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24:
Audio
Interview with Natalie on "Roots Music Today" Wisconsin Public
Radio ......................................................................................................................................... |
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November
13, 2002 Traditional Scottish music is so intertwined with life in Cape Breton, the part of Canada where MacMaster grew up, that you can't escape its influence, she said. "If you had ever been to Cape Breton," she said, "you would understand". Traditional Scottish music was a part of her immediate family, extended family and the entire community. "I was just sort of born into it," she said. "I was singing the old songs when I was 4, started dancing when I was 5, and I started fiddling when I was 9." For MacMaster, the dancing and fiddling came together naturally. "You can pretty much guarantee that every person (from Cape Breton) can do some sort of steps," she said. "I don't know why it's so strong there," she said. "It's more Scottish than Scottish music." While some traditional Scottish music has been influenced by classical music, the Scottish music of Cape Breton has not. "Nothing is strong enough to change it. People just love it the way it is." And some of the people who respond most enthusiastically to it live in the United States, she said. Though they might not be as educated about traditional music as their neighbors to the north, Americans respond emotionally to the music, MacMaster said. "Ignorance is bliss. Our best crowds are in the States, and I think that's because they hear something they haven't heard before. They don't understand it intellectually, but they understand it emotionally. As long as you feel it," she said, "that's all the understanding you need". While MacMaster does fiddle and dance at the same time, she doesn't dance all night long. "I do move around, and I feel the music with my whole body. Dancing and fiddling at the same time, it looks like it's very difficult, but it's just a thing you have to practice. As long as you concentrate," she said, "you can pull it off. If you concentrate on playing music well, dancing is second. People will hear the mistake in the music; they won't necessarily see the mistake in the dancing." MacMaster said she is committed to performing Cape Breton music for the rest of her life. "I always knew that I would be playing and that I would get a bit of income from that. I never imagined it would be my career. I was 20 before I realized this is all I'm going to be doing. Even when I went to teachers college, I wanted to continue the fiddling," she said. So when she tires of fiddling, will she fall back on teaching? "I don't think there's any chance at all of that happening," she said. .............................................................................................................................................. November
7, 2002
It wasn't her biggest audience, though. It consisted mainly of one person—Inez Rowell—and maybe some folks in the adjoining apartments who could hear through the walls. MacMaster was in Randolph to perform a sold-out concert before 600 wildly cheering fans at Chandler Music Hall. Two years ago, at an earlier Chandler concert, Inez Rowell was among the cheering throng, and she made a point of catching her show last year in Burlington. She's a true fan. This year, however, she couldn't make Natalie's concert. "My mother's been very sick lately," explained Janet Rowell this week. "In and out of the hospital since August, mostly in. She just got out again on Friday." Flash back to Chandler Music Hall, where Natalie was being interviewed by Reader's Digest Magazine. Afterwards, she fell into conversation with Jack Rowell, who has three photographs of her in the jacket of MacMaster's latest CD. Jack asked for an autograph for his mother, mentioned that she was a fan but couldn't make the concert. "Well, where does she live?" the fiddling phenom asked. Just up the street, said Jack. MacMaster quickly grabbed her bass player, John Chiasson, loaded into Jack's car and headed for the Red Lion Inn. "Jack called me and told me that Natalie was coming to play for me," Inez Rowell recalled this week. Her response was predictable: "Yeah - sure she is." But indeed she was. "I brought my fiddle," she told Inez when she entered the cozy apartment. She quickly got it out and played about five songs. She didn't do her patented step-dancing, but her feet "were never still," Inez recounted. "The people below me must have wondered what was going on!" "It was just very nice of her," she marveled. "That visit was the greatest therapy or medicine my mother could have received," said her daughter Janet. In return, Natalie received one of the knitted hats that Inez makes, and she put it on for another photograph. You can bet it looked good on her. .............................................................................................................................................. October
06, 2002
