Carmel sheerin & the ravens


Carmel Sheerin - lead and harmony vocals. Carmel is the vocal centrepiece of the band. She started singing at age fourteen and has been singing with the original family band ever since (now comprising her dad Dan, sister Jeanette and brother Tom). She chooses her songs one at a time and infuses them all with her very soul: She feels every song she sings. Her intensity, depth and range is a very rare gift and gives the Ravens a focus, akin to singing around the old family hearth. Carmel is the youngest member of the group (in her early twenties) and lives in the small village of Maghera in Co. Westmeath. Her main influence is Alison Krauss. She feels privileged to be playing music with her favourite singer, brother Danny, whom she observes, “has such a unique voice and amazing harmonies”.

Danny Sheerin - acoustic guitar, lead and harmony vocals. Danny is one of Ireland’s most-sought-after and most-recorded session men. He literally works with everybody: Whenever a male harmony singer or acoustic guitarist is needed, whether it’s country or folk music, Danny usually gets the call. With his sister Jeanette, he toured with Daniel O’Donnell in the early nineties, performing all over the world, in Ireland, England, Australia and America, including a date at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Danny began playing at the age of four and has never looked back. His biggest influences are his parents, Merle Haggard and Ricky Skaggs. He writes of his considerable recording and playing experience: “I work as a session musician for most country singers in Ireland, singing backing vocals or playing acoustic guitar. I am thirty-five years old and don’t feel a day of it.” Danny knows how to keep a band good and tight.

Des Sheerin - double bass and harmony vocals. Des is the second oldest of the eleven Sheerin sons and daughters. He began playing bass at age eight and is now entering his fourth decade as a professional musician. He has played in various country and rock bands, including Mister Me, a favourite rock and pop group in the midlands. Des plays the “doghouse” bass for the band, but he is also an accomplished electric bass player and studio engineer. Des started doing studio session work in the late eighties and, like brother Danny, has played on countless albums over the years, from country to folk to ballads to rock. Presently his main projects include engineering and producing in his own studio, The Shed, in Athlone, which has just been refurbished and is a state-of-the-art recording facility. This is where the band recorded its first bluegrass album. Des and Danny have co-penned quite a few bluegrass and country songs, and eight will appear on the band’s forthcoming release, complete with the Sheerins’ sincere, delicately balanced harmonies.

Tom Sheerin - mandolin, fiddle, and harmony vocals. Tom began playing music at age sixteen and he still enjoys playing mandolin and fiddle with his dad and sisters in the Sheerins’ family group. Tom is first and foremost an instrumentalist, delighting in picking out fiddle tunes and hot bluegrass instrumentals. He is a crack mandolinist and can “set the woods on fire” with his hoedown fiddle playing. Tom is the quiet glue which holds the band together and the behind-the-scenes mover and shaker. Tom sums up the family’s musical legacy, “We grew up listening to my mum and dad singing and playing American country and bluegrass music. Eight out of eleven of us now play music”. Tom is a musician par excellence, with considerable chops and good taste. His main influences are Mark O’Connor, Randy Howard and Adam Steffey . Tom picks and grins.

Jonathan "Rover"Toman - Banjo.

Jonathan Toman started playing banjo in his early teens. Introduced to the banjo by his father Peter, he was soon to be a member of the family band Northern Exposure fronted by his uncle Patsy Toman. The trio have delighted audiences playing the brand of folk & bluegrass music at many festivals throughout Ireland. He has a keen interest in Irish traditional music and was featured on an album entitled "Banjo Influences". Seventeen banjo players representing ten different countries contributed to the album. He continues to play Irish music and developes his unique style of banjo playing. Jonathan is a member of the band Cat Malojian, their music has been described as inde/folk, they are quickly gaining themselves an impressive reputation in Ireland and beyond. He was delighted when the Sheerin family invited him to join them in Nashville (summer 2006) to record their second album and represent Europe at IBMA. He immediately felt at home in the band and his style of playing effortlessly blends with the Sheerin family's distinct instrumental and vocal sound.

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