Artist Category: Fiddle | Page 4

Micah John

Micah A. John is a Boston-based multi-instrumentalist, vocalist, and singer-songwriter. She plays American Roots Music of several types, including Old Time songs and tunes, Bluegrass, Folk, Country, and Americana.

As a 3-year-old, Micah saw Jake Armerding play fiddle at Club Passim and was determined that she was going to learn to play the fiddle someday. She hung on to that desire, and at age 9, after a friend gave her an old student fiddle, she began taking lessons from Bronwyn Keith-Hynes. Across the last 8 years, Micah has been fortunate to study fiddle with several amazing teachers, including Bronwyn, Bobby Britt, and Bruce Molsky. Micah also plays and studies guitar, and she can contribute to a song on mandolin, bass, and clawhammer banjo as well.

Micah was accepted into the Berklee City Music High School Academy as a vocalist, beginning in her freshman year of high school and is now in her third year as a City Music Scholar. Additionally, she received the City Music Scholarship to attend the 2021 Aspire Five-Week Program at Berklee College Of Music, where she studied music theory and string music.

Micah has competed and placed in several competitions. Locally, at the Lowell Banjo & Fiddle Contest she has placed in Twin Fiddle (1st in 2022 with Lillian Chase, and 1st in 2021 with Rosalie Coleman), in Old Time Fiddle (2nd in 2022, and 3rd in 2021), in Bluegrass Fiddle (1st in 2019), and in the Youth Division (Honorable Mention in 2018, and 2nd in 2017). In 2022, at Clifftop, Micah placed 3rd in Youth Fiddle. In 2021, at the virtual Deer Creek Fiddlers Convention Contest, she placed 2nd in the Open Vocal division and 3rd in the Open Bluegrass Fiddle division.

Emily Haviland

Emily Haviland has been a part of the Greater Boston music scene for nearly ten years. As a graduate of Berklee College of Music with concentrations in fiddle performance and music therapy, she studied everything from music and how it can alter the brain all the way to American Roots and its rocky history.

With her debut album Not Who You Think set to be released in February of 2024, Emily Haviland continues to push boundaries in both her performing style and songwriting, and is not an act that you’ll want to miss. World-renowned fiddler, Darol Anger says “Emily Haviland is the Realest Deal in a long time. Real voice, real thoughts, real songs that say – with pungent power – what everyone’s really thinking. Glad to welcome her work into the world.” Emily Haviland has shared the stage with some of the great contemporaries like Aoife O’Donovan, Margo Price, Twisted Pine, Darol Anger, the late Emy Phelps, Bruce Molsky, and has been showcased on records released by Alisa Amador, Kaiti Jones, and others.

The Hanneke Cassel Band

Effervescent and engaging, Boston-based fiddler Hanneke Cassel’s fiddle music fuses influences from the Isle of Skye and Cape Breton with Americana grooves and musical innovations. She has performed and traveled across North America, Europe, Australia and Asia. Hanneke’s music is a blend of the contemporary and traditional, described by the Boston Globe as “exuberant and rhythmic, somehow wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness.”

The Hanneke Cassel Band features Jenna Moynihan on 5-string fiddle/vocals and Keith Murphy on guitar/vocals. Jenna Moynihan is regarded as one of the best in the new generation of fiddle players. Versatile and inventive, her fiddling style draws strongly from the Scottish tradition, but is in no way bound by it. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Jenna performs as part of a duo with cutting edge harpist Mairi Chaimbeul and is the regular fiddler for the Seamus Egan Project. Newfoundland-born guitarist Keith Murphy began absorbing his native musical languages – folksongs, ballads and dance music – from an early age. A proficient multi-instrumentalist, he has long applied considerable energy to the rhythmic side of music, becoming a valued band member and highly sought-after sideman on guitar, mandolin and foot percussion.

Together, the Hanneke Cassel Band creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition.

The Carroll Sisters

The Carroll Sisters are a lively Celtic fiddle band from Connecticut, including Emilie (16), Nora (14), and Sammy (18). They are most known for their lively fiddle tunes, beautiful harmonies, intriguing counterpoints, and unique musical arrangements in Irish, Scottish, and Cape Breton traditional music. They have shared their music in intimate settings like pubs, farms, and house concerts, as well as at larger events like Sober St. Patrick’s Day in New York City and the Boston Celtic Music Festival. The Carroll Sisters’ debut album, Daybreak, reveals both their old soul connection to the Celtic tradition and their youthful energy and creative arrangements. The album is certainly enhanced by the artful collaboration with their musical mentors including John Whelan, their producer and beloved teacher, their fiddle teacher Jeanne Freeman, Dylan Foley, Conor Hearn, Katie McNally, and Neil Pearlman.

“What a beautiful album by The Carroll Sisters! I love their playing, their arranging, and the gorgeous tunes they’ve chosen for this, their debut… One can hear the joy in their music! Bravo!!” –Liz Carroll (no relation)

Casey Murray & Molly Tucker

Casey Murray & Molly Tucker are a Boston-based folk duo. With Molly on fiddle and Casey on cello, guitar, and banjo, the two play original and traditional tunes in Celtic, New England, and Old Time styles. They spent the first few years of their duo writing tunes and songs from a distance while Casey attended Berklee College of Music and Molly attended Oberlin College and Conservatory. At the start of the pandemic, they graced the screens of virtual dances and performances across the country. They can more recently be found in dance halls, festivals, and listening rooms across New England, including Boston’s premiere folk venue Club Passim and Festival Trad Montréal, delighting audiences and dancers alike with their infectious energy and groove. Casey and Molly released their debut album After the Sky Weeps in April 2022.