Breathtaking in her strapless gown and clutching a bouquet of red roses, Nova Scotia's most celebrated fiddler stepped quickly past a windswept gathering of well-wishers and reporters into the historic Stella Maris church in Creignish just up the road from her childhood home of Troy. About 250 guests packed the candlelit church, and many had travelled from the Lakefield, Ont., headquarters of the internationally acclaimed Leahy clan. MacMaster's marriage to fellow fiddling sensation Donnell Leahy unites two famous musical families, and relatives of the bride and groom handled much of the music at the traditional Roman Catholic ceremony. Joining the bride's uncle Buddy MacMaster, her Beaton kin and famous U.S. fiddler Mark O'Connor were Leahy sisters Erin, Maria and Jennifer, along with many other local musicians. "We had a party a couple of nights ago, the first meeting of the two families for some of them that hadn't met yet," MacMaster told reporters after the ceremony. "It was just amazing how the two families are very similar," she said. "Both crazy!" interjected Leahy, who still seemed a bit flustered by all the commotion. "Yeah, both crazy," giggled MacMaster, 30. "Full of music and just, you know, a very seamless blend. It was beautiful." When asked to kiss for the cameras, her handsome new hubby balked at first. "Oh, we'll save that for later, won't we? I had to do it once. I'm shy!" he protested. But he complied, giving his bride a fast smooch while the lightbulbs flashed. Leahy grew up with 10 siblings on a farm settled by Irish ancestors in 1825. Their father taught the brood to play fiddle, while his Cape Breton mother Julie passed on her singing and stepdancing skills. The family band exploded onto the Celtic music scene in 1997 with its hit song The Call to Dance, and went on to win Junos, crack the Billboard world music charts and tour with Shania Twain. It's a fairy-tale match for the vivacious MacMaster, whose hard work and talent have earned her two Junos, 11 ECMAs and last year's Grammy nomination. The hard-touring couple plans to live in Lakefield, near Peterborough, Ont., but plan to eventually build a second home in Cape Breton, said MacMaster. Above Photo: Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy leave the Stella Maris church in Creignish, N.S. Saturday. The Cape Breton fiddling star walked down the aisle of Stella Maris Church to marry another fiddler, Donnell Leahy, front man of the band Leahy. (CP/Halifax Daily News-Darrell Oake) .............................................................................................................................................. September
4, 2002 The affable East Coast fiddling talent has not only changed her management after eight years, but she's also changing her address. "I'm moving to Ontario," says MacMaster, now engaged to long-time boyfriend Donnell Leahy, frontman of the family Celtic group, Leahy. Though miles away from her native Cape Breton, the singer-musician says she is looking forward to making the move westward. "I'm not scared at all," she says. It's not like MacMaster is at home much as it is. Once declared the hardest-working woman in Canadian music for being on the road almost 250 days a year, she has cut down her road time to a busy, yet manageable 150 days. "It makes a huge difference," says MacMaster, who will perform at the Jack Singer Concert Hall with the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra on Sept. 10. "This summer was really good. We basically just worked weekends." Last year, MacMaster won a CCMA for outstanding roots music artist and is nominated in the same category this year. Although flattered, MacMaster doesn't want to focus all her energy on it. "I try not to put too much emphasis on awards, because then you set yourself up for disappointment," she says. "But it's a great bonus." MacMaster's latest release, the two-disc Natalie MacMaster Live, was released in May. .............................................................................................................................................. July
2002
The Whycocomagh concert, marking the close of the Whycocomagh Summer Festival, was touch and go for organizers. On
Sunday morning, as Burton MacIntyre came in from church, his phone was
ringing. It was Natalie MacMaster. "Are you sitting down,
Burton?" she asked him, before going on to explain that her flight
out of Philadelphia had been turned back because of mechanical
difficulties, and she doubted if she could get to Whycocomagh in time to
perform. .............................................................................................................................................. July
18, 2002 Whycocomagh - Cape Breton fiddling sensation Natalie MacMaster will take to the stage this Sunday to close out the 30th annual Whycocomagh Summer Festival. The Grammy-nominated native of Troy will share the stage with Inverness County's Celtic Crew, a group of teenage musicians who also accompanied Raylene Rankin for her hometown show in Mabou late last month. Festival organizer Burton MacIntyre said the presence of the two acts together in this year's lineup is no coincidence. "We thought this would be a good way to celebrate 30 years," said MacIntyre, who's been the festival's head organizer since its inception. "We thought it would make a nice treat for festival-goers to see Natalie and these young musicians performing together," he said. "One of the area's biggest musical stars, and some kids who may very well be among the next stars the area will produce. "Also, we wanted (someone with) a strong history within the festival itself. Natalie has played here, as part of the summer festival, many times ... right back to when she was just a kid. Her uncle Buddy was one of the performers at the first festival 30 years ago." MacMaster said her decision to play this year's closing concert had much to do with the fact that this will be the last festival organized by MacIntyre, who wants to open the door for "new blood and new ideas." "He's a fine person and he's always been good to me," MacMaster said. "I have a lot of great memories from performing there, and that has a lot to do with him. I admire and respect him for what he's done for the community, and I'm happy to support him and the festival this year." The Natalie MacMaster and Celtic Crew concert begins at 7:30 pm. Sunday at the Whycocomagh Education Centre. Admission is $15. The Celtic Crew includes young musicians Calum MacKenzie, Shonneth MacInnis, Rankin MacInnis, Tara Rankin, Kimberly Gillis, Stephanie MacDonald, Kerri-Jeanne MacLellan, Margie Beaton and Molly Rankin.Though the Whycocomagh Summer Festival began this past Saturday with an opening concert featuring the Men of the Deeps, there's still lots in store for music lovers. .............................................................................................................................................. June
