Even when Irish TV's legendary "Late Late Show' was awe-struck enough to give over an entire programme to her, Sharon Shannon said as little as possible and was happy only to play. Talk was the last thing on her mind. She is still not interested in debating where Irish music should go, what it can or can't do. Instead she is a doer, getting on with making music, and letting the music speak for her.

She says she is not interested in taking part in the debate. "I know I can play very straight traditional music when I want to."

"I'm not trying to be as daring as possible. I would like people to like what I do," says Sharon Shannon, when discussing the exotic moments, such as the programmed drumming on 'The Bag of Cats', on her album. But she is at pains to point out that behind the new arrangements on the album's traditional tunes (which make up most of the album), the tunes are rooted in traditional style.

She welcomes experimentation, seeing it as a way of keeping Irish music alive. "I don't want to change Irish music, I feel very strongly about keeping the old tunes. What I'm doing is trying to show those lovely tunes to the rest of the world. But somebody that might listen to me in, say, Japan, wouldn't listen to traditional musicians playing it straight, but if they like my music, they might find their way back to the root."

She particularly likes American old-time music and French Canadian, and the music of La Bottine Souriante, is another big favourite. As a fiddle player herself, when she is not playing accordion, she also has time for the great fiddle players of Cape Breton music. No surprise than that one of the tunes on the album, 'Mouth of the Tobique', is French Canadian, or that 'The Trip to Windsor' in 'The Bag of Cats' comes from Cape Breton's Dan MacDonald. Another group she mentions is London based Edward The II, who mix reggae with Irish music.

But when picking the five groups or artists she listens to most often on record, the most radical is the Bothy Band. Her other four are Mayo flute player Matt Molloy; any old De Danann albums - "I was very influenced by them"; an old Noel Hill and Tony Lenane album with Alec Finn and Matt Molloy and The Mighty Session with Matt Molloy, Tommy Peoples and Paul Brady.