Sharon Shannon

Sharon Shannon earned admiration across Ireland and beyond as a musician whose command of traditional forms opened fresh pathways for the music during the 1980s and 1990s. Although steeped in the Irish repertoire, she readily wove her accordion and fiddle lines through reggae, country, and other outside influences. Raised in North County Clare, a longstanding center of traditional playing, she received early encouragement from local instructor Frank Custy; her siblings Garry and Mary also took up instruments. Already performing by age eight, she joined the local ensemble Disirt Tola, which issued an album in 1984.

Her deepening commitment to traditional music became clear through participation in the mid-1980s Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eirann tours, where she met piano accordionist Karen Tweed and absorbed important stylistic lessons. A short period with the traditional band Arcady followed, after which her connection with Steve Wickham secured an invitation to join the Waterboys during their Fisherman’s Blues period. The ensuing world tour introduced her to sounds she had not previously encountered. Eighteen months later, as the group shifted toward rock, she chose to leave and launch a solo career.

Although she had recorded a solo track for the 1989 compilation Ceol Tigh Neachtain, her self-titled debut album, cut in 1990 with assistance from Hothouse Flowers member Liam O’Maonlai and U2’s Adam Clayton, marked the decisive step forward. Rooted chiefly in the reflective County Clare manner, the record nevertheless incorporated occasional pieces from Louisiana and Portugal. Her profile rose sharply the following year after she appeared on the successful anthology A Woman’s Heart, which generated extensive touring opportunities. She did not release another album until 1995’s Out the Gap, several tracks of which were produced by British reggae artist Dennis Bovell and introduced dub, reggae, calypso, and related rhythms into her sound. The set demonstrated her growing command of the accordion, her principal instrument, and the fiddle alike.

Two years later, Each Little Thing confirmed her artistic command as she moved fluidly among idioms, from a reading of “Libertango,” the Astor Piazzolla piece popularized by Grace Jones, to “Kids,” which joined a traditional melody with a Lindsay Buckingham song, and “El Mercado Testaccio,” her musical journey to Chile via Inti-Illimani. Despite the range of material, her playing provided continuity throughout. In 1999 she fulfilled her contract with The Best of Sharon Shannon, a twenty-one-track survey drawn from the two preceding albums plus one live recording and several previously unreleased tracks.

The Diamond Mountain Sessions, recorded in Galway on Ireland’s west coast and issued in 2001, drew heavily on American alt-country alongside Celtic traditions and had already achieved triple-platinum status in Ireland before its American release, earning Shannon the Irish awards for Folk Artist of the Year and Best Traditional Female. The relaxed collection of songs and sets featured guests Steve Earle, John Prine, Jackson Browne, Carlos Nuñez, and Hothouse Flowers. By contrast, the more formal Irish Gala: The Kennedy Center Presents television special placed her in a different setting, yet she appeared equally comfortable on either stage, particularly during her spring 2001 American club tour supporting the album.

Libertango, released in 2004, included guest appearances by Sinéad O’Connor and the late Kirsty MacColl. The following year she joined Frankie Gavin, Michael McGoldrick, and Judy Murray for the collaborative album Tunes. In 2006 she marked fifteen years of recording with the anthology The Sharon Shannon Collection 1990–2005. Teaming with Mike McGoldrick, she recorded her first studio album since 2003; Renegade appeared in August 2007. Another compilation, Galway Girl: The Best of Sharon Shannon, followed in 2008, and in 2010 she issued the fresh studio set Saints & Scoundrels, which brought together an eclectic roster of collaborators including Shane MacGowan, Imelda May, Jerry Fish, Carol Keogh, Justin Adams, the Cartoon Thieves, and the Waterboys.

A 2012 project with Ireland’s RTÉ Concert Orchestra produced the Flying Circus album, which blended her agile accordion work with orchestral textures. Returning to a smaller scale, she released In Galway in 2015, a lively live recording made with Dublin multi-instrumentalist Alan Connor at O’Connor’s Pub. Her exploratory spirit surfaced again on 2017’s Sacred Earth, a wide-ranging collection that incorporated African, reggae, and even rap elements.