Mary Staunton is an Irish singer and

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

player. A native of

County Mayo County Mayo (; ga, Contae Mhaigh Eo, meaning "Plain of the Taxus baccata, yew trees") is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. In the West Region, Ireland, West of Ireland, in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Conn ...

, Staunton released her first album in 1998. Her second, ''Circle of Friends'', was launched in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

in July 2010. ''Circle of Friends'' was launched at Connolly's pub,

Kinvara Kinvara or Kinvarra () is a sea port village in the southwest of County Galway, Ireland. It is located in the Civil parishes in Ireland, civil parish of Kinvarradoorus in the north of the Barony (Ireland), barony of Kiltartan. Kinvarra is also ...

, by actor

Brendan Gleeson Brendan Gleeson (born 29 March 1955) is an Irish actor and film director. He is the recipient of three IFTA Awards, two British Independent Film Awards, and a Primetime Emmy Award and has been nominated twice for a BAFTA Award and four times for ...

, whose fiddle playing features on the CD. It was produced by

Alec Finn Alexander J. Phinn (4 June 1944 – 16 November 2018), known professionally as Alec Finn, was a British-born traditional musician who is famous for his unique style of accompaniment on the bouzouki. He was best known for founding De Dannan in 1974 ...

De Dannan De Dannan (originally ''Dé Danann'') is an Irish folk music group. It was formed 1975 by Frankie Gavin ( fiddle), Alec Finn (guitar, bouzouki), Johnny "Ringo" McDonagh (bodhrán) and Charlie Piggott ( banjo) as a result of sessions in Hughe ...

, who also appears on the album. Other featured artists include

John Prine John Edward Prine (; October 10, 1946 – April 7, 2020) was an American singer-songwriter of country-folk music. He was active as a composer, recording artist, live performer, and occasional actor from the early 1970s until his death. He ...

Rick Epping Rick Epping is a California-born musician who has immersed himself in American old-time and Irish traditional music since the 1960s. He is a player of the harmonica, concertina, banjo and jaw harp. During the 1970s he lived in Ireland where he stu ...

and Mary Shannon. As of 2010, Staunton lived in Maree, Oranmore. She is married to Jerry Mulvihill, a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

player. They have two children.

Discography

* ''Bright Early Mornings'', 1998. * ''Circle of Friends'', 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Staunton, Mary Musicians from County Mayo Musicians from County Galway Irish women singers Living people Year of birth missing (living people)