I was born in the Irish heartland in the City of Limerick, later moving to Plymouth, England where I spent the duration of my adolesence. My father, a Connemara man was a Sean nós singer (Irish sung stories), whose first language was Gaelic. This influence of the Irish mystic and Celtic tradition can be found running like a river throughout my music.
I moved to Los Angeles in 2003. It was the furthest point west I could go without falling off the face of the earth. I quickly became embedded in the local music scene and after six weeks ran into legendary KCRW DJ Chris Douridas while getting merry at a bar. Having no idea who Chris was, I told him he should come and see my show the following week at Molly Malones. Said 'show' was actually nothing more than one song at an open mic. I told him to come at 9pm, he was there on the dot but the God's had already pulled my name out of the hat, so he missed the performance. I apologized to Chris and asked to go on again but they wouldn't let me. 'We'll do it on the street outside then', says I. And that's where I ended up showcasing for one of the top DJ's in America.From there Mr Douridas brought me down to Time Warner studios for my first ever recording session. Five songs and half an hour later we were done. Chris started playing one of those songs 'Never Let You Down' on his KCRW show 'New Ground'. That song went into rotation for the year and also ended up on the Fox series 'Roswell".Cut to 2007 and I was invited into KCRW for my first ever live radio interview and performance on 'New Ground'. This session became my debut release on iTunes, entitled KCRW.com Presents: Shane Walsh live. You can hear the interview if you click on the link below.Since arriving in LA I have also been played by other KCRW luminaries including 'Morning Becomes Eclectic's' Nic Harcourt and 'The A Track's' Anne Litt.I have opened for Robyn Hitchcock, Peter Buck (from REM) and Grant Lee Buffalo and headlined at The Troubadour and my regular haunt The Hotel Cafe. In late 2007 MTV licensed 15 of my tracks for use on various shows such as 'The Hills' and 'Newport Harbor'.My influences range from Hank Williams, U2 and Nirvana through to The Beach Boys and Big Star but my main influence is my heart.
Check me out on iTunes here
Click the image below to listen to me live in session on KCRW's New Ground.
Up in lights...
My next show is here...