![]() The guitarist sang and played a 3/4 version of "Danny Boy" with Natalie accompanying at times. The bassist, who has an album of jazz standards, sang and led a respectable 3-piece combo version of "Autumn Leaves" which Natalie joined at the end. Natalie also let the band members showcase their own talents. At one point the band played by itself while Natalie replaced a popped string. Occasionally the band broke into smaller groups: duos, trios, even a solo piece by Natalie. She danced around a lot during the songs and in between talked a bit about Cape Breton fiddle traditions and history, as well as her own history (she started dancing at 5 and fiddling at 9). Sunday night Natalie, backed by a 4-piece band (drums, keyboard, acoustic & electric guitar, and bass) gave a high energy show at Seattle's annual Bumbershoot festival. If you like Celtic music at all, you are bound to enjoy this show. I picked up her latest disc ( My Roots Are Showing), which apparently focuses on more traditional elements of the Cape Breton style. She seemed in a particularly silly mood, which was fine with the sold out crowd. She's traveling with a great band that seem to really enjoy playing together, as well as step dancing and goofing around with her. I'd not seen her rush the audience before, for example.) (11/99, is a Cape Breton fiddler who is always a joy to watch and listen to. It's not that she's been shy the other times she just seemed more "up" and ready-perhaps it's the choreography. (I think this show was my 8th time seeing her live. ![]() I personally thought that she was more "up" on this tour than on previous ones. I think she's going for the crossover audience, just as her former school chum, Ashley MacIsaac, did. I found the drum solo amusing-was wondering what was happening, but I liked it as a segue to her big dance number with kicks and all. ![]() She danced to no music, then he starting drumming again. She started dancing as his solo wound down. :) (11/99, the Denver show, the drum solo led directly into Natalie's big dance number. She is also, as Meredith said, quite a goofball. She's a brilliant fiddle player, and when she was really going it was easy to more or less ignore the rest of the band. Having said all of that, Natalie herself rules. If you must add rock elements it would be nice of they were at least somewhat original and creative. Actually, what I found most annoying were the parts of the concert where the band would just go off on some cliche rock digression. The full drum kit pretty much bugged me constantly, but when the drummer actually did a full-fledged extended drum solo.aagh! When the guitarist was using his electric that didn't work very well either. (11/99, glad it wasn't just me, the purist, who found some of the rock elements annoying. That was really the only "rocking" element to the entire show that I thought was cool. The drum solo sounded like a reel if you paid attention. I'm still not moved to buy any of her albums, but it was good to see her play again. She's still one hell of a fiddler, though, and judging by her between-song banter and all the bouncing around she was doing while she was playing, she is indeed an incurable goofball. Last night there was plenty of that, but I wasn't as impressed as the last time-I think she's got too much rock stuff going on in her band now (full drum kit, electric guitar and bass, Hammond organ). ( JoAnn Whetsell) Comments about live performance: woj and I had seen her once before, at the Philadelphia Folk Festival a couple years ago, and she blew me away then with her goofy energy. I like the mix on this album enough to go look for her earlier and more traditional work. I was only introduced to her music through her most recent album, In My Hands, and I generally have a greater liking for more pop/rock influenced Celtic music than other ectophiles. Natalie co-wrote the lyrics to the song "In My Hands." General comments: I actually have all of her CDs except the latest one, and I highly recommend her more traditional efforts, especially A Compilation, which takes her first two tape-only albums and puts them on CD, and My Roots Are Showing. The Ectophiles' Guide entry for Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy Comparisons: Mary Jane Lamond? Ashley MacIsaac? Covers/own material: Traditional, traditional-based songs, and covers. The Ectophiles' Guide to Good Music - Natalie MacMaster This site too slow? Try a mirrorĬountry of origin: Canada Type of music generally: Violin-based traditional Celtic, folk/ pop/ rock Status: Most recent solo release, Cape Breton Girl (2011) See also: Natalie MacMaster's site ![]()
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