His mother is from Ennistimon, County Clare, where O'Connor spent most of his childhood holidays attending music sessions with his father that featured fiddlers such as Joe Ryan, Bobby Casey, Peadar O'Loughlin and John Kelly.
Numerous fiddlers that were friends of the family would regularly call around to the house in Baldoyle including Seán Keane of The Chieftains and Charlie Lennon.
Other major influences on his playing include fiddlers such as Séamus Glackin, Vincent Harrison, along with recordings of Tommy Potts, Michael Coleman and James 'Lad' O'Beirne.
[6] O'Connor and McKeon released their debut album Dublin Made Me in January 2009 which was described by Siobhán Long of The Irish Times as "Exceptional musicians who marry technical prowess with a marvellous sense of adventure and history".
[8] Writing in The Irish Times, Siobhán Long gave it a five-star rating and wrote: The possibility that we are in a golden age of traditional music, is reinforced by the release of Liam O'Connor's exceptional solo album The Loom.
[11] In 2006, O'Connor was awarded a bursary from the Arts Council of Ireland under their DEIS scheme where the archiving and recording of the transmission of the tradition from older masters to younger musicians was central.
He spent time with and conducted interviews with Seán Potts, Peter Horan, Vincent Harrison, Seamus Tansey, Séamus Begley, John Dwyer, Peadar O'Loughlin, Sean MacIarnán, among others during this project.
He has also taught and performed at numerous Irish and international music festivals including the Willie Clancy Summer School, Scoil Acla, Tocane.
Joyce at Na Píobairí Uilleann, the National Folklore Collection, the Chris Langan Festival, Toronto, and the Willie Clancy Summer School.
[2] O'Connor has served as a board member of ITMA and the Gradam Ceoil TG4 Selection Panel, and as honorary secretary of An Cumann le Béaloideas Éireann (The Folklore of Ireland Society).
In March 2019, O'Connor made a guest appearance on season 8, episode 1 of the TG4 television documentary series 'Sé Mo Laoch, that featured Dublin fiddler and family friend Seán Keane.
In June of that year, O'Connor was featured on the RTÉ Radio 1 program, The Rolling Wave hosted by Aoife Nic Cormaic, following the announcement of his appointment as director of the ITMA.
[14] On the show, O'Connor chats about growing up in a house full of music and being fascinated by ITMA since he was a teenager, as well as his plans for his upcoming role as director.