Originally from Cumbria but currently based in Cambridge, Maz is one of the most promising voices to emerge on the folk scene in recent years.

From a keen folkie family, attending several Folkworks Youth Summerschools sparked an interest in folk song, and winning the Young Performer’s Competition at Fylde Folk Festival back when she was just 13 led to a few spots singing solo.

When she was 16, Maz’s brother Joe O’Connor entered and won the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award with the band Last Orders, and when the band were asked to play at major U.K. Folk Festivals, Joe’s bandmates persuaded him to let his little sister join them as a guest singer. Summer 2007 saw them play to crowds at Cambridge Folk Festival, Towersey Village Festival, Sidmouth Folk Festival and Fairport’s Cropredy Convention- nerve-racking but exhilarating experiences!

Since then Maz was a finalist in the 2009 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award and has gone on to perform with Matthew Jones on guitar at many U.K. festivals, as well as appearing at Somersound in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, and a festival of traditional music in Asturias, Spain with Last Orders. Maz’s sets feature a mixture of contemporary, traditional and original songs, accompanied by guitar, shruti box, and piano. Maz and Matthew’s stunning debut EP has just been released on Haystack Records, and an album will follow next Spring.