tours and on the 1994 follow-up album in her homeland. A Woman's Heart Vol. 2 features her heartfelt renditions of Nanci Griffith's "Trouble in the Fields" and Gerry O'Beirne's "Western Highway." After numerous album heavily inspired by American newgrass music, O'Connell returned to her Irish roots with the 1997 release, Wandering Home. As the new millennium approached, O'Connell signed with the Sugar Hill label in late 2000 and began working on her seventh album. Instead of working with her longtime producer Jerry Douglas, O'Connell had Ray Kennedy (who worked with Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams) produce Walls and Windows, which was released in 2001, and featured an eclectic collection of songs, including work by Kim Richey, Van Morrison, John Prine, Eric Clapton and Patty Griffin. Her 2004 album, Don't I Know, contained musical textures added by everything from fiddles, to clavinets, to lap steel and B-3 organ. The 2009 album, Naked With Friends, is Maura’s first a cappella album. Guest vocalists include Mary Black, Paul Brady, Moya Brennan, Jerry Douglas, Alison Krauss, Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh, Tim O'Brien, Dolly Parton, Sarah Dugas, Kate Rusby and Darrell Scott. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award. In 2013 O'Connell announced the end of her solo career. Other work In addition to her solo work, O'Connell has collaborated with a number of Celtic, folk, pop and country artists, including Van Morrison, Brian Kennedy, Moya Brennan, Mary Black, John Prine, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, John Gorka, Bela Fleck, Robert Earl Keen, Dolly Parton and Shawn Colvin. She has also sung background vocals for a number of artists, including Van Morrison's 1988 project with the Chieftains, Irish Heartbeat and Stockton's Wing on Take A Chance. Acting Aside from the music world, Martin Scorsese cast O'Connell, scruffed up for the role, as an Irish migrant street singer in his 19th-century epic Gangs of New York, released in 2002. Discography Solo albums 1983: Maura O'Connell (Ogham) 1987: Western Highway (Raglan) reissued in 1989 as Helpless Heart 1988: Just in Time (Polydor) 1989: Always (Polydor) 1991: A Real Life Story (Warner Bros.) 1992: Blue is the Colour of Hope (Warner Bros.) 1995: Stories (Hannibal) 1997: Wandering Home (Hannibal) 2001: Walls & Windows (Sugar Hill) 2004: Don't I Know (Sugar Hill) 2009: Naked With Friends (Sugar Hill) Compilations 2006: The View From Here: The Very Best Of (Third Floor Music) As primary artist/contributor 1992: various artists – 'Til Their Eyes