3, 2002 You know her. You love her. She's the queen of the fiddle and can dance a mean jig step. What more could you want in a bonny blond lassie? Natalie MacMaster took time out of her busy recording and touring schedule (she's promoting a new album, Natalie MacMaster Live) to talk to me about Michael Jackson, Swiss army watches, and the demise of paper mills. I even got to personally congratulate her on her recent engagement to Leahy dancer, Donnell. Where
are you right now? What
are your current fixations? Name
your favourite cause to rally behind. What's
your favourite song of all time? And
your favourite book? What
has given you the most inspiration during the last 24 hours? Which
traits do you like and dislike most about yourself? When
you think of Atlantic Canada you think of... Name
your career highs and lows. If
you weren't a musician, what would you be? Where
is your favourite place in the world. What's
the last thing you bought. Tell
me about a hometown issue you'd most like to see resolved. What's
the best thing about being a Maritimer? On
whom do you depend most and why? Carla Gillis is a freelance writer and musician living in Halifax, Nova Scotia. She writes regularly for Halifax's weekly newspaper, The Coast, including a musician's advice column in Reverb, and often succumbs to the lure of dark bars, squishy vans, and Canadian highways. .............................................................................................................................................. May
31, 2002 The
two-time Juno winner and Grammy nominee has been busy lately. She
released a new double CD called Natalie MacMaster Live in early May and
was recently engaged to fellow fiddler Donnell Leahy, who, with his
eight brothers and sisters, make up the group Leahy. "They were definitely big nights for us and we could feel it," she said. "The
spirit and the energy is obvious, which is a hard thing to get in the
studio, but it happens naturally on stage." .............................................................................................................................................. May
29, 2002 Double Juno-winning fiddle star Natalie MacMaster is expected to arrive in London for a Friday night concert shining a little brighter than usual. These days, MacMaster is sporting a sparkling diamond ring on her left hand. That follows the recent announcement of her engagement to Donnell Leahy, a fellow fiddler and frontman of the Canadian Celtic-flavoured group Leahy. But other than saying she couldn't imagine a better person to marry, MacMaster has not been supplying much information about the impending nuptials. "If you don't mind," she says apologetically, "we'd like to keep the personal and business separate. This is the biggest event in my life. It's very dear to me and him and we just want to keep this for us. Let me just tell you though, that everything is great and beautiful!" No wedding date has been announced, but MacMaster has posted a notice on her Web site thanking her fans for their kind words following the announcement. "One of these days, we're going to sit down and talk this through," she says of setting a date when both performers' schedules are assessed. MacMaster plays Centennial Hall on Friday night in a benefit for the Children's Hospital of Western Ontario Foundation. She is touring to support her new two-CD set simply called Live. The first disc was recorded in concert at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, the second at a square dance at Glencoe Mills Hall in Cape Breton. The benefit concert kicks off a "Celebration Weekend," including free, outdoor events on the hospital grounds and a telethon. "This is our largest event to celebrate fundraising achievements . . . the miracle of children . . . and to continue to raise money for child health care and research," says Deb Comuzzi, executive director of the hospital foundation. Hours at the hospital grounds are Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The outdoor events at the celebration site -- the southeast corner of Commissioners and Wellington roads -- include free performances by Canadian children's entertainers, the St. Willibrord Teddy Bear hospital for ailing stuffed toy animals, science exhibitions and more. Saturday, at noon, Molly the doll and Loonette the clown from The Big Comfy Couch show are on hand. On Sunday, at 2 p.m., it's singer and multi-instrumentalist Eric Nagler, the Shelburne children's entertainer. Nagler's parents wanted him to be a doctor, but at 14, he taught himself how to play the banjo after he heard a friend's brother on the instrument. "My heart was too filled with banjo music for me to concentrate very well on biology," Nagler says. Meanwhile, the telethon airs, as it has for all previous 16 years, on the NewPL. The 17th edition of the telethon goes on Saturday (6:30 p.m. to 11 p.m.) and Sunday (noon to 6:30 p.m.) .............................................................................................................................................. May
11, 2002 Donnell
Leahy's going to do just fine fitting in to Nova Scotia. Though his
style of fiddling isn't quite what we're used to here, he'll get the
hang of it with fiance Natalie MacMaster's guidance. .............................................................................................................................................. May
9, 2002 What's
round and metallic and shiny and makes Natalie MacMaster very excited? Somehow,
everything clicked on that night in Mississauga - the right room, the
band was on fire, MacMaster was caught up in the music - in order for
the notorious perfectionist to change her mind. "The
