Katie O'Connor

Here is a little about me and my story so far..
I grew up in a small town in North Kerry surrounded by eight brothers and sisters and an unending number of fields. At sixteen, I learned to play guitar with the help of YouTube and started to write songs with the help of teenage angst and a fondness for alone time.
In 2011, while I was studying to become a midwife in N.U.I. Galway, I discovered the thrill of preforming and sharing the music that I have collected and created. The weekly open mic night in the Roisin Dubh was a space to mould and grow as a musician as well as Shop Street, Galway Citys’ main street which became as familiar to me as it was to the pigeons. The street became my favourite stage very quickly and still is. During this time I wrote the Blue Album, an 8-track mini album exploring love..with an optimistic twist.
After a year of busking and a qualification in Midwifery to settle the nerves of my parents, I left Ireland to spread the music in Berlin, Germany. From busking on Warschauer Strasse on the East of Berlin and playing regular shows and festivals around the city, I gained a following of some really beautiful, down to earth and genuine people. My first few months of experiencing Berlin life inspired me to complete the Red Album, counterpart of the Blue. With more inspiration, experiences and encouragement, my repertoire of original music continued to grow and grow.
In the winter of 2013, I flew to New York City to visit my City Blue and explore the music scene. I preformed in The Way Station in Brooklyn and The Path Cafe in the West Village and busked in the heat of the subway. Before returning to Berlin I spent some time travelling through France, busking as I went. The city of Lyon had an especially big impression on me and I hope to wander through those wonderful streets in not too long.
I returned to Ireland from Berlin in August of this year with a heartful of happiness, a mind full of new ideas and a third album, Paper Trails! And so, for the moment, I reside in Dublin City and can be spotted between the rain on Grafton Street. I hope to do more shows and busk more cities and town across Ireland before skipping back to Berlin in the Spring..like a baby lamb.
I am very blessed that the street can be my primary platform to share my music and my words and the blessing is two-fold with the encouragement and the connection I find in the people I meet there. So please feel free to stop and say hello if you do happen to stumble upon me and my guitar on your street. And as always, Thank You for your support!