t know."
Listen below to McGovern's interview with Colin McEnroe:
Catch Sadie and the Hotheads at Infinity Music Hall and Bistro in Norfolk on Friday, December 12, and then on Sunday, December 14, they'll be at Infinity's Hartford location, where you can be a part of a live taping of the show for CPTV.
