'Mary Shannon' History:
About Mary ShannonMary grew up in a very musical family in Corofin, Co.Clare. She started her music on tin whistle, like the rest of her family, at the age of seven and by nine she had progressed onto the banjo. Her first recording was with a band of young Clare musicians called ‘Disirt Tola’. Other members included her two sisters Majella and Sharon, her brother Garry, fiddlers James Cullinan, Bernie Whelan, Joe Rynne, Tierna Browne, Carol Talty (piano), Ronan Browne (pipes), Gearoid O’hAllbhurain (concertina/pipes), Brian Collins (flute) and Michael Hehir (drums). They toured America, England and Wales,when Mary was only thirteen years old. The following years at school holidays Mary played with different local musicians doing mini tours to ‘Lorient Interceltique Festival’ ’86, ’87, ’88, ’89, and other festivals in Bavaria and Austria. Along the way Mary ‘played a bit’ on other various stringed instruments like bouzouki, mandola and fiddle. In January 1990 she lived in London for six months. At that time there were plenty of good sessions with musicians like John Carty, Marcus Hernon, Paul Rodden, Johnny O’Leary, Noel Minoque, John Curtin, John Coakley, Tom Trainer, Annette Roland and many more. At the Camden market Mary picked up a mandolin to add to the collection. In November 1990 Mary was offered a job in Australia teaching Irish music. She stayed there for a year and a half teaching and playing music in different bands. Also during this time, Mary toured Indonesia with musicians from Brisbane, did a series of concerts in Tasmania with Scottish guitar player Jimmy Gregory, played at Port Fairy Folk Festival, the National Folk Festival at Canberra and many other festivals. When her visa was up she moved to New Zealand for four months joining up with more musicians and bands and touring throughout New Zealand. Mary returned to Ireland in September 1992 and has since been living in Galway. She has been back to New Zealand and Australia a few times since then. In September 1998 Mary, her sister Sharon and guitarist Steve Cooney accompanied President Mary McAleese on a state trip to Australia. Mary plays full time now with ‘Bumblebees’ and also with her sister Sharon’s band ‘The Woodchoppers’. Other members of that band are sisters Liz and Yvonne Kane (fiddles), guitarist Jim Murray and Tony Molloy on bass. Mary’s recordings include: Disirt Tola, Magic Flute (story book and tape), Garry Shannon (Lose the Head), Sharon Shannon (Sharon Shannon, Out the Gap, Each Little Thing, Spellbound, A Woman’s Heart 1 and 2, The Diamond Mountain-due for release Sep’00), Peter Woodley (Flute album), Jimmy Gregory (singer/guitarist), Tim Edy (Accordion), Spiddolin (with Eamon ODwyer), Natalie McMaster (In My Hands), Carlos Revolver (live album), Steve Earle and Jackson Browne. |
