Caroline Reel

"I particulary like 'The Darkness'. Caroline's style reminds me of Iris Dement." - Jackie Hayden, Hot Press Magazine, Dublin

Caroline Reel, a singer-songwriter, originally from Silverbridge, currently residing in Navan, County Meath has just released her debut six track EP entitled “Standing Still Feeling Free”. Her music is acoustic folk with a strong celtic influence where the fiddle, uilleann pipes and low whistle feature in her tracks. Her style of music and singing has been compared to artists such as Andrea Corr, Eva Cassidy, Juliett Turner, Nanci Griffith, although her voice is very much her own, unique and original. Her official EP launch took place in Beggy’s Bar, Navan on Thursday 13th September, with other mini launches being planned, one of which will be a local gig.
Caroline, a keen musician from a young age, played accordion with the local Cullyhanna accordion band at ten years of age, taking up guitar a little later. She always enjoyed writing lyrics and recorded her first song at 16 years ‘The Emigrant’s Song’ following her brothers’ emigration to America. This was played on local radio stations at the time. Caroline was also a member of the Roddy School of Irish Dancing from the age of five until fifteen, competing in World Dance Championships. She also represented her local football club, Silverbridge Harps on many occasions at Scor. A past pupil of St Joseph’s High School, Crossmaglen, she took part in many musicals and concerts while a student there.
Since then, Caroline trained as a speech and language therapist and worked as a Senior therapist with the Health Service for many years. During this time, she became a member of St Mary’s Musical Society, Navan, performing in several shows with them and taking part in The Light Opera Festival in Waterford and a live appearance on RTE’s Open House.
In 2010, Caroline decided to pursue her love of music in a whole-hearted way. Her brother Ben Reel is an established artist in the music business and Caroline has championed him over the years, supporting him in whatever way she could in his musical career. She too wanted to follow her love of being creative and using and sharing her talent with others.
Caroline has thoroughly enjoyed her musical journey in the past few years, performing her original songs at festivals, open mike, singer-songwriter and jamrock nights. She is currently involved in a number of musical groups and music projects, including Brother Shabo and The Soul Rebels, Gospelesk Singers and The HoneyBadgers. She was a backing singer for Pauly Fagan on the main stage at the festival, ‘Tara Rocks’ in Meath where Damien Dempsey headlined and also performed her own material on the acoustic stage there. She regularly attends Swan Lane Music Venue where she volunteers at ‘Cygnet Lane’, an initiative that allows young people to perform their own music.
Jackie Hayden of Hotpress Magazine wrote “I particularly like ‘The Darkness’, Caroline’s style reminds me of Iris Dement.”
Caroline continues to write new material and is keen to continue recording and performing at live music venues and festivals. She plays The Song Room in The Globe, Dublin on 17th October and The Crane Bar, Galway City on 18th October. She has lots more gigs planned including local ones. You can keep up-to-date with upcoming gigs through her musician facebook page. Her EP “Standing Still Feeling Free” and individual tracks are available for download on itunes. You can also listen to some of the songs from the EP on soundcloud and Breaking Tunes.
- Meath Chronicle