Finnish fiddle powerhouse and founding member of the band Frigg, Esko Järvelä shares his journey from growing up in one of the most musical families in Finland to touring the world with Frigg, Baltic Crossing and Tsuumi Sound System.
More info and links at www.tradcafe.org/blog-1/2024/4/3/episode-69-esko-jrvel
In this special crossover episode, Cameron DeWhitt, the host of Old-Time music podcast Get Up In The Cool trades off the host and guest roles with Neil in between taking breaks to play tunes together. Listen to Cameron share some of their journey with the Old-Time clawhammer banjo while interviewing Neil about his background growing up in a family band playing Scottish and Cape Breton music. As always, more details and info can be found at tradcafe.org
Check out Get Up In The Cool wherever you get your podcasts and follow up with Cameron's projects at camerondewhitt.com
Fiddler, organizer, teacher and co-founder of Tune Supply-- you never know what Caitlin Warbelow will be up to next! In this episode Caitlin shares her unique musical journey growing up in Alaska before moving to New York. She talks about her relationship to music as a means of survival and shares some of the stories behind joining the broadway production of Come From Away and starting up the website Tune Supply to help traditional musicians during the pandemic lockdowns.
In a special edition of TradCafe Neil sits down with Sam Sadigursky and Nathan Koci to talk about their recent triple album release The Solomon Diaries and how their musical lives have let up to this collaboration. Featuring some clips from the new project as well as the usual live music collaborations. Check out the Solomon Diaries at bandcamp: https://samsadigursky.bandcamp.com/album/the-solomon-diaries-vol-i
One of the top mandolinists working today, Maddie Witler joins Neil for a conversation about music making, creativity and her experiences working in the bands Della Mae and The Lonely Heart String Band.
maddiewitler.com
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Iconic New England fiddler Becky Tracy shares her journey through fiddling and folk dancing including her years as a core member of two of the most important bands in New England traditional music, Nightingale and Wild Asparagus. More info and links at tradcafe.org
blackislemusic.com
rachelbellmusic.com
wildasparagus.com
Mandolinist Joe K. Walsh joins Neil to share thoughts and stories on community, identity and artistry in the bluegrass and new acoustic music worlds.
Opening music: Seneca Square Dance
Closing music: Verona (by Bill Frisell)
Alasdair White kicks off the new season with a wide ranging conversation about growing up on the Isle of Lewis, touring the world with the Battlefield Band, developing his unique fiddle style and more!
Opening Tunes: Keep the Country Bonnie Lassie, The White Houses of Shieldaig, Oran an Teine (Song of the Fire), Doctor MacPhail's Reel
Closing Tunes: Trip to Jordan Jig and Trip to Jordan Reel by Alasdair White
Alasdair's website: www.alasdairwhite.com
More info and links at www.tradcafe.org
The one and only Natalie MacMaster shares insights from her remarkable journey. From first learning how to open up to an audience to touring the world to raising a musical family, listen in as she shares why music is still such a central part of her life.
More info: www.natalieanddonnell.com
Brilliant Scottish multi-instrumentalist Anna Massie sits down with Neil in the middle of Celtic Connections to share her story growing up with traditional music in Scotland. Along the way she shares some of her strongest musical influences and tells the story of how she started playing with Blazin' Fiddles.
This episode features a legendary innovator in the world of contradance music. Mark Hellenberg is known for pushing the envelope with the role of percussion in this traditional music and dance scene and over the years he has worked with many of the top bands driving dance halls around the US. In this conversation he chats with Neil about his journey, variety of musical tastes and his perspective on experimenting without destroying the core traditional feel.
Tunes in this episode: Sweet Sue (opening) and Irishman's Heart to the Ladies (closing)
Janos (Jani) Lang is a Hungarian fiddler living in Glasgow and in this episode he shares a unique story of moving to Scotland to follow his love of Celtic music only to find himself tapping back into his roots playing Romanian, Hungarian and Roma music. He talks about the experience of immigrating to the UK and his current work with Ando Glaso, featuring traditional musicians from the local Roma community to build bridges between them and the mainstream Scottish culture.
Ando Glaso: https://www.andoglaso.org/
Dallahan: https://www.dallahanmusic.com/
Music in this episode: opening is a Romanian tune we learned from the Slovenian Fiddle Gang and the closing is a couple of tunes by Liz Carroll: Anne Lacey's and Sevens.
A pillar of the traditional music community of northern Vermont, Pete Sutherland is widely recognized across the US and beyond for his unique musical voice on fiddle, piano, banjo, song and as a songwriter. This conversation focuses in on Pete's work mentoring the next generation and his thoughts on tune and songwriting, but hits on many other subjects in the process. It was recorded at the Northeast Heritage Music Camp, partly in front of a live audience and completed later in the week at a spare moment.
Music in this episode: The Dying Californian (opening) and Rye Straw (closing)
Pete's current project: https://www.petesposse.com/
Fiddler, composer and one of the lead organizers of the Stringmania camp in Australia, Chris Stone chatted with Neil live in front of an audience at Alasdair Fraser's Sierra Fiddle Camp 2019. The conversation ranges from Chris' search for his musical voice to the traditional music scene in Australia to the work of building communities and cultures that are open to connection and understanding across social boundaries.
