Since its birth in 1996, Solas has been loudly proclaimed the most popular, influential, and exciting Celtic band ever to emerge from the United States — the first truly great Irish-American band. The Philadelphia Inquirer said they make mind-blowing Irish folk music, maybe the world's best. The New York Times praised their unbridled vitality. And the Austin American-Statesman called them the standard by which contemporary Celtic groups are judged.

The band interprets a wide range of original, traditional and contemporary material in surprising ways. Songs by contemporary artists — Dylan, Waits, Drake — are given a Celtic tinge, making explicit their connections with the deep, ultimately Celtic roots of American music. The Solas sound today is anchored by founders fiddler Winifred Horan and Seamus Egan, who plays flute, tenor banjo, mandolin, whistle, guitar and bodhran. They are two of the most respected and imitated musicians anywhere in acoustic music. Mick McAuley from Kilkenny plays accordion and concertina; Eamon McElholm from Tyrone plays guitar and keyboards. Deirdre Scanlan is the band's latest vocal discovery, gorgeously filling the role carved out by founding vocalist Karan Casey.