in 2003 and toured extensively throughout the Americas and Europe. In 2005, Casey released Chasing the Sun featuring Irish traditional and folk songs which she learned from her mother and maternal grandmother. The album included a number of songs written by Casey herself as well as songs by Belfast musician Barry Kerr. The album was well received and was the last to be released on the Shanachie and Vertical labels so that Casey, husband Niall Vallely and other associated acts could release her music independently. In 2006, Casey joined her previous band Solas to guest on their live DVD and album, Reunion: a Decade of Solas. On the recordings, Casey was joined by all of the band's past members and current members from the period. She joined Deirdre Scanlan (Solas vocalist 2000–2007) and Antje Duvekot, along with the male vocalists from the band. In 2008, Casey and her husband set up Crow Valley Music to release Ships in the Forest. In early 2010, Casey released Exiles Return, a duet album with former Solas bandmate John Doyle; it was listed among the Top 5 albums of the year by The Irish Echo newspaper. Released in 2014, Two More Hours was Casey's sixth solo album and her first entirely self-penned work. Contemporary in tone, it takes a much more personal approach to her writing and singing. It features a duet with Irish chart-topper Mick Flannery as well as contributions from Abigail Washburn and Aoife O’Donovan, and was produced by Niall Vallely. A departure from the traditional music she has focused on for many years, Two More Hours draws on Casey's lifelong love of R&B, jazz and blues in creating a vibrant new mix of sounds. Vallely's string arrangements help meld together a cast of Ireland's musicians from the worlds of classical, folk and rock music including Ken Rice, Kate Ellis, Sean Og Graham (of Beoga), Trevor Hutchinson, Eoghan Regan, Danny Byrt and Caoimhín Vallely. In 2017 Karan was Traditional Artist in Residenceat University College Cork, toured the UK with the Transatlantic Sessions, performed at Glasgow's Celtic Connections, and toured in the US both with her own band and with Lúnasa, including a performance at New York's Carnegie Hall. In 2018 Karan helped to found FairPlé which is an organization aimed at achieving fairness and gender balance for female performers in Irish traditional and folk musics. In 2019 she released her latest album