Music: And That’s Ok (Chris Stone) and A Song for All Seasons (Oliver Schroer)
Flynn Cohen has toured the world with major Irish music acts and been a mainstay in the Irish and Bluegrass music scenes of New England. In many ways his path is a classic example of a folk musician growing up in the wake of the folk revival. In other ways it is a study in contradictions. In this episode Flynn shares his path discovering acoustic music through Led Zeppelin, Irish music while studying in America and Bluegrass while studying in England.
Check out Flynn's new Irish Backup Guitar course here: https://pegheadnation.com/string-school/courses/irish-backup-guitar/
Flynn's Website: www.flynncohen.net
One of Scotland's top folk singers, Jim Malcolm is well known for both his original folk songs and his interpretations of great traditional Scots songs. He and Neil sat down backstage before a show in Boston to talk about his journey from aspiring rock star to being a key member of legendary folk band Old Blind Dogs to arrive finally at his solo show, which features his voice, musicality and humor front and center.
For more on Jim: www.jimmalcolm.com
Music in this episode is two songs by Jim: "The Road to New York" and "Lochanside" (based on the bagpipe tune by the same name)
One of the biggest names in Gaelic song today, Mary Jane Lamond can just as easily be found at a small Gaelic community event on Cape Breton, at an academic conference in Scotland or thrilling an audience of thousands at a folk festival somewhere around the world. She sat down with Neil to talk about her unconventional journey and her thoughts on practicing a traditional art in the 21st century.
Music: The Blue Mountains Lullaby (Jeff MacDonald and Brian O hEadhra) and a medley of traditional Puirt a Beul
Ruthie Dornfeld's fiddling has been a huge influence on dance musicians in New England and her native Northwest and her work with Scandinavian musicians over the years has seen her tour overseas extensively. Neil caught up with her at her home in Seattle to talk about her musical journey from her first experiences with the fiddle to current creative projects in the US, Denmark and Finland. Along the way she talks about following her ear to all kinds of musical projects like writing an album of music for the medieval fiddle and more.
A legend of American Old-Time music, Bruce Molsky shares his story and philosophy towards playing traditional folk music with reverence, respect, and personal expression. He talks about his story falling head over heels for American folk music and names some of his heroes and mentors in the Round Peak style that is one of the roots of his sound.
There's no better way to reach our 50th episode than with the third and final member of Väsen, legendary 12-string guitarist Roger Tallroth. Roger has developed his own style, sound and tuning for playing Swedish music on the 12-string guitar and has composed some of the most popular melodies played by fiddlers around the world, including Josephine's Waltz.
More info on Roger: http://tallroth.se/ and https://vasen.se
More info on this episode: www.tradcafe.org
Susan Watts is a brilliant trumpeter and singer who is also a fourth generation Klezmer musician and daughter of a legendary drummer who broke the paved the way for women in music. Neil caught up with Susan at her home in Philadelphia to chat about growing up in such a musical household, finding her voice on the trumpet and her ongoing work to promote women in Klezmer and female musicians in general.
Music in this episode: Der Freiling Zeisinke (Sweet Spring) off of her album Hartsklap and Shalom Aleichem, a traditional song that welcomes in Shabbat with a melody written in 1918 by Rabbi Israel Goldfarb.
The middle voice of Väsen, Mikael Marin brings a breadth of influences and musical influences to bear in his countermelodies and textures on the 5-string viola. In this wide ranging conversation he discusses the history of "second voice" playing in Swedish music, his own development as a classical and traditional musician and how a being passionate about your own specific culture and tradition can be common ground for connecting to traditional artists and cultures around the world.
Music: opening piece is Knust Av Sorgens Hammer (crushed by the hammer of grief) and the closing piece is a Polonesse sourced from historical archives.
More info: www.vasen.se as well as the album Sorpesoll and the archie at smus.se
Neil looks back on some of the great music created in the TradCafe episodes that came out in 2018 while looking forward to the next year of episodes. This episode features Allison DeGroot (Ep. 44), Don Roy (Ep. 34), Soo Yeon Lyuh (Ep. 45), Kevin Henderson (Ep. 37), Hadith Bani-Adam (Ep. 26), Brittany Haas (Ep. 41), Andrea Beaton (Ep. 36) and a short preview of the music from Mikael Marin's upcoming episode. For more information on each of these, head to TradCafe.org and look them up in the archive.
Orkney tuning, clawhammer guitar, zen banjo and everything in between. Steve Baughman is a master musician, entertainer and creative personality who is one of the most engaging performers you'll ever meet. In this episode, taped live at the Rocky Mountain Fiddle Camp, Steve tells Neil about exploring his love of music while travelling the world as the son of American expats and how all that time alone with his instrument has led him to develop his unique and beautiful musical style and technique.
Music: Rock the Cradle John (opening) and Leitrim Queen (closing)
Steve's website: www.celticguitar.com
Olov Johansson is perhaps the best known Nyckelharpa player in the world today. As one third of the Swedish power-trio Väsen he has toured the world as an ambassador for Nordic folk music for several decades now. He sat down with Neil to share his journey exploring traditional melodies and fresh collaborations all while building a unique and influential musical identity.
Olov's website: olovjohansson.se
Väsen: vasen.se