And she sang. Really sang. Sang in a voice that completely pulls you in because the tone is so lovely and so expressive and so shimmery that the edges of the tone curl inward and draw you forward in your chair. She would hold out these long notes and drop her head backward to let the sound flow out and you wanted to swim in it. Read more...
The singer Maura O'Connell once said that what country music and Irish music have in common is a passion for sentimentality. In other words, you can't have country music without a sense of loss and a lyric that will tear your heart in two. One listen to George Jones singing "My Wild Irish Rose" should leave you suitably teary. Read more...
Former US President Bill Clinton will join Senator Mitchell and other key negotiators in April to mark the 10th anniversary of the Belfast Agreement. ... The dinner following the event in Northern Ireland will include performances by Duke Special and Maura O Connell, as well as a reading by Michael Longley. Read more...
Moloney immediately thought of his old flat-mate and band member from the Johnstons, Paul Brady, as the first master to be invited and he coaxed him into participating. Brady, in turn, sought out the younger Siskind based in Nashville, where they first met at a Maura O’Connell concert. Read more...
Given the bounty of love songs that continue to make up Irish songstress Maura OConnells concert repertoire, its amazing she has not dissolved into a complete sentimentalist. Maybe thats because this fine one hour and 45 minute performance at Cincinnatis Seton Concert Hall on Jan. 12 allowed her to scatter the thematic perspective a bit. Read more...
The Irish chanteuse, a Nashville resident for nearly 20 years, has become a masterful song stylist in her 25-year solo career, not merely in the distinctive way she interprets the material but in the intuitive manner that she mixes Celtic tradition with contemporary Folk/Roots verve to create a compelling hybrid. Read more...