Gráinne Brady
Musician | Composer | Teacher
Gráinne Brady is a fiddle player, composer, teacher and traditional musician. She blends Irish and Scottish influences through performance, composition and recording, and leads collaborative projects creating concept-driven albums inspired by storytelling, history and contemporary traditional music.
Gráinne Brady is from a musical household in Co. Cavan, Ireland. Growing up immersed in traditional music festivals across the country, she developed a broad repertoire and a playing style rooted in the musical lyricism of Cavan, Leitrim, and Clare. Now based in Glasgow, her sound has evolved to embrace Scottish influences, shaped by the city's vibrant traditional and folk scene.
Gráinne’s music has been published on numerous recordings, including A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle by celebrated fiddler Patsy Reid, who praises Gráinne as “a beautiful fiddle player and versatile musician with a unique sound and refreshing outlook, producing original and imaginative music.” Her compositions also feature on albums by Tina Jordan Rees, Top Floor Taivers, and The Routes Quartet.
A central figure in Glasgow’s session scene, Gráinne has helped spark and sustain many traditional music sessions across the city. Her sessions are known for their welcoming, inclusive, and lively atmosphere—nurturing community and creativity alike.
Gráinne’s debut solo album, The Road Across the Hills, draws inspiration from Patrick MacGill’s 1914 novel Children of the Dead End. It blends her original compositions with spoken word excerpts of MacGill’s poetry, staying true to the traditional idiom while adding a literary dimension. Her second album, Newcomer, follows Norah Ryan, the heroine of MacGill’s The Rat-Pit. This work steps beyond traditional boundaries, incorporating arrangements for strings, French horn, and piano to evoke Norah’s emotional journey through poverty, exploitation, and resilience.
A regular performer at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, Gráinne has appeared in various roles including as a featured artist in the prestigious New Voices series in 2019, and performing Newcomer in 2022. She has also appeared on BBC Alba’s Seirm as part of the Celtic Connections series: in 2019 with her own project The Road Across the Hills, and in 2017 with LAS, a Gàidhlig/Gaeilge song and dance group featuring Irish and Scottish musicians including Joy Dunlop.
In 2023, Gráinne was commissioned to compose a new work for the Glisk String Quartet as part of a musical suite inspired by trees and human stories—a Creative Scotland funded project. The suite featured original works for both quartet and solo cello, and premiered in Glasgow’s Southside by the ensemble.
Since 2021, she has been collaborating with acclaimed singer-songwriter and producer Boo Hewerdine (of Eddi Reader’s band), co-writing new songs. Boo is also producing Gráinne’s forthcoming song-based album.
In 2025, Gráinne appeared on the Irish-language music series on TG4 with Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, who explored the traditional music culture of Glasgow. Gráinne performed a set from The Road Across the Hills and spoke about her creative journey and the influence of Patrick MacGill—himself an economic migrant—whose life and writings form the foundation of her solo albums.
Describing her approach to composition, Gráinne says: “I want it to be real – I am compelled to compose music that both honours and reflects stories, and mirrors the emotions one feels upon hearing them.”
Gráinne’s music has been published on numerous recordings, including A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle by celebrated fiddler Patsy Reid, who praises Gráinne as “a beautiful fiddle player and versatile musician with a unique sound and refreshing outlook, producing original and imaginative music.” Her compositions also feature on albums by Tina Jordan Rees, Top Floor Taivers, and The Routes Quartet.
A central figure in Glasgow’s session scene, Gráinne has helped spark and sustain many traditional music sessions across the city. Her sessions are known for their welcoming, inclusive, and lively atmosphere—nurturing community and creativity alike.
Gráinne’s debut solo album, The Road Across the Hills, draws inspiration from Patrick MacGill’s 1914 novel Children of the Dead End. It blends her original compositions with spoken word excerpts of MacGill’s poetry, staying true to the traditional idiom while adding a literary dimension. Her second album, Newcomer, follows Norah Ryan, the heroine of MacGill’s The Rat-Pit. This work steps beyond traditional boundaries, incorporating arrangements for strings, French horn, and piano to evoke Norah’s emotional journey through poverty, exploitation, and resilience.
A regular performer at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections festival, Gráinne has appeared in various roles including as a featured artist in the prestigious New Voices series in 2019, and performing Newcomer in 2022. She has also appeared on BBC Alba’s Seirm as part of the Celtic Connections series: in 2019 with her own project The Road Across the Hills, and in 2017 with LAS, a Gàidhlig/Gaeilge song and dance group featuring Irish and Scottish musicians including Joy Dunlop.
In 2023, Gráinne was commissioned to compose a new work for the Glisk String Quartet as part of a musical suite inspired by trees and human stories—a Creative Scotland funded project. The suite featured original works for both quartet and solo cello, and premiered in Glasgow’s Southside by the ensemble.
Since 2021, she has been collaborating with acclaimed singer-songwriter and producer Boo Hewerdine (of Eddi Reader’s band), co-writing new songs. Boo is also producing Gráinne’s forthcoming song-based album.
In 2025, Gráinne appeared on the Irish-language music series on TG4 with Doireann Ní Ghlacáin, who explored the traditional music culture of Glasgow. Gráinne performed a set from The Road Across the Hills and spoke about her creative journey and the influence of Patrick MacGill—himself an economic migrant—whose life and writings form the foundation of her solo albums.
Describing her approach to composition, Gráinne says: “I want it to be real – I am compelled to compose music that both honours and reflects stories, and mirrors the emotions one feels upon hearing them.”
“I’m struck by how Gráinne’s honourable approach to her own art feels linked to Patrick MacGill’s integrity. His work is autobiographical, and spliced with pain and poverty, and yet both his prose and his path are lit and uplifted to an astonishing level by MacGill’s rich human connections. In Gráinne’s music, that empathetic quality shimmers right through the compositional bow of the narrative arc.” - Deirdre Cronin, Irish Music Magazine