Fieldsy joins Gerry Browne and Mick O’Brien for a wide-ranging conversation about music, reinvention, Irish identity, social media and building a career without fitting the usual mould.
Her story starts far from the folk scene. Fieldsy grew up singing, joined girl bands as a teenager, entered a televised singing competition and spent years writing and performing across different styles. Pop, dance music, rock and original songwriting all came before the Irish ballads and rebel songs people now know her for.
Australia became a major part of the story. After moving there, she formed a rock band, learned guitar, toured her own material and later created a tribute show built around The Cranberries and The Corrs. The reaction from Irish audiences abroad gave her a new connection to the music she had grown up around.
When she returned to Ireland, everything shifted again. She started posting Irish songs online and the response came fast. Social media brought her to a new audience, helped fill live dates and gave her a route into a scene where she never planned to blend in.
That individuality sits at the centre of this episode.
Fieldsy talks openly about presenting herself on her own terms, bringing Australian influences into her live setup and refusing to soften her personality for the sake of fitting a traditional image. Gerry and Mick explore the changing role of women in Irish folk music and the growing number of female performers stepping forward with their own style, presence and repertoire.
The conversation also turns to rebel songs, radio, Irish history and the way younger audiences are responding to traditional material. Fieldsy speaks about seeing large numbers of younger people at her shows, many of them finding her through TikTok and social platforms before going on to connect with songs that have been around for generations.
Her approach to familiar songs gives the episode some of its funniest moments.
Fieldsy explains how Jolene became Maureen, how Living Next Door to Alice got an Irish rewrite, and how Richard Thompson’s Beeswing became Wasp Sting. The idea is simple. Take a song people know, shift the point of view and give the audience something unexpected.
There is also a more personal side to the conversation.
Fieldsy talks about motherhood, touring, sacrifice and the reality of travelling alone. She describes loading her own gear, setting up her own PA, driving between shows and treating the whole operation as a business. She also speaks about the choices women often face when family life takes over and how difficult returning to performance can feel after years away.
Social media gets its own honest discussion too. Fieldsy runs her pages herself, replies to followers and uses humour to deal with negative comments. Rather than letting online criticism slow her down, she turns engagement back into attention for the music.
Across the episode, she performs Black Velvet Band, Wasp Sting and Joseph, her version of Grace told from Grace Gifford’s perspective.
This is an episode about finding your own place in Irish music, then refusing to surrender any of the personality you brought with you.
Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEqF7GEWvT0c
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YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FIELDSY
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Produced By Graco Studios:
Website: https://gracostudios.com
Irish Folk Music, The Music Of The People.
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