Between his extensive solo appearances, he continues to record and perform with his brothers Tommy and Ben and his sister Anne in the family band.

He has produced around one hundred albums, working with young traditional musicians, songwriters and bands, ranging from first-time recording artists like Cara Dillon and Oige, Deanta, Neil Mulligan and Kieran Goss to veteran performers including Joan Baez, The Sands Family, Liam O'Flynn, Vedran Smailovic and Pete Seeger.

Sands has released eight albums featuring his own songs[1] and a songbook titled Between the Earth and the Sky[2] illustrated by Colum McEvoy.

As well as performing his own songs, Sands has translated Goethe into English (recording a bilingual version of "Nähe des Geliebten" with Berlin singer Scarlett Seeboldt), worked and toured in the Middle East with Israeli storyteller Sharon Aviv on the English/Hebrew peace initiative production "Talking to the Wall" and translated Scottish Gaelic songs into English on his collaboration with Scottish singer and harper Maggie MacInnes.

His songs have been translated into German, Dutch, Danish and Hebrew and have been recorded by many artists including Maddy Prior, June Tabor, Liam Clancy, Tommy Makem, Roy Bailey, Andy Irvine and Mick Hanly.