Matt and Shannon Heaton

Guitarist/singer Matt Heaton and Irish flute player/singer Shannon Heaton have been making music together since their first meeting in 1992. Together, they built up their traditional Irish music skills on Irish flute and guitar in the Chicago sessions. When they began bringing in singing, they focused on their favorite aspects of both Irish and American traditions, ending up with new songs that sound traditional, alongside centuries-old ballads with fresh new melodies.

For years, the two worked as active side players for several major Celtic acts including Robbie O'Connell, Aoife Clancy, Boys of the Lough, Emily Smith and Halali. During a three-year "sabbatical" in Boulder, CO, Matt and Shannon formed the band Siucra with Colorado singer Beth Leachman and later, Vermont fiddler Sam Amidon, putting out three acclaimed recordings. Scott Alarik of The Boston Globe calls "Blue Skies Above," the Heatons' 2006 release, "masterful and inventive, their arrangements city-smart and spacious." This, their second duo CD, contained more singing and tackled a wide range of subjects: lovers lost at sea, a conversation with death, the summer harvest in Nebraska, a twentieth century disaster, and learning to ride a bicycle.