Voted third in Denmark's popular music charts this week was Lovely Laois, sung by a 25-year-old Mountrath country and western singer, Trudi Lalor. The song features on her album Next Time Round.
"We released the album some time ago and I have performed a few times in Denmark," she says, "but I must say I was quite surprised when I discovered that the song had gone to number three in their music charts.
"I like the Danes because they are very like ourselves. They enjoy the music, the pint and the craic and they seemed to like my singing. Not only is the album selling well in Denmark but it is also doing very well in Germany and Poland."
Trudi says that up to two years ago there was no song at all about Co Laois and, in order to rectify this, a local man, Christy Cullen, wrote the song. "I recorded it for a GAA album which features a song about every county in Ireland and then I put it on the Next Time Round album, which was distributed all over Europe.
Trudi, who comes from a family of 11, has a growing reputation as a country and western singer and has recorded with Ray Lynam in Nashville.