For her spring 2007 Compass Records release entitled The New Shoes, Kennedy has assembled a new band by the same name, and together they have captured a wonderful collection of traditional music with an excitingly fresh feel. Brought together when producer Bob Kenyan asked Kennedy to put together a band of musicians for a Gaelic television show, their rich and luscious sounds bear testimony to the creative imagination and depth of experience harnessed in this ensemble.

Featuring the virtuosic talents of Marc Clement (guitar/vocals), Julian Sutton (melodeons) and Claire Mann (fiddle/flute/whistle/vocals), The New Shoes begins with a rousing jig that sets a level of musicianship that is sustained throughout the record.

Where Kennedy's apt flute playing is made obvious in the first track, the listener gets a taste of her startlingly focused and beautiful vocal timbre in "Cáit i nGarráin a Bhile".  Other highlights include the swinging "Highlands and Islands" and the closing title track, complex and upbeat melodies filled with wonderful tension and resolution.

Kennedy's recent commission 'Astar:Journey' composed for Celtic Connections International Festival in Glasgow was heralded as 'breathtaking' and a 'triumph' by Scotland's national press.  She combined an ambitious program of music with a nine-piece stellar line-up of international musicians, including Oliver Schroer, Daniel Lapp, Will Oldham and Eilidh Mackenzie.

Nuala is currently pursuing her interest in composition further and she has been commissioned to write a piece for the forthcoming Distil showcase. She has been invited as a musician-in-residence to Omi International Arts Center in New York where she will collaborate with fifteen other musicians from around the world to produce work which will be premiered in August 2007.

Born in Dundalk, Co. Louth, Kennedy grew up steeped in the rich history and sound of traditional Irish music, where she played in the award winning ceilidh band Ceoltoiri Oga Oghrialla.

In 1995, Kennedy moved to Scotland and co-founded the highly recognized trio Fine Friday.  As a member of Fine Friday, Kennedy toured extensively in support of Gone Dancing (2002) and Mowing the Machair (2004), both critically acclaimed albums. In addition to Fine Friday, Kennedy occasionally sits in with the Celtic big band The Unusual Suspects, has been a member of Harem Scarem, a contemporary/pop Celtic group, with whom she toured the UK and Ireland alongside Will Oldham (also know as Bonnie Prince Billy, the popular American folk-poet and hipster icon). She also currently plays with Anam, a well-established traditional group focusing primarily on Gaelic songs.

In 2005 Nuala was awarded a scholarship to complete an immersion course in Scottish Gaelic and returned for a fourth year as a soloist to the Celtic Colours International Festival in October 2006. She has developed strong links with Cape Breton and the music and people there. She was the recipient of the 2006 UK Thyne Scholarship to investigate living composers in Cape Breton. Nuala also collaborated with contemporary flutist Jane Rigler in New York in January 2006 and some of their music appears on 'The New Shoes'.

When she is not in the studio or on the road, Kennedy is a much sought after teacher and she has earned several scholarships and various academic accolades.
She has tutored at the Boxwood Flute School, for Newcastle University, worked for Channel 4 'ideas factory', teaches regularly for Feisean Nan Gaidheal and for ABC, an innovative new creative music program.