Crann Úll
Gaelic Lilt and Lift
Rob Sharer on guitar, fiddle, flute, bodhran and vocals with Margaret Rush on guitar and vocals.
Booking Info
Guitarist, singer, and multi-instrumentalist Rob Sharer has long been active on the folk scene in North Carolina and abroad. After years of Triad/Triangle appearances as a member of Greensboro's beloved Boys of Blue Hill, as well as several Contradance bands including the So-Be-It Union, Rob moved to New York to tour with Rounder Records recording artists The Burns Sisters. He then followed his love of Irish music to Ireland, settling in County Clare, where he was a fixture on the session scene for several years. Rob was featured on guitar and string bass accompanying Michael Hynes and Denis Liddy on 2003's "Waifs and Strays," a CD of traditional Clare music which Irish Music Review called, "one of the absolutely essential, unequivocally gorgeous releases of 2003."
In 2007, Rob returned to his native NC to teach and play traditional music. In addition to appearing with Crann Úll, Rob fronts the high-energy acoustic band Craicdown, where he sings and plays guitar, flute, and fiddle on a variety of material from near and far.
Margaret's simple singing style conveys the power of the song itself to the listener. Musical influences include the Black family, Paul Brady, Clannad, Skara Brae and The Voice Squad as well as Joni Mitchell. With traditional Irish music guitar accompaniment, Margaret aims for a responsive, rhythmic, DADGAD-tuned springboard from which the melody player can take flight and start a musical conversation that she gladly joins.
A native of Dublin, Margaret left in 2000, and has lived in Sweden and Canada, quickly becoming part of the Irish trad scene. In Vancouver, BC, she ran multiple Irish trad sessions for many years, in addition to performing at Princeton Folk Music Festival, Hornby Folk Festival and Jericho Folk Club in local bands such as Ceart, Feile, Grist to the Mill and Rogue Fiddlers. Margaret settled in Raleigh, North Carolina in 2012, where she is currently teaching an early childhood music development program and playing at sessions and contra-dances locally.