Irish country music.

Having just been awarded ‘Rising Star of The Year’ at the prestigious Sunday World country music awards, this passed year has proved to be a whirlwind for Galway- girl Claudia.

At just 22 she has had a string of number 1 hits in the country charts, including ‘Diane’ , ‘Blame It On Your Heart’ and her breakthrough single ‘Drinking with Dolly’ which has credited Claudia her own stamp on the country music scene!

She speaks fondly of having performed some of these hits at festivals all over Ireland earlier this year “there has been something incredibly special about performing your own hits out at these open air festivals, and looking down into the crowd seeing people mouth the words back to you, it is electric”.

Claudia was humbled and honored when asked by fellow entertainer Nathan Carter to join him on tour this year as his special guest, performing to sell out crowds in numerous theaters throughout the Uk and Scotland, and experience which she describes as ‘a dream come true’.

Claudia was delighted to be able to showcase her unique and authentic style to such an extensive audience.

Of course, some would say it was inevitable that Claudia would pursue a career in music, following firmly in the footsteps of her father, Country music legend Jimmy Buckley.

He speaks with pride when describing the love Claudia has for her craft “I knew music would find her, she got bitten by the music bug at a very young age. I’m so happy that the public have taken to her wonderful personality, and she has the talent to match, I could not be more proud if I tried.”

Claudia had already reached a milestone in her career at the tender age of 16 , having been invited by Ryan Tubridy to perform on RTE’s Late Late show, after he her saw her sing with music legend Daniel O’ Donnell on TG4’s Opry Le Daniel, he described young Claudia as “a marvelous young lady with a tremendous talent” accompanied by her dad Jimmy they performed a song very close to their hearts ‘From Here To The Moon And Back’.

Following this Claudia has been humbled with fantastic experiences, having been invited a second time by one of her role models Daniel O’ Donnell to perform on the hit series ‘Opry Le Daniel’ where she even got to duet one of her favorite songs ‘Love Me Tonight’ with Daniel himself, an experience she will cherish forever.

Later on that year she joined a host of Ireland’s greatest entertainers on RTE’s ‘Late Late Country Special’

Claudia and Jimmy struck up more success this year with their No.1 hit ‘Storms Never Last’ after performing the country classic on Virgin Media’s ‘The Six O’ Clock Show’ the clip blew up over night, gaining hundreds of thousands of views online in just a short few days.

Adding the finishing touches to her studio album, with further plans to tour Ireland, the UK and Scotland the future proves bright for Claudia and she speaks excitedly of her future “I’ve been so lucky to tour with Nathan, and of course my Dad Jimmy in dance halls and theaters all over Ireland the UK and Scotland, I’ve met some really fantastic people and I’m so grateful that through this I have gained fans for life who love music just as much as I do, I’m beyond excited for what the future holds for me.. I’ll continue to work as hard as I can for what I love most”