Sharon Shannon is an Irish musician to the bone. Born in County Clare, she plays the accordion, fiddle and tin whistle, and her 1991 self-titled debut became the best-selling album of traditional Irish music ever. In the early '90s, she spent 18 months performing with The Waterboys. But her solo work is characterised by an uncontainable enthusiasm for world music like reggae, Americana, Portuguese fado and New Orleans cajun. In 2009, she received the lifetime achievement gong at Ireland's Meteor Awards.