Artist Information
The Grammy-nominated singer has a longstanding commitment to seeking out powerful songwriting, regardless of genre. One of four sisters, O'Connell grew up in a musical household, surrounded by her mother's record collection, which mostly consisted of parlor songs and light opera. She began singing in local folk clubs, eventually partnering with guitarist Mike Hanrahan and performing a mix of contemporary folk and American country music. In 1980, she joined the Celtic group De Dannan and featured on their breakthrough 1981 album The Star Spangled Molly.
O'Connell's restless muse could not be safely contained under the banner of Celtic music, and she soon discovered both an interest in and affinity for progressive American roots music. Following her self-titled solo debut in 1983, she collaborated with Béla Fleck (then of the NewGrass Revival) on 1988's Just In Time, which inaugurated a string of albums marked by O'Connell's tasteful, moving interpretations of songs spanning many traditions and authors.
She recorded three acclaimed albums for Warner Bros. (including the Grammy-nominated Helpless Heart), before moving to Joe Boyd's Hannibal imprint and then to Sugar Hill, for whom she made the rattling, guitar-driven Walls and Windows (produced by Ray Kennedy) and the more introspective Don't I Know, the fourth O'Connell album to be produced by dobro maverick Jerry Douglas.
“This experience has taught me so much about the value and the power of a great song. Even without everything that tells the listener, ‘this is what kind of song this is.’ On its own, a good song has power, poetry, and tragedy in it.”
“Because of the way the industry is set up, you have to be one kind of singer or another – country, pop, whatever. But I think there is a role for singers that should not be Contact: Maedhbh Mc Cullagh | maedhbh@americaeire.org | 347-489-2139 defined. Singers don’t have to be tied to a particular style. They aren’t bound to anything but the song.”
