Muireann Bradley (born 18 December 2006) is an Irish musician from

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

who plays and sings

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

and

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

guitar from the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s in the

fingerpicking Fingerstyle guitar is the technique of playing the guitar or bass guitar by plucking the strings directly with the fingertips, fingernails, or picks attached to fingers, as opposed to flatpicking (plucking individual notes with a single plectr ...

style of the original artists. She began learning guitar at the age of nine. On 31 December 2023, aged 17, she appeared on BBC tv's ''

Jools' Annual Hootenanny ''Jools' Annual Hootenanny'' is a TV show presented by Jools Holland and broadcast on New Year's Eve as an end-of-year special edition of his series '' Later... with Jools Holland'' on BBC Two in the United Kingdom since 1994. From the show's ...

'' show and was given a standing ovation for her performance of Rev Gary Davis's 1961 song 'Candyman'. Following this television appearance, her debut album ''I Kept These Old Blues'' entered the top ten of the UK Albums Download Chart. Bradley signed to

Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec ...

in December 2024 and Decca released a

remastered A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

version of ''I Kept These Old Blues'' on vinyl in February 2025.

Early years

Bradley was born in

Ballybofey Ballybofey ( , ; ) is a town located on the south bank of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, County Donegal, Ireland. Together with the smaller town of Stranorlar on the north side of the River Finn (County Donegal), River Finn, the ...

, in December 2006. Her father is a musician and her mother is an English teacher. Her father introduced her to authentic blues and ragtime music and taught her to play the guitar. Her early influences included

Blind Blake Arthur Blake (1896 – December 1, 1934), known as Blind Blake, was an American blues and ragtime singer and guitarist. He is known for recordings he made for Paramount Records between 1926 and 1932. Early life Little is known of Blake's life. ...

, Rev Gary Davis,

Memphis Minnie Lizzie Douglas (June 3, 1897 – August 6, 1973), better known as Memphis Minnie, was a blues guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter whose recording career lasted for over three decades. She recorded around 200 songs, some of the best known being " ...

Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth "Libba" Cotten ( Nevills; January 5, 1893 – June 29, 1987) was an influential American folk and blues musician. She was a self-taught left-handed guitarist who played a guitar strung for a right-handed player, but played it upside do ...

Mississippi John Hurt John Smith Hurt (March 8, 1893 – November 2, 1966), known as Mississippi John Hurt, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Biography Early years John Hurt was born in Teoc,Cohen, Lawrence (1996). Liner notes to ''Av ...

Stefan Grossman Stefan Grossman (born April 16, 1945) is an American acoustic fingerstyle guitarist and singer, music producer and educator, and co-founder of Kicking Mule records. He is known for his instructional videos and Vestapol line of videos and DVDs. ...

Robert Johnson Robert Leroy Johnson (May 8, 1911August 16, 1938) was an American blues musician and songwriter. His singing, guitar playing and songwriting on his landmark 1936 and 1937 recordings have influenced later generations of musicians. Although his r ...

and John Fahey. She also found inspiration in the work of musicians who were recording this music in the 1960s. Bradley said she had grown up "steeped in these old blues". Her father played the music constantly at home and in the car and "talked about it endlessly", telling stories of the lives of the musicians as if they were mythology. In an interview Bradley recalled, "My father could play all this stuff on guitar and I remember watching him when I was very young and thinking, 'I want to be able to do that'." At the age of nine she was given a small travel guitar with extra-light strings and began learning, but at first school sports activities competed for practice time. The Covid lockdowns that began in March 2020 allowed her to focus on the guitar, and from that point she learned very quickly. She wrote a list of songs that she wanted to be able to play, and when she was 13 a video of her performing the first song on the list, Blind Blake's 'Police Dog Blues', was posted on YouTube. She told Guitar World in October 2024, "It's important to keep the songs going. These musicians are so amazing, we should keep their memory alive."

2023: Debut album, BBC TV performance

In 2020, Josh Rosenthal of

Tompkins Square Records Tompkins Square Records is an independent record label producing new and archival releases of gospel, blues, jazz, and country music. History In 2005, Josh Rosenthal launched Tompkins Square Records in New York City after working 15 years in a v ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

saw Bradley on YouTube and offered to produce an album of her music. The album was made over the next three years as simple, mostly one-take recordings of voice and acoustic guitar through one mic with no overdubs, in a small studio in Ballybofey by local producer Terry McGinty. It was released in December 2023 titled "I Kept These Old Blues". A

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

producer heard the album, was impressed, and invited Bradley to perform on BBC television. On 31 December 2023, aged 17, Bradley appeared on BBC TV's ''

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Marc Almond, Jayne County, To ...

's Annual

Hootenanny A hootenanny is a freewheeling, improvisatory musical event in the United States, often incorporating audience members in performances. It is particularly associated with folk music. Etymology Meanings Hootenanny is an Appalachian colloquialism ...

'' and was given a standing ovation for her performance of the 1961 Rev Gary Davis song "Candyman". Her first gig had been only a few months before, at the

Ballyshannon Ballyshannon () is a town in County Donegal, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is located at the southern end of the county where the N3 road (Ireland), N3 from Dublin ends and the N15 road (Ireland), N15 crosses the River Erne. The town was inc ...

Folk and Traditional Music Festival in Donegal. She said in an interview before the show that "Candyman" was a song she had known and loved for as long as she could remember. "I Kept These Old Blues" contained 12 tracks of simple vocals and fingerpicked acoustic guitar versions of the original songs, recorded usually in one take each, with no overdubs or effects. Acoustic Guitar magazine said the songs were performed with "great authenticity and conviction and a prodigious fingerstyle technique". Americana UK said Bradley had a "singular talent" and her playing had "a virtuoso confidence . . . bolstered by undeniable skill and a profound affection for the music".

