Biography

I grew up in Springfield, Missouri, loving all kinds of music, but gravitating towards anything that sounded old--including traditional music. I learned songs from commercial and field recordings (especially from the Max Hunter Collection), but also from people like Almeda Riddle and the Fraley Family whom I heard live when I was still in high school. At the same time I fell love with Irish music and song through recordings of musicians like Paddy Tunney, Sarah Makem, and Padraic O'Keeffe. Later, in Ireland, I heard musicians including Julia Clifford and Seamus Creagh, as well as singers like Neilí Ní Dhomhnaill and Hiúdaí Phadaí Hiúdaí--the latter while on a Youthgrant to study the sean-nós singing tradition. I also play guitar, lap dulcimer, 5-string banjo, and fiddle. Although I prefer a straightforward approach to traditional music, I also play finger-style guitar, probably influenced as much by Renaissance lute music as by folk revival accompanists like Nic Jones and Mick Hanly. I play both instrumentals and song accompaniments on the guitar, but I pick and choose the songs I use the guitar for: I also like to sing unaccompanied, and with banjo, dulcimer, and fiddle. When the mood strikes me, I perform original instrumentals and songs, as well as covers of songs by the likes of Bill Caddick, Utah Philips, and Richard Thompson. I have performed at concerts, clubs, schools, dances, and festivals throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain, and Ireland--both solo and with musicians and singers like Tom Paley, Sara Grey, Maggie Boyle, Johnny Moynihan, Chirps Smith, Bob Holt, Kim Lansford, and Barbara Weathers. I have also opened for artists including Altan, Craobh Rua, Paddy Glackin, and Mick Hanly. Venues have included the Oideas Gael Summer College, the University of Missouri at St. Louis, St. Mary's College, Whitby Folk Week, the Ozarks Celebration, and Sean-Nós Milwaukee. I released a solo CD, "American Stranger" (Waterbug 035), in 1997 and a book on DADGAD tuning (Mel Bay) in 1999. I have an M.A. in Folklore from the UNC-Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. in English/Irish Studies from the University of Notre Dame (2009). Although the Ph.D. has meant that I haven't been touring quite as much lately, I'm still available for concerts, club and festival bookings, school assemblies, and workshops. (Please see www.juliehenigan.com for further details). I'm currently working on a new guitar book for Mel Bay.