Post by Joe on Jan 18, 2006 22:28:32 GMT -5
HALIFAX CHRONICLE HERALD
January 17, 2005
The Road to Carnegie Hall
Cape Breton quartet releases new CD, tours with The Chieftains and plays renowned New York music hall on St. Patrick’s Day
By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter
THE STARS will align perfectly for The Cottars on Saint Patrick’s Day this year, says band member Ciaran MacGillivray.
On March 17, the talented young Cape Breton folk quartet will play with Irish music legends The Chieftains at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
'It’s the No. 1 Irish group on the No. 1 Irish Day at the No. 1 concert venue in the U.S.,' said the 17-year-old, reached at his home in Albert Bridge, the day before the group was to fly to Louisiana for the start of a 23-date tour with the six-time Grammy winners.
'I’ve wanted to play Carnegie Hall from the beginning of my music career. I remember when I was four or five years old saying I wanted to play there and my parents saying ‘Well if you work, you might end up there.’ I think they said it more to encourage me to work hard. But I never imagined that it would really happen. It will be the show of a lifetime.'
The U.S. tour begins tonight at The Strand Theatre in Shreveport, La., and wraps up at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on March 18.
'It’s amazing (to be playing with The Chieftains),' says an exuberant Fiona MacGillivary, 16, who with Roseanne MacKenzie, 15, and her brother, Jimmy, 18, of Baddeck, round out The Cottars.
'They’re like Celtic music gods to us. We’ve been listening to them for as long as I can remember. My parents would play their music to help Ciaran and I get to sleep when we were infants.'
Since they learned they’d be touring with the Celtic kings about six months ago, they’ve been brushing up on The Chieftains’ material. Ciaran was sent a CD by the Chieftains of tunes they wanted him to learn so he could accompany them on piano. 'It’s an interesting compilation of music with six or seven songs, including some old material, some fiddling tunes, some Southern tunes, some bluegrass tunes.'
Besides keyboards, Ciaran plays guitar and flute, while Fiona is the lead vocalist and plays whistles, harp and bodhran. Roseanne plays fiddle and is the stepdance leader and Jimmy plays rhythm guitar.
The group will sing with The Chieftains on the Gaelic tune Jimmy Mo Mhille Stor, which The Chieftains originally did with The Rankins (and recorded on their 1999 CD Tears of Stone). 'It’s a soft flowing song, with a beautiful arrangement and three-part harmony,' says Ciaran.
The Cottars, who first performed together in 2000 and won an ECMA as best new group in 2003 for their debut release Made in Cape Breton, will also perform some of their own material and expect to do some stepdancing. 'Paddy Moloney loves stepdancing,' says Ciaran.
The tour coincides with the release of their new CD Forerunner, recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville with fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson as producer and at Lakewind Sound Studio in Cape Breton with Ciaran and Fiona’s father Allister sharing producing and arranging duties.
Forerunner, released in the U.S. on Jan. 10, is the first CD released under the group’s multi-album contract with Rounder Records (home of Bluegrass star Alison Krauss, among others). Featuring 12 tunes, including songs by Ron Hynes, Tom Waits, Scotland’s Karine Polwart and Sinead Lohan, as well as traditional numbers arranged mostly by Allister, it will be in stores in Canada today.
'We stayed with Gordie Sampson and got a real glimpse of how they record in Nashville, which is still the heart and soul of music. We were so excited.'
Fiona says going over records with Sampson in Nashville last fall was like being at a Cape Breton party.
'We’ve jammed with him a lot, but this is the first time we’ve worked with him on a record and he’s amazing.'
Fiona picks Hynes’ soulful Atlantic Blue about the heartache that follows a death at sea as her favourite song on the album. 'I adore the song, it’s very Maritime and addresses a serious issue. As soon as I heard it, I knew we had to do it.'
Ciaran singles out Waits’ aching Georgia Lee, about a troubled, young girl found dead in a small grove of trees, with its haunting chorus 'Why wasn’t God watching, why wasn’t God listening, why wasn’t God there for Georgia Lee' as his favourite to have both recorded and to listen to.
'It’s a heart-wrenching song. I remember a lonely cello and a dark piano in the background and feeling tears in the back of my throat listening to it. I’m really proud of the way it turned out. It reminds me of The Briar and the Rose.'
The Briar and the Rose, another Waits tune, has become a signature of sorts for The Cottars. They stole the 2003 ECMA broadcast with a live performance of the song at Halifax Metro Centre and earned a Gemini nomination in the category of best performance in a variety program or series.
'I’ve always told people I think Tom Waits is one of the most important songwriters of the century. He writes about important issues, things groups would have second thoughts singing about,' says Ciaran.
'Both my father and I are huge Tom Waits’ fans, it’s something about the mix between his beautiful lyrics and melodies and gruff voice,' says Fiona, noting a few years ago the group would have been too young to record a song about so serious a subject, but it fits with their growing maturity.
While the teens may be growing up, they still have to take homework on the road.
Fiona is in Grade 11 at Riverview High and Ciaran in Grade 12, while Roseanne is in Grade 10 at Memorial High and Jimmy, who took last year off because of illness, is completing courses by correspondence.
They’ll be back home in February and will do their exams then. And wherever the group tour, members make it a point to take in the sights and visit museums, says Fiona, along with sampling the local delicacies.
'In Louisiana, we had crawdads and fried chicken. In Japan, we had raw liver.'