, quoted in The Journal of Music, said Bradley was "a wonderful player". The tracks on "I Kept These Old Blues" were "Candyman", "Richland Woman Blues", Police Dog Blues", Shake Sugaree", "Vestapol", "Stagolee", "Green Rocky Road", "Frankie", "Police Sergeant Blues", "Buck Dancer's Choice", "Delia" and "Freight Train". Decca added an extra track, "When the Levee Breaks", when the album was re-released in February 2025.

2024: Radio appearances, international gigs

In the summer of 2024, Bradley played shows and festivals around Ireland and Britain and some in Germany and the Netherlands. Her audiences included an enthusiastic 6,000-strong crowd at the 'All Together Now' festival in County Waterford. Future performances were booked in America, Australia and the Caribbean, including an appearance on

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

's 'Keeping the Blues Alive' show. Bradley played live sessions on

Cerys Matthews Cerys Elizabeth Matthews (; born 11 April 1969) is a Welsh singer, songwriter, author, and broadcaster. She was a founding member of Welsh rock band Catatonia and a leading figure in the " Cool Cymru" movement of the late 1990s. Matthews now ...

' BBC Radio 2 Blues Show, the Stephen McCauley show on

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

and Ray Cuddihy's sessions on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

. Her debut album reached No.1 on the Amazon UK download chart, was in the top 10 on the UK ITunes chart and entered the Amazon 'New Folk Music' chart in the US. Copies of the album sold out and went to second and third pressings. By December 2024, her performances online had been viewed over two million times and UK gigs had sold out.

Signing to Decca

In December 2024 it was announced that Bradley had signed to Decca Records. Decca remastered "I Kept These Old Blues" and re-released the album on vinyl in February 2025 with an extra track,

and

Kansas Joe McCoy Wilbur Joe "Kansas Joe" McCoy (May 11, 1905 – January 28, 1950) was an American Delta blues singer, musician and songwriter. Career McCoy performed under various stage names but is best known as Kansas Joe McCoy. Born in Raymond, Mississippi ...

's "

When the Levee Breaks "When the Levee Breaks" is a country blues song written and first recorded by Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy in 1929. The lyrics reflect experiences during the upheaval caused by the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927. "When the Levee Brea ...

". Bradley said that being associated with a historic label that had produced legends such as Billie Holliday, Nina Simone and Ella Fitzgerald "was a dream come true".

2025: Performances and international tour dates

Bradley performed in St Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin on 25 January 2025 as part of TradFest, the city's annual celebration of Irish music and culture, and live on

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

's '' Late Late Show'' on 28 February 2025, the day "I Kept These Old Blues" was re-released. A 16-date tour of Australia, America, Spain, Belgium, Canada, UK and Ireland was scheduled for March--July 2025. At 10 March 2025, the dates were: Brisbane, Australia, 13 March; Elham, Australia, 14 March; Blue Mountains Music Festival, Australia, 15 March;

's 'Keeping the Blues Alive',

Miami Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

, Florida, USA, 21 March;

Badalona Badalona (, , , ) is a municipality in Barcelonès county, in Catalonia (Spain). It is located to the north east of Barcelona, on the left bank of the Besòs River and on the Mediterranean Sea, in the Barcelona metropolitan area. By population, ...

, Spain, 28 March;

Bruxelles Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

, Belgium, 2 April;

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain, 6 April;

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, USA, 23 April;

Kennedy Centre The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Washington DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

, USA, 24 April; Wilkesboro NC, USA, 26 April;

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, USA, 30 April;

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

, Canada, 2 May;

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in the North East Wales, north-east of Wales. It lies between the Cambrian Mountains, Welsh mountains and the lower River Dee, Wales, Dee Valley, near the England–Wales border, borde ...

, UK, 8 May;

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

Bluegrass Festival, N.Ireland, 24 May; 'All Together Now' festival

Portlaw Portlaw ( or ''Port Lách'') is a town in County Waterford, Ireland. It is also a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Waterford and Lismore. It is situated approximately 14 km west-north-west of Waterford City, where the Clodiagh me ...

, Ireland, 31 July. Further dates were added later, including Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, 13 July; Balladrum Tartan Heart, Inverness-shire,1 August; Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, Birmingham, 29 August; End of the Road festival, Tollard Royal, UK, 30 August; Evanston Illinois, US, 5 September; Telluride Blues Festival, US, 12 September; Purcell Room, London, 20 September; Predikherenkerk, Belgium, 7 October.

Guitars

Bradley began learning on a small, short-scale travel guitar with extra-light strings. In 2024 she was playing a Gibson LG-2 reissue for a period-correct sound, a Waterloo WL-S Deluxe with ladder bracing, her father's X-braced Waterloo WL-14 with a chunky V-profile neck, and a new short scale, small bodied, Custom McNally Guitars 'S' model, made for her by

Armagh Armagh ( ; , , " Macha's height") is a city and the county town of County Armagh, in Northern Ireland, as well as a civil parish. It is the ecclesiastical capital of Ireland – the seat of the Archbishops of Armagh, the Primates of All ...

-based

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

Ciaran McNally.

External links

*Muireann Bradley Official Site *Youtube Muireann Bradley

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, Muireann 2006 births Living people Irish blues guitarists Irish blues singers Country blues musicians People from Ballybofey