I've yet to meet someone who doesn't think the world of Sharon Shannon. She's a unique character.

A virtuoso accordion player, she could never have imagined the path her life was to take when she quit university in Cork in the late 80s to concentrate on music.

After joining The Waterboys, Sharon's career took off. Her debut solo album, on which Adam Clayton played, became the biggest-selling Irish folk album ever.

"School for me was like prison, so to be able to just do what I loved and get paid for it and be free during the day, to just learn more music and be myself and be happy, was amazing," she tells me breathlessly.

"Even from the word go when I started doing nothing but music, when I was living in Doolin, I was pinching myself every day going, 'This is so great'."

"Nearly every day I still go, 'Wow'," she adds.

There's been plenty to go "wow" about.

Sharon has worked with Nigel Kennedy, Jackson Browne, and Steve Earle among others. Her recording of Earle's song Galway Girl with Mundy has been a monster crossover hit.

"It has helped enormously," she says. "We have an awful lot of new fans coming to gigs who don't know anything else I do. They're calling for Galway Girl. And they're delighted when we do it. We could do it twice."

The timing of her new album, Saints & Scoundrels, couldn't be better. It's an excellent album which features new songs from a superstar cast that includes Imelda May, Jerry Fish, The Waterboys, Carol Keogh and Shane MacGowan. Dedicated to her long-term partner Leo Healy who died suddenly last year, Saints & Scoundrels looks certain to be a huge hit.

"The original idea for the album was Leo's," recalls Sharon. "We were saying wouldn't it be really good fun to have as many crazy people as possible guesting on the album. The idea was to make an album that you could put on when you came into a house party. Something lively and upbeat and a bit of craic."

Had they begun work on the album before the tragedy of Leo's death I ask, suspecting that Sharon will be understandably reluctant to revisit the pain of her partner's death.

"We'd talked about it a lot," says Sharon slowly. "And it was good fun making wishlists of people that you'd never be able to get in touch with in a million years."

Sharon is torn between wanting to publicly honour Leo's memory and having to trust a reporter. "I'd be concerned if someone would make it seem that I was using that to sell my album," she says. "I'd be completely freaked out if that happened."

The sense of sorrow is palpable. The grief still raw. And I wouldn't mention it at all except that Saints & Scoundrels sounds so heartfelt and inspired.

"I definitely know that Leo is behind it big time, guiding us," says Sharon. "Leo loved all sorts of music and was a huge Thin Lizzy fan. He was a massive fan of Phil Lynott. He didn't get into listening to traditional music until we met. He'd been living in England for years and he hadn't heard of Mary Black, or Dolores Keane, or me, or anyone. He wasn't into that kind of music at all. He'd been back living in Ireland for a while before we met."

Incredible

As memories of happier days flood back, Sharon says softly: "We had absolutely no indication. It was completely out of the blue. He had never been as healthy in his life."

Her friends rallied around. Sharon acknowledges the support she received from family, neighbours and people who wrote to her.

"It was very hard to get through it," she admits. "The support I had was really incredible. I don't know how I would have done without it."

One of the highlights of the album is Saints and Angels on which Sharon is reunited with the Waterboys. The song had once been intended for the groundbreaking Fisherman's Blues album.

"The original name we had for this album was going to be Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," reveals Sharon. "Mike (Scott), who's a good friend, knew about our idea and said that he'd like to be involved in it.

"I said I'd be in heaven if Saints and Angels was on it," says Sharon. "I'd worked on the song originally the first time around, years ago. Mike was saying it wouldn't fit in with the theme. We changed the title to Saints & Scoundrels and that kind of opened up the whole thing for us. It meant we weren't limited to just having scoundrels on the album."

She's laughing now. And when Sharon Shannon laughs you can see why musicians love to be in her company and part of her band.

Adding a bit of cajun squeezebox to Imelda May's rockabilly burlesque is another brilliant move. "l think Imelda is amazing," says Sharon. "We were lucky to get her."

Sharon's version of the slow air Cape Clear from the album features in Neil Jordan's new film Ondine.

Despite her talent and fame, Sharon remains modest. "There are lots of really talented people that don't get lucky breaks," she protests. "If it wasn't for my manager and the people around me, I'd still be in Doolin."

There's a mischievous sparkle in her eye as she adds: "But that wouldn't be bad either."

Saints & Scoundrels is released today and Sharon and her Big Band play the NCH on October 22

- Eamon Carr