Sophie Mae Wellington

Sophie Wellington is an old-time fiddler, jazz singer, and percussive dancer. Originally from Staunton, VA in the Shenandoah Valley, she grew up surrounded by a diverse and dedicated musical community. She brought a passion for traditional music and dance with her to Boston where she studied vocal jazz performance and American roots music at Berklee College of Music. She became a fixture of the New England Old Time scene by co-leading a weekly old time session with Zach Meyer, along with forming their old time fusion string band Dumpster Debbie. Whether she’s weaving her voice through lavish jazz melodies and harmonies, driving fiddle tunes with her high energy bowing, or flatfooting Southern Appalachian rhythms, Sophie invites audiences on a sophisticated and energetic musical adventure. In her upcoming debut album Roving Jewel, a diverse collection of fiddle tunes, jazz standards, traditional ballads, and percussive dances, Sophie explores her relationship with these distinct musical forms expressing novel musical ideas that challenge traditional stylistic divisions.

Alasdair Fraser & Natalie Haas

The musical partnership between consummate performer Alasdair Fraser, “the Michael Jordan of Scottish fiddling”, and brilliant Californian cellist Natalie Haas spans the full spectrum between intimate chamber music and ecstatic dance energy. Over the last 20 years of creating a buzz at festivals and concert halls across the world, they have truly set the standard for fiddle and cello in traditional music. They continue to thrill audiences internationally with their virtuosic playing, their near-telepathic understanding and the joyful spontaneity and sheer physical presence of their music.

Fraser has a concert and recording career spanning over 30 years, with a long list of awards, accolades, radio and television credits, and feature performances on top movie soundtracks (Last of the Mohicans, Titanic, etc.). In 2011, he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Haas, a graduate of the Juilliard School of Music, is one of the most sought after cellists in traditional music today. She has performed and recorded with a who’s who of the fiddle world including Mark O’Connor, Natalie MacMaster, Irish supergroups Solas and Altan, Liz Carroll, Dirk Powell, Brittany Haas, Darol Anger, Jeremy Kittel, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cortese, and many more.

This seemingly unlikely pairing of fiddle and cello is the fulfillment of a long-standing musical dream for Fraser. His search eventually led him to find a cellist who could help return the cello to its historical role at the rhythmic heart of Scottish dance music, where it stood for hundreds of years before being relegated to the orchestra. The duo’s debut recording, Fire & Grace, won the coveted the Scots Trad Music “Album of the Year” award, the Scottish equivalent of a Grammy. Since its release, the two have gone on to record five more critically acclaimed albums that blend a profound understanding of the Scottish tradition with cutting-edge string explorations. In additional to performing, they both have motivated generations of string players through their teaching at fiddle camps across the globe.

Jenna Moynihan & Owen Marshall

Jenna Moynihan is regarded as one of the best of the best in the new generation of fiddle players. Versatile and inventive, her fiddling style draws strongly from the Scottish tradition, but is not bound by it. Folk Radio UK said of her playing, “…from the first time you hear Moynihan, it is clear that her playing is resonating straight from the depths of her soul.” Jenna graduated from Berklee College of Music with honors and was a recipient of both the Fletcher Bright Award & The American Roots Award. She performs around the world, and has toured with The Milk Carton Kids, Darol Anger & the Furies Old Blind Dogs, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards, A Celtic Sojourn & more. She has appeared as a soloist at Symphony Hall, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and CBS Sunday Morning Her debut solo album Woven was released in 2015. Jenna also performs in a duo with harpist Màiri Chaimbeul, their album One Two was released in 2017. www.jennamoynihan.com

Vogue magazine calls musician Owen Marshall “A guitar/mandolin/banjo player rivaled in character only by the occasional three-pronged carrot” (Vogue 2009). With the music traditions of Quebec and Nova Scotia just over the border from his home in Vermont and the strong Irish musical scene of Boston to the south, Owen was immersed in the various textures and sounds of the Celtic music from an early age. In addition to touring with acts such as The Press Gang, Copley Street, and The Seamus Egan Project, Owen is in demand at music camps throughout New England and the U.S., where he shares his approach to accompanying traditional music. www.owenmarshallmusic.com

Jocelyn Pettit & Ellen Gira

First meeting in Scotland, Jocelyn Pettit and Ellen Gira joined their musical forces. Fusing together traditional and contemporary influences, they create powerfully uplifting and soulful music. Their instruments weave a dynamic, rhythmically driving and textured sound, with nuanced fiddle-cello interplay through delicate and fortissimo arrangements. They bring life and fire into their own original melodies, and high-energy tunes from Scotland, Ireland, North America, and Scandinavia – with Canadian stepdancing, to boot. Jocelyn and Ellen are keen to perform, and have been gracing stages and captivating audiences in both North America and the UK.

Performance highlights include: Celtic Connections Festival, Northern Streams Festival, Niel Gow Festival, Edinburgh Castle, Blair Castle, a Royal Visit performance for HRH Prince Charles, and live broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.

Dirk Powell

Dirk Powell is a musician with deep roots in several rural American traditions. He learned banjo and fiddle from his Kentucky grandfather, James Clarence Hay, and has been a part of the thriving Cajun/Creole music community in Louisiana since his early 20s. He has toured and recorded with musicians such as Eric Clapton, Joan Baez, Buddy Miller, Jack White, Loretta Lynn, and Levon Helm, while his contribution to film has found him collaborating with directors like Anthony Minghella (“Cold Mountain”), Ang Lee (“Ride with the Devil”), and Spike Lee (“Bamboozled”). His solo records, which often combine a traditional foundation with a wide-ranging commitment to emotion and original expression, have had impact around the globe. He is also in demand as a producer and owns his own studio on the banks of Bayou Teche near Breaux Bridge, Louisiana.