Growing up in Sligo in the 60’s when fiddle music had regained popularity in its “Native Home”, the North –West of Ireland, Manus McGuire was ideally placed to carry on a tradition made legend by Coleman, Morrison, Killoran and O’Beirne thirty years previously. From an early age he learned various dance tunes by his father’s knee and followed his older brother, Seamus, into the national traditional music arena that was steadily gathering momentum. Manus's musical mettle became apparent to all in 1970, the year he won Sligo's prestigious Fiddler of Dooney competition--at age 14. Since then, he has toured extensively in North America and Canada.

He has recorded ten albums, including “The Humours of Lisadell” (Folk Legacy, 1980), and “Carousel” (Gael Linn, 1984), with Seamus; “Buttons & Bows” (Green Linnet, 1983), “First month of Summer” (Green Linnet, 1987) and “Grace Notes” (Gael Linn, 1991), all with the group Buttons & Bows; “Moving Cloud” (Green Linnet, 1994) and “Foxglove” (Green Linnet, 1997), with the group Moving Cloud; and a solo debut, "Saffron & Blue" (Green Linnet, 2000). This last recording was placed in the top-ten polls of the Irish Echo and Boston Globe newspapers. It was also named best album of 2000, and Manus, best male musician of the same year by the Irish American News. In 2004, Manus recorded the self-titled CD with the Brock McGuire Band, which was accorded instrumental album of that year by Live Ireland.com. In 2005, the Brock McGuire band, which he co-founded with accordionist Paul Brock, collaborated with American singer- songwriters, John Cowan and Daryll Scott, on a track for “Hands across the Water”, a CD to raise funds for the children of tsunami victims.

In 2006, Manus released "Fiddlewings", his second solo album. It gathers together fiddle music from Scotland [inc. Shetland], Cape Breton and Ireland. Fiddlewings has both guests from, and was recorded in, these musical heartlands and has been widely acclaimed on both sides of the Atlantic.