17 year old finger picking guitar player & singer from County Donegal “Muireann Bradley is a Celtic soul sister, swinging the blues back from the margins. More vitally, she could inspire a fresh generation to investigate the genre.” Folk Radio
Muireann Bradley is a 17 year old folk and blues guitarist and singer from Ballybofey in County Donegal. She specializes in performing acoustic fingerpicking country, piedmont, and ragtime blues styles from the 1920s, 30s and 40s as well as later folk, country and Americana.
Her influences include Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis, Memphis Minnie, Elizabeth Cotten, Mississippi John Hurt, Stefan Grossman, Ari Eisinger, John Fahey and Roy Bookbinder.
Her father started teaching her guitar when she was nine and then in 2020, she received an offer from Josh Rosenthal of Tompkins Square Records to record an album after he saw her on youtube. In December 2023 this album âI kept these old Bluesâ was released to rave reviews.
Before the end of 2023 Muireann had played a live session on Highland Radio which went viral and recieved a standing ovation when she performed on Jools Hollandâs annual New Yearâs Eve Hootenanny.
In 2024 she did live sessions for Cerys Matthewsâ BBC Radio 2 Blues Show, the Stephen McCauley show on BBC Radio Ulster and Ray Cuddihyâs Mise Sessions on RTE Radio 1. She also performed live on The Late Late Show and filmed sessions for Other Voices Anam in Ormond Castle and Acoustic Guitar Magazine.
âI Kept These Old Bluesâ reached number 1 on the Amazon download chart U.K. and got into the top 10 on the ITunes chart UKÂ and broke into the Amazon New Folk Music Chart in the U.S. Not bad for a debut album in a genre now considered pretty uncommercial.
Hard copies of her album have been selling out everywhere leading to a second pressing with a third now on the way.
Muireannâs performances online have been viewed over 2 million times and her Irish and U.K. gigs have sold out.
Awards 2024
âa naturalâ Arlen Roth
âthat kid is really good and I donât mean really good for a kid, I MEAN REALLY GOOD â Jorma Kaukonen
âA wonderful player, I can now retire the torch has been passedâ Stefan Grossman