recording from the TV show didn't have the same ambience," she
explains. "It sounded better, the quality of the instruments was
better, but it didn't have the same feel. The one from '97 was recorded
quickly, just two mics, but the difference was night and day for me. .............................................................................................................................................. May
09, 2002 It's
a whirlwind with Natalie MacMaster in the centre. Amidst constant
touring and preparations for her new double album, the vivacious young
fiddler quietly got engaged last weekend in Cape Breton. .............................................................................................................................................. May
7, 2002 It's a match made in Celtic music heaven. Cape Breton's Queen of the Fiddle, Natalie MacMaster, is engaged to be married to fellow fiddler Donnell Leahy, frontman of the internationally-acclaimed family band Leahy. The news came in a press release from MacMaster's management company, ABC Entertainment, late Monday afternoon. MacMaster, 29, and Leahy, 33, were engaged on the weekend while visiting MacMaster's family in Troy, Inverness Co. "They have known each other for over 10 years and have been seeing each other for some time," said the release. "Both families are very thrilled and very excited." No wedding date has been set. Leahy, a group of nine brothers and sisters from Lakefield, Ont., burst onto the Canadian music scene in 1997 with the release of their self-titled CD, which achieved platinum status in Canada, reached No. 4 on the Billboard world music charts and earned the group two Juno Awards. Their mother, Julia, was born and raised in Cape Breton and they still have family here. MacMaster wasn't available for comment Monday but she spoke to the Cape Breton Post last week about the upcoming release of her first live album, Natalie MacMaster Live. "I always said I'd never release a live album," she said from Toronto, before heading to Troy and the home of her parents, Minnie and Alex. "People have certainly requested it over the years but I never thought I could do it and have it sound good." MacMaster changed her tune last July, when she watched the footage from her performance at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga, Ont. The show was the basis for an hour-long CBC-TV special, My Roots Are Showing, which aired in December. "When I saw that footage, I thought 'Wow, I'm really liking the sound of this,'" she said. "The band played really, really well and it just sounded great." The innovative and instrumentally-diverse material from the show became disc one of Natalie MacMaster Live, which hits record stores next Tuesday. Disc two is purely traditional, featuring several tunes recorded at a 1997 square dance in Glencoe Mills, Inverness Co. "I have two worlds to satisfy," MacMaster noted, referencing her mainstream and traditional fans. "I thought people from home would really appreciate (the Glencoe dance)." MacMaster hopes the double CD captures the essence of her live performances. "The spirit and energy is obvious," she said. "And that's one hard thing to get in the studio. It happens naturally on stage because you only get one crack at it." Coincidentally, the day Natalie MacMaster Live is released to the public, she will begin working on her next studio album in Nashville, Tenn. The project will be produced by Darol Anger, a fiddler MacMaster met about eight years ago while teaching at Mark O'Connor's fiddle camp in the U.S. And despite what you may have heard, it is not going to be a bluegrass album. "That was in the papers; I'm not sure where it came from," MacMaster said. "It'll be me, playing my stuff, traditional stuff." The unique twist will come via the arrangements, the instruments and the musicians, including session players from the Nashville area and at least a couple of players from Cape Breton. MacMaster is a longtime supporter of the Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace, one of the country's leading international development agencies. Recently, she took on another cause, when she became celebrity spokesperson for the Children's Miracle Network, an international non-profit organization dedicated to helping children by raising funds and awareness for children's hospitals. She gets many requests from organizations looking for her help, but admitted, "you just can't do everything you'd like to do." "The Miracle Network is such a great organization. They do so much good work and they've saved so many children's lives by buying medical equipment for hospitals." Not long ago, MacMaster spent a weekend at Disney World in Florida with a dozen children who have benefited from the network's help. "It was just so wonderful for me to meet kids who have been helped," she said. "You feel so lucky as an entertainer . . . to be able to help people is a real blessing." MacMaster has scaled down her touring schedule over the last few years, from 250 dates four years ago to 150 this year. "I can feel the difference," she said. "It's more comfortable. But I could still cut a few more out." And with a wedding in her future, she just might. .............................................................................................................................................. April
11, 2002 Dancing and playing the violin at the same time is an unusual combination, but Natalie MacMaster is likely to demonstrate both her nimble fingers and fast feet at the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts Sunday. MacMaster
has taken traditional Celtic fiddle playing and added a pop sensibility
-- some of her tunes include keyboards and rock drum sets. ..............................................................................................................................................
