| Nuala Kennedy | |
| Birth Date: | 30 January 1977 |
| Birth Place: | Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland |
| Genre: | Irish traditional music, Celtic |
| Occupation: | Musician |
| Instrument: | Irish flute, keyboards |
| Years Active: | 2002–present |
| Label: | Compass |
| Associated Acts: | Fine Friday, Harem Scarem, Will Oldham, Oliver Schroer, AJ Roach, Washboard Williams, John Doyle, Norman Blake, Kris Drever |
Nuala Kennedy (born 30 January 1977) is an Irish composer, singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
She grew up in Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland, where she played piano and flute in a local ceili band and studied classical piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Dundalk is an area rich in mythology and musical heritage and has strong historical links to Scotland. This was to influence her later career when she moved at age eighteen to Edinburgh.
In Edinburgh Nuala studied Design at Edinburgh College of Art and played regularly at sessions throughout the city. Nuala holds a post graduate diploma in Education from the University of Edinburgh and a Master of Music from Newcastle University. In late 2000 Nuala began playing alongside Kris Drever and Anna-Wendy Stevenson in a weekly Friday session at Sandy Bell's pub in Edinburgh. The trio became known as Fine Friday and toured in the UK, Europe and Australia, releasing two albums before disbanding.
In 2007 Compass Records released Nuala's first solo recording, The New Shoes, where she was recognized as an exceptional interpreter of the tradition.[1] She went on to release Tune In (2010) and Noble Stranger (2012).[2] She has collaborated, performed and recorded with Will Oldham,[3] Norman Blake from Teenage Fanclub,[4] Cathal McConnell from Boys of the Lough,[5] Frode Haltli, Vegar Vardal, Oliver Schroer,[6] John Doyle,[7] and American singer-songwriter, AJ Roach[8]
Nuala tours globally as Nuala Kennedy Band headlining at major festivals such as Rudolstadt (GER) Telemark (NOR) Celtic Connections (UK) Celtic Colours International (CAN) Festival Interceltique de Lorient (FRA) Eurofonik (FRA) and Milwaukee Irish Festival (US). She is a member of Oirialla playing music from her native Oriel alongside Gerry O'Connor, accordionist Martin Quinn and Breton guitarist Gilles Le Bigot. Nuala also plays in the Irish traditional music power trio, The Alt, with John Doyle and Eamon O'Leary. In 2014 she released their eponymous record on her independent label, Under the Arch Records, and a second The Alt album Day Is Come was released on 3 February 2022.
Nuala is married to the Appalachian singer-songwriter A. J. Roach. The couple live in Ennis, Co Clare, Ireland with their two small children.
Snowflake Trio
With The Alt
With Oirialla
With Fine Friday
With Harem Scarem