Eamon McLoughlin is an English musician based in Nashville, Tennessee. Primarily a fiddle player, he has toured and recorded with artists in the country music, bluegrass, and Americana fields. He holds the position of Staff Fiddle player at The Grand Ole Opry, working with a diverse range of artists including Vince Gill, Nina Simone, Carly Pearce, Oak Ridge Boys and many more. Eamon performs in the (separate) touring bands of Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell. He also sings, plays mandolin, guitar, cello and viola, and can be seen performing regularly with The 50 Shades of Hay. He has received two Grammy nominations for Country Instrumental Performance as a founding member of the American bluegrass band The Greencards.
Biography
Raised in South London by Irish parents, McLoughlin began to perform country music shows with his family on weekends, influenced by George Jones, George Strait and Ricky Skaggs.[1][2] McLoughlin's father was head of a London-based country band. At age nine, McLoughlin moved away from piano lessons to play fiddle, and performed with his father's band.[3] Influenced heavily by fiddlers such as Mark O'Connor, Stuart Duncan, Bobby Hicks, Rob Hajacos, Tommy Jackson, Johnny Gimble, Buddy Spicher. McLoughlin moved to Austin in 1997, after leaving Sussex University with a degree in politics and American studies.[1][3][4] He first toured with the Asylum St. Spankers, and later Ray Wylie Hubbard, Bruce Robison, Kelly Willis and the Austin Lounge Lizards[5]
As a founding member of The Greencards, he received two Grammy nominations and created 4 albums for DualTone and Sugar Hill Records.
2010-2015 Eamon McLoughlin worked with Josh Turner.
2015: The Bodeans, Ashley Monroe.
In 2016 he became the Staff Fiddler for The Grand Ole Opry.
In 2016 The Fifty Shades of Hay released their first album.
^ abFrancis, Naila (16 August 2007). "The Greencards' musical meanderings tend to influences from far and wide, with an eye always toward tradition". The Intelligencer. Doylestown, PA. p. D1, D2.
