Gráinne Brady
Musician | Composer | Songwriter | Teacher
Gráinne Brady is an Irish fiddle player and songwriter whose work moves between traditional and contemporary folk worlds. Rooted in Cavan and shaped by years in Scotland’s vibrant music scene, she creates narrative-driven projects exploring migration, memory and human connection.
Gráinne Brady is an Irish fiddle player, composer and songwriter from Co. Cavan. After many years immersed in Glasgow’s vibrant traditional and folk scene, she has returned home to Ireland, bringing with her a body of work shaped by both Irish and Scottish musical traditions. Rooted in the lyricism of Cavan, Leitrim and Clare, her playing balances depth and lift, honouring tradition while embracing contemporary expression.
Raised in a musical household and steeped in Ireland’s festival culture from a young age, Gráinne developed a broad repertoire and a distinctive style grounded in storytelling and emotional nuance. Her compositions have been widely recorded, including on A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle by celebrated fiddler Patsy Reid, who describes her as “a beautiful fiddle player and versatile musician with a unique sound and refreshing outlook, producing original and imaginative music.” Her work has also featured on albums by Tina Jordan Rees, Top Floor Taivers and The Routes Quartet.
During her years in Glasgow, Gráinne played a central role in the city’s traditional music session culture, helping to spark and sustain welcoming, inclusive spaces where community and creativity flourished. The city’s rich folk scene deeply influenced her musical voice, broadening her stylistic range and shaping a body of work that moves fluidly between Irish and Scottish traditions.
Her debut solo album, The Road Across the Hills, drew inspiration from Patrick MacGill’s 1914 novel Children of the Dead End, weaving original compositions with spoken word excerpts to explore themes of migration, hardship and resilience. Its follow-up, Newcomer, expanded that narrative world through arrangements for strings, French horn and piano, tracing the emotional journey of MacGill’s heroine Norah Ryan in a work that stretched beyond traditional boundaries while remaining rooted in its idiom.
In February 2026, Gráinne released Back and Forth, a lively, tune-led album bringing together traditional repertoire and contemporary compositions shaped by years of playing across Ireland and Scotland. Rooted firmly in the tradition, the record celebrates musical exchange, community and the enduring relationships that carry tunes forward. Featuring Michael Biggins (piano), Innes White (guitar) and Andrew Waite (accordion), Back and Forth captures a confident snapshot of her playing today: energetic, rhythmic and grounded in shared music-making.
Alongside her work as a fiddle player and composer, Gráinne has increasingly stepped forward as a songwriter. Her forthcoming album, The Highest Blossom (2027), marks a significant evolution in her creative voice. Developed through focused writing and collaboration — including co-writing with Boo Hewerdine and Findlay Napier — the project places lyric and melody at its centre. The songs are reflective, gently playful and rooted in everyday observation, drawing meaning from memory, landscape and small human details. Performed with clarity and understated warmth, The Highest Blossom foregrounds Gráinne’s voice as a songwriter while remaining connected to her traditional foundations.
A regular performer at Celtic Connections, Gráinne has appeared in various roles, including as a featured artist in the prestigious New Voices series in 2019 and presenting Newcomer in 2022. She has performed on BBC Alba’s Seirm as part of the festival’s broadcast programming, and in 2025 appeared on TG4 performing material from The Road Across the Hills and discussing the influence of Patrick MacGill’s life and writing on her work.
In 2023, she was commissioned to compose a new work for the Glisk String Quartet as part of a Creative Scotland-funded suite inspired by trees and human stories, further expanding her compositional reach.
Describing her approach, 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.”
Whether through the lift of a tune or the intimacy of a song, Gráinne Brady’s work is defined by integrity, narrative depth and a commitment to connection — between places, between traditions, and between people.
Raised in a musical household and steeped in Ireland’s festival culture from a young age, Gráinne developed a broad repertoire and a distinctive style grounded in storytelling and emotional nuance. Her compositions have been widely recorded, including on A Glint o’ Scottish Fiddle by celebrated fiddler Patsy Reid, who describes her as “a beautiful fiddle player and versatile musician with a unique sound and refreshing outlook, producing original and imaginative music.” Her work has also featured on albums by Tina Jordan Rees, Top Floor Taivers and The Routes Quartet.
During her years in Glasgow, Gráinne played a central role in the city’s traditional music session culture, helping to spark and sustain welcoming, inclusive spaces where community and creativity flourished. The city’s rich folk scene deeply influenced her musical voice, broadening her stylistic range and shaping a body of work that moves fluidly between Irish and Scottish traditions.
Her debut solo album, The Road Across the Hills, drew inspiration from Patrick MacGill’s 1914 novel Children of the Dead End, weaving original compositions with spoken word excerpts to explore themes of migration, hardship and resilience. Its follow-up, Newcomer, expanded that narrative world through arrangements for strings, French horn and piano, tracing the emotional journey of MacGill’s heroine Norah Ryan in a work that stretched beyond traditional boundaries while remaining rooted in its idiom.
In February 2026, Gráinne released Back and Forth, a lively, tune-led album bringing together traditional repertoire and contemporary compositions shaped by years of playing across Ireland and Scotland. Rooted firmly in the tradition, the record celebrates musical exchange, community and the enduring relationships that carry tunes forward. Featuring Michael Biggins (piano), Innes White (guitar) and Andrew Waite (accordion), Back and Forth captures a confident snapshot of her playing today: energetic, rhythmic and grounded in shared music-making.
Alongside her work as a fiddle player and composer, Gráinne has increasingly stepped forward as a songwriter. Her forthcoming album, The Highest Blossom (2027), marks a significant evolution in her creative voice. Developed through focused writing and collaboration — including co-writing with Boo Hewerdine and Findlay Napier — the project places lyric and melody at its centre. The songs are reflective, gently playful and rooted in everyday observation, drawing meaning from memory, landscape and small human details. Performed with clarity and understated warmth, The Highest Blossom foregrounds Gráinne’s voice as a songwriter while remaining connected to her traditional foundations.
A regular performer at Celtic Connections, Gráinne has appeared in various roles, including as a featured artist in the prestigious New Voices series in 2019 and presenting Newcomer in 2022. She has performed on BBC Alba’s Seirm as part of the festival’s broadcast programming, and in 2025 appeared on TG4 performing material from The Road Across the Hills and discussing the influence of Patrick MacGill’s life and writing on her work.
In 2023, she was commissioned to compose a new work for the Glisk String Quartet as part of a Creative Scotland-funded suite inspired by trees and human stories, further expanding her compositional reach.
Describing her approach, 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.”
Whether through the lift of a tune or the intimacy of a song, Gráinne Brady’s work is defined by integrity, narrative depth and a commitment to connection — between places, between traditions, and between people.
“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