Sinéad Willox told David Hennessy about her debut album celebrating the traditional songs of Ulster ahead of the London launch at Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith.
Armagh-born folk singer Sinéad Willox celebrates the rich musical heritage of Ulster when she launches her debut album, Seoda Uladh (Jewels of Ulster), at the Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith on Saturday 5 September.
Seoda Uladh is a musical journey through the nine counties of Ulster, exploring the province’s rich heritage, history and shared culture through song and story. The album reimagines lesser-known traditional songs in both Irish and English, with each county represented by its own song.
The album has already attracted praise from the folk and traditional music community. Tumble and Folk magazine described Willox as a “sublime act”, while Mike Edgar of BBC Radio Ulster praised her voice, saying: “Sinéad has the most beautiful voice, just such a great tone, this album is superb.”
Americana UK’s Andy Short has also praised the singer’s distinctive vocal style, describing Willox’s voice as “so magical”.
A winner of multiple All-Ireland Oireachtas titles in duet and trio performance, Sinéad has been singing since childhood.
Alongside her music, she has built a strong theatrical career, performing with The Bardic Theatre Donaghmore, The Phoenix Players Portadown, The Clonmore Players, and The River Tall Theatre Company.
Since 2016, she has portrayed Countess Markievicz in the touring production of Blood Upon the Rose, appearing in major venues including The Hammersmith Apollo in London, The Waterfront Hall in Belfast, The Olympia in Dublin, and the SEC Armadillo in Glasgow.
In 2019, Sinéad began performing as a solo artist.
Sinéad is also a founding member of Copper Rose, a progressive five-piece folk band. Known for their melodic arrangements and seamless blend of traditional and contemporary folk, Copper Rose have shared stages with Cherish the Ladies, Gino Lupari, Bow Brothers, The Whistlin’ Donkeys, Fergal Scahill, Ryan Molloy, More Power to Your Elbow, Phil Coulter, and Malachí Cush.
2026 has already brought Sinéad further accolades, including being a finalist for the Robinson Emerging Artist Award at Goderich Celtic Roots Festival, one of North America’s premier Celtic music festivals, filming for Series 7 and 8 of Ireland with Michael, which will air across the United States later this year and Showcase Winner, Ballyshannon Folk and Traditional Music Festival, the longest running Folk & Traditional Music Festival in Ireland.
Sinéad took time to chat to the Irish World ahead of her recent UK dates that also included shows at Nortons in Birmingham and Toddington.
Does it feel good to be coming back to London?
“I can’t wait.
“I actually I lived in London for 16 years.
“When I was 18, I studied in Twickenham and then Guildford and then trained and everything there.
“Then we had twins and then we went, ‘Right, we need to go home’.
“But I absolutely loved my time there.
“We’re home 13 years now.”
Sounds like this album has been a real odyssey for you. It has been a real labour of love, hasn’t it?
“It has surely.
“I suppose COVID just gave us an opportunity to pause and then I had an idea to do the album and wanted to bring it to fruition.
“I’ve always loved singing and I’ve just got a real love for those older folk songs and passing them on to the next generation, so it has been like a labour of love for a while.
“There was no time limit or anything on the album so I took my time researching the songs.
“There’s one from each county in Ulster as a theme and I just took my time and chose the songs that connected with me and that I believed deserved a wider audience.
“I took my time choosing them and did a collection in both Irish and English.
“There’s love songs, themes of emigration.
“I suppose maybe being away for a period of time there are those ones that you can flick on and you reconnect with it.”
In your research you wanted to rediscover those lesser known songs, the hidden gems, didn’t you?
“Yeah, absolutely and particularly the Armagh song, Dobbins Flowery Vale.
“There would have been a hidden spot where lovers would have went on a summer’s evening.
“There’s actually a lane in Armagh called Dobbins Lane and it was just lovely.
“It was lovely researching all of the songs and of course there are that many songs connected with each of the counties which is lovely.”
Did you find there was great variety in what you turned up with different styles coming from different counties etc?
“Great variety altogether.
“I suppose in my head I wanted it to be like a musical map.
“There’s jewels in our rivers and our mountains but there’s also real jewels certainly in the songs themselves and how they have evolved and how they’ve been passed down.
“Some of the tracks that I chose would have been traditionally sean-nós songs and what we did with the arrangements was to give them a different contemporary folk arrangement to those older songs.”
You have been singing for years but to be singing solo is more of a novelty, isn’t it?
“Definitely.
“It’s incredible.
“It’s been a great journey, a very positive one for me and it was one of those things.
“This is a bucket list thing.
“Sometimes we all say we’ll do something but it’s actually committing to it and doing it and bringing it to fruition.
“The response has been absolutely amazing.
“It’s been really amazing.
“I am just delighted and extremely grateful.”
Did you always know you would do an album at some stage?
“I suppose I would have always had a thought to do it but not on a professional level.
“Growing up we would have done a lot of amateur dramatics.
“I would have sang in a choir throughout my teenage years and we would have won a lot of competitions but you were with the collective, there was a everybody together doing things.
“It wasn’t until later that I started doing more and more solo work and the more I did it, the more I loved it.
“You really reconnected with that aspect of yourself and so it was certainly different going at it as a solo artist.”
Did you sing from a young age?
“Singing would have always been a real passion.
“We would have done Scor competitions.
“I would have never competed in the Fleadh but we would have competed in a competition which is called the Oireachtas which is songs in Irish.
“We would have done that and also the choral competitions so it would certainly been there.
“Myself and my sister would have been in a band in our teenage years as well but again, no real solo projects until this later one.
