Mary Greene

Bio:

.. For more bio details check out our website www.greenshinemusic.com...we've lived full and satisfying lives, lots to read (and pictures!) In the meantime, here's an introduction.... NOEL SHINE & MARY GREENE Noel Shine and Mary Greene play music that straddles the boundaries of contemporary, rock, folk and bluegrass. In their set anything goes from original tales of tigerdogs to timeworn tales of love, family ties, forgotten trousers and the occasional murder. Their fast picking and close harmonies never fail to thrill. Noel is a multi instrumentalist, turning his hand to guitar, mandolin, bouzouki,and traditional whistle and this diversity adds lovely variety to the overall sound. Mary's voice is a wonderfully versatile instrument and she is much in demand for her recording session work. She has recorded with a variety of artists including John Spillane, Frances Black, Christy Moore, Mick Hanly and Suzanne Joubert amongst others. From time to time Mary broadcasts her show ‘nightown’ with national station RTE RADIO ONE. Mary’s new solo album is entitled SEA OF HEARTS. Hot Press gave SEA OF HEARTS 8/10. “…It’s a beautiful collection of small epiphanies, exquisitely described and rendered in Greene’s sweet, supple voice. Shine provides expert accompaniment on everything from guitar and banjo to chimes and castanets…irresistibly catchy.” Sarah McQuaid. In 1984 Noel Shine and Mary Greene met in Cork City and have been making sweet music ever since. Throughout the 80's and 90's they travelled extensively, performing all over Ireland, Europe and the United States. In 1993 they released a folk album entitled THE LAND YOU LOVE THE BEST to much critical acclaim, ultimately being named number 3 in the year's top ten folk albums by the IRISH TIMES. A while later they launched their follow up album, UNSPOKEN LINES which is a collection of mostly self-penned, self-produced material. Again they hit the mark, making music that touched critics and public alike across the global grapevine with copies of their CDs turning up in collections as far afield as Japan and the U.S. as friend recommends to friend, gathering cult status for the duo. “A couple of years ago Noel and I decided to record our third album and began to work on tracks on our home recording equipment (bought from the proceeds of UNSPOKEN LINES!). I got a head start and got down the bones of 5 songs. We realised that I was on a roll and maybe the time had come to release a solo album so over the next while we concentrated on that and here we are now promoting SEA OF HEARTS. I was delighted with how it turned out. It was the best that I could do given my technical expertise (still very much a student there!) and we had great fun/frustration making it, fitting the recording in between gigs and domestic chores and schoolruns. But it’s all very real and we made great friends through this album. We were put in touch with sax player ANDRE VAN DER HOFF and bass player TON NIEUWENHUIZEN through our friend Hank Wedel (check out Hank on his OPEN KITCHEN myspace) and we’ve kept in touch with these guys ever since. They even organised a Dutch tour for us this summer. We got brilliant support from Tony O Flaherty . We recorded drums and edited a lot in his studio in Killarney and Ruairi O Flaherty really put a wonderful shine on in with his mastering. Martin put down all the right organic grooves on drums and percussion and Joe Thoma coloured ‘The Sign’ beautifully with his fiddle and viola. Our guest singers, Sadie, Ellie and the cuckoo added something really special. This record would not sound even one tenth what it does without the brilliant musicianship of Noel Shine. With friends like these……” You can hear tracks from all our albums on our website www.greenshinemusic.com Hope you enjoy this slideshow & track posted by a Muskerry man living far from home http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHdGQ4J8siY

Member Since:

October 01, 2006

Members:

THE MUSIC ON THIS SPACE IS AVAILABLE TO BUY ON OUR BAND WEBSITE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISIT............ IN PRAISE OF CORK AS A PLACE TO WRITE Cork is a wonderful place to begin to write. There's something in the air that makes it easier somehow. Cork people, I feel anyway, look on writing as a 'real' job and I found nothing but encouragement when I took my first tentative steps as a songwriter. Fellow songwriters are only too delighted to help and have their ranks swelled by a fledgling. I'm not sure I would have had the nerve to write if I hadn't moved to Cork. As an 'outsider' I was welcomed with open arms. It didn't matter that I came from another county (Waterford). If you love Cork then you're welcome in Cork. BAND MEMBERS Mary Greene & Noel Shine with the addition from time to time of Andre Van Der Hoff on sax and flute. Other 'playmates' include Andries on drums and Ton Niewenhuizen on bass, Martin Leahy on drums (see details on www.greenshinemusic.com) THE MUSIC ON THIS PAGE IS AVAILABLE TO BUY FROM OUR BAND WEBSITE. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO VISIT.

Influences:

Listen to lots of music from Ash to Zevon. Like classical. Like to play good Martin guitars and gibson mandolin.We use lots of real instruments to make our sound also including whistle, bouzouki but with contemporary, original songs. also love work of other songwriters like Guy Clark and John Prine, Ron Sexsmith, Creedence. We do some Irish folk too from time to time...flexible

Sounds Like:

We are acoustic based, write our own songs and do great songs by other writers too. The emphasis is on tight harmonies, good string work and shared lead vocals. Music primarily for listeners but we can 'horse it out' when we need to. We love to jam with other musicians. We sound like ourselves but have the tight harmonies that go with bluegrass especially although we don't do many songs from that genre in general. You can hear some of our music on our website.

Record Label:

Tigerdogrecords