As the lead fiddler for Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance for much of the 1990s, Irish pixie Máiréad Nesbitt learned firsthand the powerful lure Celtic culture and mythology is for American audiences.

When the opportunity was extended in 2004 for her to join a new project called Celtic Woman, the brainchild of Riverdance musical director David Downes, Nesbitt was happy to sign on the dotted line. Purported to be a cross between Riverdance and the Spice Girls, Nesbitt and four equally beautiful and buxom Irish lasses deliver a blissed-out, seamlessly romanticized version of Celtic culture via light classical pieces, appropriated traditional Irish songs and Groban-style classical-pop tunes that bubble with sentimentality.

The group is as phenomenally successful as one might expect. A staple of PBS during pledge drives, Celtic Woman has released a series of albums and DVDs that have cumulatively sold well over five million copies, each one perching comfortably atop the Billboard World Music chart until the next one comes along to unseat it.

Fly Magazine tracked down Nesbitt (aka Fiddle Spice) to learn more about life as a Celtic Woman.

Fly Magazine: What can fans expect from the new production?
Máiréad Nesbitt: We’ve kept true to Celtic Woman, obviously, with our Celtic music. We don’t change direction, really, because we’re staying true to the Celtic Woman people know and love, except it’s a completely new show. So people can expect some fabulous new surprises and some new music that they haven’t heard before at all.

     FM: As I’m doing research, I’m reading about the scope of the tours and the five million in album sales. From your position in the eye of the hurricane, do you think you’re able to process how huge this has gotten?
MN: It is staggering, when we see arenas filled out, and you look around and you see the breadth of the audience that has come to see you. You kind of realize, “Gosh, this is really reaching a lot of people,” and that’s the most important thing to us. It is staggering, the numbers of CDs and DVDs and everything out in the world. I suppose that number doesn’t really compute in your head. We’re so busy on tour and even off tour at home. We did our new DVD, Songs From The Heart, at home in Ireland on our break.

     FM: That’s your idea of a vacation.
MN: That was our break, yeah! So much is in our heads, from the music to the performance onstage to all the recordings to all the rehearsals to all the promo that has to be done that I suppose we don’t grasp sometimes how gigantic it has become – until we meet people out on the street who wouldn’t have known us three years ago when we started touring.

     FM: I came across a YouTube video of a radio DJ showering you with gifts and begging for a date. What do you make of the byproducts like that of being successful, like having men drool over you?
MN: Hardly! Oh, my god. That was just a bit of fun that day. We were really busy, and I remember I was snowed under that day, and that was certainly a bit of light fun.

     FM: Well, it wasn’t exactly an isolated incident.
MN: We’re very lucky insofar as we have the most amazing dress designer. He makes them very well, and also we’ve got hair and makeup with us on tour who are amazing. We have people here on tour with us that make us look amazing, and it’s our job then to sound amazing.

     FM: Celtic Woman was once described as Riverdance meets Spice Girls.
MN: The Spice Girls were very powerful in themselves. They were certainly a juggernaut that kept on going. They were superstars, and all women. There is some similarity there, for sure. It’s great that five women can take Celtic music and cross over to a new level internationally. There are a lot of men’s groups out there, and it’s great that the girls are kind of flying the flag as well.

     FM: Because it is five women, everyone is so interested in the dynamic backstage. Are things nearly as dramatic as some people would hope?
MN: We’re all very different. I can imagine it’s nice for people, because they can latch on to a different person in the five girls, much like what they did in the Spice Girls, actually. We’re all so different. But there’s no competition. Everybody’s happy and everybody gets along really, really well and everyone is so supportive. Everybody wants to think, “Oh, it must be a catfight.” It’s completely the opposite, really. We all love each other dearly.

     FM: For a lot of Americans, you’re their connection to the Celtic heritage. Do you ever feel a responsibility as a sort of cultural ambassador?
MN: For sure, all the time. I grew up in a very purist, traditional musical family, so music is very important. It was just literally a form of communication from the age of 4 upwards. It was just like breathing or walking for me. You always have that sense of responsibility. And obviously we’re all very proud of Ireland as well. We’re very proud of the musical giants that have come out of Ireland, Van Morrison, U2, The Chieftains. We’re very proud to be flying the mantel for Ireland as well.

     FM: You’ve popped up in some crazy places recently – Dancing With the Stars, the National Christmas Tree lighting. What for you have been the personal highlights?
MN: Those two occasions for me were absolutely massive. Dancing With the Stars – it was absolutely amazing to be performing on that show for something huge, like 22 million or something. I was also recording for Tinkerbell: The Lost Treasure for Walt Disney that same weekend. It was a very special weekend for me. The National Tree lighting ceremony was absolutely the biggest highlight for me, for sure. To play for the Obamas was just incredible, and to be alongside the musical greats that were on that show.

     FM: Now that you’re an official music juggernaut, do you talk about the things you have yet to achieve?