Mary Greene

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 GREENENoel 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 and I’ll get around to putting up some sounds on myspace very soon (one technical feat at a time, lads!)