Vancouver Folk Music Festival

July 14 to 16, 2023

Aoife O’Donovan | NY

Aoife O’Donovan creates gorgeous American roots music that transcends genre, is difficult to pigeonhole, and easy to love. A Grammy-Award-winning songwriter and musician, her voice has a gentle warmth, a reassuring soulfulness, and her musicianship is utterly impeccable.

The Irish-American singer was born and raised in Massachusetts but spent her summerswith family in her father’s birthplace of Clonakilty, Co Cork. Her parents were both musicians and she grew up immersed in folk and traditionalmusic and moved on to study contemporary improvisation at the New England Conservatory of Music.Her career included stints with the bands she cofounded – alt-bluegrass/string band Crooked Still and trio I’m With Her – and solo work that resulted in critically-acclaimed solo albums and a Grammy win for Best Roots Song.

Aoife (pronounced EEF-ah) O’Donovan is one of the most remarkable singers and songwriters of her generation.Her music ranges across many genres, but she says, “I think of myself primarily as a folksinger, a storyteller, somebody who writes songs. I love writing a song because you can write a song and send it into the world, and it can exist in so many different contexts. I think folk music is the genre I sort of lean into the most because it encompasses so many different things. Folk music means literally music for the people.”