Singer/songwriter Robbie O'Connell has been called "a national treasure" in Ireland and "a master of Irish music" in the United States. He began a successful solo career in 1982 with the release of his debut, Close to the Bone. Previously, he spent time in a group called the Green Fields of America alongside Seamus Egan and Eileen Ivers. He also performed and recorded with the Clancy Brothers, his uncles. Their collaboration included several CDs and a 1992 appearance at Carnegie Hall in New York.