During
Natalie MacMaster's sold-out show Friday night at the Atwood Concert
Hall, the fiddle wizard warned that a fight would break out soon after
the start of intermission. The reason? The mad dash down to the table to
buy CDs. Though MacMaster was only joking, she was right. Not about the
fight but about the audience's fervor to get a souvenir of the evening's
entertainment. Locals
got an extra treat when Anchorage grown Owen Barrington came out to do a
little step dancing in "To the Kitchen." Not to be outdone,
MacMaster was no slouch herself in the foot frenzy. She bounced and
twirled her way around the stage, and for the finale, slid through a
retro-style moonwalk. .............................................................................................................................................. April
5, 2002 You
will see her striking image on nearly every other page of the official
Nova Scotia tour guide. Across Canada, you will see her in television
commercials for Tim Horton's donuts and General Motors Pontiac. .............................................................................................................................................. April
5, 2002 Get
the toes tapping. You might find yourself dancing in the aisles. .............................................................................................................................................. February
6, 2002
"First, I would like to thank Great Big Sea for not being in it," she said, her joke alluding to the fact that the Newfoundland band had held the title of top entertainer for five consecutive years before declining a nomination in 2000. In thanking her band, fans and God, she pointed out that the award is important because she loves to entertain people. "I love entertaining. I love it so much! The music tonight makes me feel so good inside. If I can reciprocate that by playing for you, I'm glad." Following her presentation, MacMaster told reporters that she had been nominated for Entertainer of the Year seven times. During that time, she accumulated a variety of ECMA pewter notes, but it wasn't until this year that the elusive Entertainer of the Year award joined her growing collection. Asked what was the highlight of the past year, MacMaster was unable to give a definitive answer. She remarked that her tour with Jesse Cook was certainly important, but so was her tour with the Chieftains and a number of other things that are happening to her professionally. Among those professional accomplishments was a nomination last year for a Grammy Award. Asked by one reporter if the East Coast awards were losing their lustre when she is attracting so much national and international attention, MacMaster was firm in her appreciation of east coast music and its tributes. "I was just as nervous waiting for this announcement as I was down in Los Angeles waiting for the Grammy announcement," she said. Reflecting on the changes that have seen the ECMAs grow over the past decade from a ceremony held in a bar to a nationally televised showcase of East Coast talent, MacMaster said that a lot of good things have happened to her over the past eleven years as an east coast musician, leading her to remark, "I love my life." .............................................................................................................................................. February
4, 2002
And the coveted entertainer of the year award went to Troy fiddler Natalie MacMaster. Guthro won male artist of the year, pop artist of the year and album of the year for his self-titled CD. The Sydney Mines singer grinned as he talked backstage at the Harbour Station arena in Saint John. "I've had a great year so far and it just keeps getting better," he said. "I know some people were thinking 'He's had his turn' after I got five ECMAs in St. John's, but I hope I don't stop getting my turn." Rankin's hat trick was for country artist of the year and single of the year and SOCAN songwriter of the year for Followed Her Around, co-written with fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson. "It's good to be back," said the former Rankin Family member, who thanked his wife Mia, EMI Music Canada and producer Tim Thorney on his first trip to the podium. "This means a lot since (the CD Song Dog) is my first solo record, but really I was just happy being nominated. Mostly I'm just having a fun weekend, playing a lot and seeing people I haven't seen in a while." It's the third year in a row that Sampson has picked up the SOCAN award. Asked when he'd get around to releasing a follow up to his solo debut Stones, Sampson was coy... "Sometime between now and the Second Coming of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," Sampson said with a laugh. He's collaborating with Newfoundland divas Kim Stockwood and Damhnait Doyle. MacMaster, whose entertainer of the year award is the only one selected by the public - was obviously thrilled. "It doesn't matter