About

Michael O'Connor is a guitarist, singer and songwriter living in Washington State. For decades he has performed and recorded with musicians including Ray Wylie Hubbard, Slaid Cleaves, Adam Carroll, Susan Gibson, Terri Hendrix, and Jeff Plankenhorn. A lifetime of hard-won experience has allowed Michael a rare insight into the world of the rough, the faithless, the romantic, and the unlucky, all of whom find refuge in his songs. Michael has toured throughout the United States and overseas, performing in esteemed venues and festivals. In June 2010, Michael was inducted into the South Texas Music Walk of Fame in Corpus Christi, Texas, with a star bearing his name. He has released seven albums and is continuing to release new music.

Click here for Michael's selected discography.

Press

"Michael O’Connor is well-acknowledged as a great guitarist, but you should listen to his songs as well. He writes beautifully, authentically and comes by that gritty gravel road of a voice honestly. You’ll not find a forced moment in his work.”
- Rod Picott

"Chances are that if you’ve seen a prominent Texas singer-songwriter over the last couple of decades, you’ve also seen the [long-haired] O’Connor, sitting off to one side picking acoustic guitar. I once remarked of another hired gun turned solo that there must come a point where a sideman has to wonder how hard the singer-songwriter deal can be if this yo-yo can do it, and O’Connor reached that point some time ago, releasing Green And Blue (Bare Knuckle) back in 2000. [Bloodshot Vagabond] is his fifth album, counting one he split with Adam Carroll, and I’d say he’s pretty much got a grip on it. Of the 11 songs, three were cowritten with another in demand sideman turned songwriter, Jeff Plankenhorn, and two with Carroll and Michael Waters, which may, or may not, explain the emotional range, from sentimental to stoic to pensive to badass. Produced by Jack Saunders, who also plays upright and electric bass, with the great Rick Richards on drums and percussion, O’Connor, who plays all guitars, lap steel, mandolin and banjo, rather unusually, has no other guests, providing all the instrumental fireworks himself and it's the perfect integration of songs and music that’s the payoff when a sideman successfully makes the transition to frontman, there’s nothing lost in discussion."
- John Conquest, 2016

"...part of the same Lone Star constellation as such Texas legends as Guy Clark, Kris Kristofferson, and the late Doug Sahm and Freddy Fender."
- Richard Skanse, on Michael's induction into the South Texas Music Walk of Fame

"O'Connor may be yet another hidden gem from Texas . . . soulful vocals. . . and his songwriting is top notch."
- Eli Petersen, Twangville

". . . a collection of songs that take unvarnished looks at not-so-beautiful losers who populate the margins: the has-beens, the never-will-bes. . . With the line, 'a bar tab as long as Billy Gibbons' beard', even losers win."
- Jim Beal Jr., San Antonio Express-News