January 17, 2005
The Road to Carnegie Hall
Cape Breton quartet releases new CD, tours with The Chieftains and plays renowned New York music hall on St. Patrick’s Day
By ANDREA NEMETZ Entertainment Reporter
THE STARS will align perfectly for The Cottars on Saint Patrick’s Day this year, says band member Ciaran MacGillivray.
On March 17, the talented young Cape Breton folk quartet will play with Irish music legends The Chieftains at New York’s Carnegie Hall.
'It’s the No. 1 Irish group on the No. 1 Irish Day at the No. 1 concert venue in the U.S.,' said the 17-year-old, reached at his home in Albert Bridge, the day before the group was to fly to Louisiana for the start of a 23-date tour with the six-time Grammy winners.
'I’ve wanted to play Carnegie Hall from the beginning of my music career. I remember when I was four or five years old saying I wanted to play there and my parents saying ‘Well if you work, you might end up there.’ I think they said it more to encourage me to work hard. But I never imagined that it would really happen. It will be the show of a lifetime.'
The U.S. tour begins tonight at The Strand Theatre in Shreveport, La., and wraps up at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on March 18.
'It’s amazing (to be playing with The Chieftains),' says an exuberant Fiona MacGillivary, 16, who with Roseanne MacKenzie, 15, and her brother, Jimmy, 18, of Baddeck, round out The Cottars.
'They’re like Celtic music gods to us. We’ve been listening to them for as long as I can remember. My parents would play their music to help Ciaran and I get to sleep when we were infants.'
Since they learned they’d be touring with the Celtic kings about six months ago, they’ve been brushing up on The Chieftains’ material. Ciaran was sent a CD by the Chieftains of tunes they wanted him to learn so he could accompany them on piano. 'It’s an interesting compilation of music with six or seven songs, including some old material, some fiddling tunes, some Southern tunes, some bluegrass tunes.'
Besides keyboards, Ciaran plays guitar and flute, while Fiona is the lead vocalist and plays whistles, harp and bodhran. Roseanne plays fiddle and is the stepdance leader and Jimmy plays rhythm guitar.
The group will sing with The Chieftains on the Gaelic tune Jimmy Mo Mhille Stor, which The Chieftains originally did with The Rankins (and recorded on their 1999 CD Tears of Stone). 'It’s a soft flowing song, with a beautiful arrangement and three-part harmony,' says Ciaran.
The Cottars, who first performed together in 2000 and won an ECMA as best new group in 2003 for their debut release Made in Cape Breton, will also perform some of their own material and expect to do some stepdancing. 'Paddy Moloney loves stepdancing,' says Ciaran.
The tour coincides with the release of their new CD Forerunner, recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville with fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson as producer and at Lakewind Sound Studio in Cape Breton with Ciaran and Fiona’s father Allister sharing producing and arranging duties.
Forerunner, released in the U.S. on Jan. 10, is the first CD released under the group’s multi-album contract with Rounder Records (home of Bluegrass star Alison Krauss, among others). Featuring 12 tunes, including songs by Ron Hynes, Tom Waits, Scotland’s Karine Polwart and Sinead Lohan, as well as traditional numbers arranged mostly by Allister, it will be in stores in Canada today.
'We stayed with Gordie Sampson and got a real glimpse of how they record in Nashville, which is still the heart and soul of music. We were so excited.'
Fiona says going over records with Sampson in Nashville last fall was like being at a Cape Breton party.
'We’ve jammed with him a lot, but this is the first time we’ve worked with him on a record and he’s amazing.'
Fiona picks Hynes’ soulful Atlantic Blue about the heartache that follows a death at sea as her favourite song on the album. 'I adore the song, it’s very Maritime and addresses a serious issue. As soon as I heard it, I knew we had to do it.'
Ciaran singles out Waits’ aching Georgia Lee, about a troubled, young girl found dead in a small grove of trees, with its haunting chorus 'Why wasn’t God watching, why wasn’t God listening, why wasn’t God there for Georgia Lee' as his favourite to have both recorded and to listen to.
'It’s a heart-wrenching song. I remember a lonely cello and a dark piano in the background and feeling tears in the back of my throat listening to it. I’m really proud of the way it turned out. It reminds me of The Briar and the Rose.'
The Briar and the Rose, another Waits tune, has become a signature of sorts for The Cottars. They stole the 2003 ECMA broadcast with a live performance of the song at Halifax Metro Centre and earned a Gemini nomination in the category of best performance in a variety program or series.
'I’ve always told people I think Tom Waits is one of the most important songwriters of the century. He writes about important issues, things groups would have second thoughts singing about,' says Ciaran.
'Both my father and I are huge Tom Waits’ fans, it’s something about the mix between his beautiful lyrics and melodies and gruff voice,' says Fiona, noting a few years ago the group would have been too young to record a song about so serious a subject, but it fits with their growing maturity.
While the teens may be growing up, they still have to take homework on the road.
Fiona is in Grade 11 at Riverview High and Ciaran in Grade 12, while Roseanne is in Grade 10 at Memorial High and Jimmy, who took last year off because of illness, is completing courses by correspondence.
They’ll be back home in February and will do their exams then. And wherever the group tour, members make it a point to take in the sights and visit museums, says Fiona, along with sampling the local delicacies.
'In Louisiana, we had crawdads and fried chicken. In Japan, we had raw liver.'