Nuala Kennedy

A versatile singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and seasoned session player, Irish flutist Nuala Kennedy spent her formative years in the musically rich border town of Dundalk Co. Louth, where she developed her airy and imaginative playing style, which draws from both Irish and Scottish traditional music, in the local ceilidh band Ceoltoiri Oga Oghrialla. After studying classical piano at the Royal Academy of Music in Dublin, she relocated to the Scottish capital city of Edinburgh, where she formed the trio Fine Friday with guitar player Kris Drever and fiddle player Anna-Wendy Stevenson. In 2007 she moved to the Highland town of Inverness to study Scots Gaelic and released her debut solo album, the critically acclaimed New Shoes, via Compass Records. Released in 2010, Tune In found Kennedy expanding her sonic palette with help from Bonnie "Prince" Billy and Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake, and that musical growth continued on 2012's Noble Stranger, which introduced electronics and a more folk-pop-oriented sound.