who gets chosen for this, whether it's me or the Fables or anybody," said MacMaster, whose win breaks a string of Newfoundland acts picking up the prize, including the Fables and Great Big Sea. "You're chosen because people can tell when you genuinely love making music, they pick up on it . . . and I still love making music." MacMaster opened up the nationally televised awards show as part of an East Coast supergroup featuring P.E.I.'s Celtitude, Halifax pop band Mir and members of Charlottetown's Jive Kings. From just across the causeway in Antigonish, first-time nominee fiddler Kendra MacGillivray picked up two awards, for female artist and instrumental artist of the year, for her vibrant playing on the Over the Waves CD. Halifax-based pop band Crush, signed this week to Warner Music Canada, saw its fortunes rise even further by winning two awards. Led by Newfoundland-born singers Paul Lamb and Cory Tetford, the quartet earned rock group and new artist of the year, putting the icing on the proverbial cake of an eventful week. "The icing tastes real sweet," Tetford said backstage, smiling as he held up the $5,000 cheque from Galaxie that accompanies the new artist prize. "Awards are great, but we go back to work on Monday. We're back on the road by Tuesday, but it's a great job." Another group of Newfoundlanders, the Ennis Sisters, were signed to Warners last year, and the investment paid off with their successful self-titled major label debut and a group of the year award Sunday night. "The ECMAs was the start of it all in Halifax," said Teresa Ennis, dressed in a red bustier her sister Maureen jokingly referred to as "her Christina Aguilera outfit." "It was where we were first discovered and it encouraged us to continue making music," added Teresa, referring to the days leading up to the awards show as "just like Christmas Eve." African Nova Scotian performers had a strong showing at the awards, with Halifax's Hallelujah Praise Choir receiving the gospel artist of the year award, Halifax jazz and gospel singer Linda Carvery getting the nod in the jazz artist category and guitarist Harvey Millar sharing the urban recording award with rapper Shy Luv for their collaboration Hip Bopping. "I'd like to thank the ECMAs for allowing us to have a voice in the industry," said Millar, who is also a business professor at Saint Mary's University. "Now it's up to record labels to pay attention to what we're doing and help us spread the music across the country." Other Nova Scotia winners included Cape Breton's Mary Jane Lamond for roots traditional solo artist, Halifax act Sons of Maxwell for roots traditional group and Halifax pop rock bands Sloan for video of the year and the Jimmy Swift Band for alternative artist of the year. The deeply personal collaboration between Rawlins Cross piper Ian McKinnon, conductor Scott Macmillan and Symphony Nova Scotia - MacKinnon's Brook Suite - was honoured with Classical Recording of the year. The Eastern Shore's Birchmountain Bluegrass Band won its second straight bluegrass artist of the year award, capping an eventful weekend in which the quintet played for thousands in Market Square and the members' fathers - the Boutilier Brothers - were honoured with Stompin' Tom Awards as East Coast music pioneers. Birchmountain also performed on the live broadcast, which saw the ECMAs attempt to branch out by featuring a wide range of up-and-coming artists: Halifax rockers Joel Plaskett Emergency and Jimmy Swift Band, Newfoundland's Rasa and Colleen Power and Moncton's Chris Colepaugh and the Cosmic Crew. Bette MacDonald opened the show dressed in a bathrobe, delivering a saucy monologue that made New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord blush. She bemoaned the show's early start time. "For most of the people backstage, 6 p.m. is the wake-up call," she said. "Actually, the real reason for starting at six is because Sam Sniderman is here and he has to catch the show, have a bath and be in bed by 8:15." .............................................................................................................................................. OLDER PRESS: 2001 | 2000 | 1999 | Current Press Also visit the Multimedia page for audio & video clips of live performances and interviews
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Fiddling
sensation Natalie MacMaster has spun her Cape Breton reels all over the
world, but never has she had a more appreciative audience than she did
Sunday afternoon in Apartment 306 at the Red Lion Inn in Randolph.
CREIGNISH,
N.S. - Blustery winds and brooding Cape Breton skies didn't stop Natalie
MacMaster from beaming with joy on her way into church Saturday.
Between
her Saturday night concert in Philadelphia and the Argos football game
in Toronto where she was scheduled to play, she barely had time for a
quick cup of tea and a ceilidh with a few friends in Whycocomagh before
packing up her fiddle and heading for Halifax to catch a flight to
Toronto. 
