Daisy O'Connor

WhenDaisy O’Connor came for her Café con Siete performance and visit, she admitted that seven (siete) is her lucky number. And, when she realized that “Garza” translates to “Heron” in English, a big smile of astonishment spread across her face as she exclaimed, “I have a massive tattoo of a Heron running down my leg!” Well. If that’s not serendipitous, then we don’t know what is.

With a bubbly presence and an easy-going demeanor, Daisy was radiant, even when the weather on the first day of March wasn’t. She sang with a smile on her face and a lot of stories in her heart. Herstream of performances (and breaks in between for “anybody [with] questions for the ole Daisy?”) felt like a personal memoir.

She started with the first song she ever wrote, “Do Be Do;” a happy song, that encourages listeners to do what they love. Before entering themusic world full-time, she was in social work. “But,” she sang, “there’s so much more in this big ole world, so much more to see. So just grab ahold of the reins now, baby, cause right now we are free to do. To be. To do, be, do...”

The second song, “Maria,” was about by her time working in a domestic violence shelter in the Washington state country. With her eyes closed and a conviction in her voice, she painted a picture of a girl she once knew. “It’s a prayer for all the Marias out there,” she explained.

The third, currently unreleased, song, “Tombstone,” was inspired by a near-death experience from car wreck Daisy suffered a few years back. Being in a wreck, she lightheartedly explained, “had me thinking that I should probably have a last will and testament or something, and so far all I have is this song.”

Daisy introduced “Breaking the Box,” the following song, by explaining that she grew up in a conversative, religious family. It tells of her “experience with all that religious stuff,” as she put it.

For her last song with us, she played “Come What May,” a “love song to Mother Nature.” She sang about all the love and music she finds in the little things of nature. Personifying nature, Daisy’s lyrics invited us to imagine Mother Nature through lyrical images of the world around us, like violet crowns at sundown.

We sentDaisy off with a mason jar of wildflowers, and she left us humming, with pieces of her heartfelt memoir. Thank you, Daisy, for sharing your story with us! We can see why you are so adored throughout the Austin music community; and we are so glad that all our signs, too, guided us to you.