“We were in a show and I was predominantly acting.
“I toured with this company.
“Blood Upon the Rose is the name of the show and that is a love story.
“It’s based on a love story between Grace Gifford and one of the signatories of the 1916 Rising, Joseph Plunkett.
“There’s a lot of light and dark and I play the iconic Constance Markievicz in that.
“We’ve done some brilliant performances in some great theatres: The Waterfront, the Olympia in Dublin and then also we were over in the Hammersmith Apollo and the Armadillo up in Scotland.
“But that would give you great confidence when you’re doing those and then the more that I began to do the solo work and I thought, ‘You know what? There might be something in this. I’m going to bring this to fruition and crack on and do the album’.
“So here we are.”
You recorded the album with Seán Óg Graham of Beoga, he knows his stuff..
“He does.
“He’s amazing, an absolute genius, a gentleman.
“We had great craic with himself and Niamh (Dunne, Beoga).
“There were many cups of tea and sandwiches doing the album but I think the most important thing was I didn’t put any time pressure on myself with the album so it was quite an organic process where we were able to sometimes record live, sometimes put a structure down and then revisit it and look at what you liked.
“But it was amazing working with Seán Óg and all of the musicians that are featured on there.
“It was great and I was just delighted they all came on board and helped me along with it.”
As well as the shows in the ICC and around the UK, you are playing some shows back in Ulster. What has it been like to play these songs back where they came from?
“It’s just been lovely kind of bringing them back to life and showcasing them at home.
“I’ve got a couple of ones now coming up.
“The idea in my head is we would showcase them, have a concert in each county to launch it properly but it’s had a magnificent response.
“We had a lovely night up in the Seamus Heaney Centre and it was fabulous.
“There’s great interest in it.”
Of the tracks you have unearthed which ones have particular meaning to me?
“I suppose each of them in their own right are amazing.
“I would definitely have a very soft spot for Gleanntain Ghlas Ghaoth Dobhair.
“It was written by Francie Mooney, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh’s father.
“We had many a long summer in Donegal and that would have been one that I wanted really to feature on there, an emigration song.
“And then I have a great love for My Belfast Love which is by a writer Finbar Magee.
“He’s an Armagh man and he had written the song about Belfast and two lovers in Belfast meeting and it’s kind of from the man’s perspective.
“Those would be two standout ones but there are so many standout ones for me.
“Each of them are amazing.”
Did you want to balance the album between hidden gems and more recognisable tracks?
“I think I did really take my time and reflect on it but I certainly chose ones that I believed that deserved a wider audience and just putting my own interpretation on some of those that maybe there hasn’t been a great deal of coverage on.”
What has been a highlight of your career so far?
“I suppose the highlight is the connection and the people you meet and really just the feeling that you get from when you know the feeling that you get whenever you perform in some of these amazing, amazing stadiums and also being able to play alongside, in my view, some of the total gurus of trad and it’s an amazing feeling.
“It’s absolutely amazing so those are definitely takeaway highlights for me.”
I was reading through the list of artists that have inspired you and we have recently lost two of them in Moya Brennan and Dolores Keane..
“We certainly have.
“Moya Brennan in particular was such an iconic figure and really helpful for artists coming through also, similar to Dolores Keane.
“It’s been a sad year really all round.”
You’re a practising solicitor. You have always done music alongside your work and the studies in the law..
“I did and maybe not as much certainly when I was living in London, I wouldn’t have done as much music as I have done now whenever I’ve been back home but I think it’s always there.
“It’s a great way to unwind.
“It’s a great way to relax and I think most importantly, it’s a great way of being you.
“You can be you in that zone when you’re performing and I think you can connect, connect with yourself and connect with others very easily.”
Did you not do so much music while you were in London then?
“I would have done the odd bit but there was certainly a real revival when I moved back home and I guess when the little ones came along.
“They both play.
“I have twin girls and they both play and it’s amazing to play along with them and see them grow and see them develop and you want to nurture that as well.
“And they see you performing and doing that and it encourages them too.
“I do regret that I didn’t do as much when I was in London full time but that’s what it is.
“I’m here now.”
Obviously you balance that work with the music, are they easy or hard to keep separate?
“I think it’s all about time management as well.
“I’m certainly doing more music over the last year than I would have done previously so it’s just management.
“It’s like anything and you just need to manage your time effectively.”
Having lived in London for 16 years, will it be like coming back home for these shows?
“It will surely.
“It will surely and I am delighted.
“Obviously I’m going to see a lot of old friends over the weekend.
“It’s been a while as well since we’ve been able to catch up with them properly.
“I loved my time there.
“It was amazing. Very, very good to me.”
Having unearthed so much, you probably have enough for a second album. Would you like to do another album on this theme perhaps?
“I’ve got a taste for it now.
“I don’t think I’m stopping now.
“There’s more to come.
“It’s not over yet.”
After Blood Upon the Rose would you like to do more stage acting like that?
“I do.
“We’re actually in the (Belfast) Grand Opera House here.
“We’ve a run now in January with Blood Upon the Rose as well so it’s been fabulous.
“But I love them.
“I think I’m just a bit of a natural on the stage whether it’s acting or singing.”
Seoda Uladh is out now.
Sinéad Willox plays The Irish Cultural Centre in Hammersmith on Saturday 5 September. For tickets and information, click here.
She also plays The Garrett Sessions in Toddington on Sunday 6 September, The Mac in Belfast on Friday 11 September and Strule Arts Centre, Omagh on Saturday 12 September.
For more information, click here.
