Sally Connors lives in Bunclody, County Wexford. Though she is modest about her singing, claiming her relatives to be much better, she has a distinctive voice with a beautiful gentle style. She loves the slowest, saddest songs best and has sung for many funerals in her life.
Sally learned many songs from her parents and grandparents. She says that although her father wasn’t the best singer in her family, he had a great collection of old songs. Once Sally married her husband, Johnny, she also learned a number of songs from her mother-in-law, Ann Connors.
Unlike many Irish Travellers of her generation, Sally and her eight siblings – four brothers and four sisters – can read and write, having been taught at home by their father. They only attended school for a few weeks, so that they could be confirmed at their local church.
Though Sally’s children and grandchildren have learned her songs and continue to sing, Sally fears for the survival of the old time songs she so dearly loves. She feels that her parents’ generation were the true singing generation, and they died over twenty years ago.
