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Natalie MacMaster
fiddle

Hearing Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy speak reverentially about the fiddle, which has propelled their dazzling careers since childhood while cementing their status as Canada’s reigning couple of Celtic music, is almost as electrifying as hearing them play it.

Indeed, when MacMaster and Leahy married in 2002 — both were already stars in their own right — they could not have predicted their merger would recast what contemporary musical success looks like. Or that they would produce a large family and ensure their mantelpiece was jammed with JUNO and East Coast Music Awards while creating an inventory of achievements spanning the globe.

“I’m continually amazed by what the fiddle has brought to my life,” MacMaster offers. “It has carried me through my childhood, through my teens, my young adult life, my married life, and now motherhood. And I still love it as much as ever. Same with Donnell. It’s unexpected and awesome.”

Though MacMaster and Leahy followed different trajectories to this point — she a Cape Breton native who could step-dance before she could walk, he the oldest brother of acclaimed family group Leahy —  both have confidently crested the traditional music peak.

Their synergy was brilliantly showcased on the pair’s first recorded collaboration, 2015’s Bob Ezrin-produced album One, a crowning achievement complementing combined album sales of over one million; a CV listing cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bluegrass star Alison Krauss, and banjo ace Béla Fleck as past collaborators (and Shania Twain and The Chieftains as fans); plus a devoted audience stretching from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Sydney, Australia.

“The fiddle was definitely common ground for us when we first got together,” MacMaster, a Member of Order of Canada since 2006, recalls with a chuckle. “But I was so in awe of Donnell’s family, of 11 siblings who could play and had a family band. And here I am now doing almost exactly the same thing. Well, kind of.”

MacMaster is referring to her and Leahy’s seven gifted children, five of whom are often the showpiece of the MacMaster/Leahy live set though not because the couple necessarily envision showbiz careers for the kids, who performed (actually knocked ‘em dead) on German TV variety show Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel.

Rather, the pair realized early on that being on the road without their kids was infinitely harder than touring with them. That the children were already being home-schooled (MacMaster has a teaching degree) made enacting that decision easier.

“Initially we were reluctant to let the kids perform. We worried the expectations might be too much,” Leahy says. “But then one night we put Mary Frances on stage. Soon after that Michael wanted to play. And you must reward practice.”

And there’s always room for more music. Ergo, the couple’s launch in 2017 of the successful Greenbridge Celtic Folk Fest, which, for an August weekend each year, transforms the bucolic agricultural hub of Keene, Ontario, into a foot-stomping, fist-pumping, string-shredding Celtic ceilidh.

“We’ve been talking about the kinds of shows we can do since we got married. We finally decided to start something in our backyard,” says MacMaster, who with Leahy both headlines and curates the Fest. “Plus, we wanted to bring this multi-generational, big-picture celebration of this music to an environment that would really appreciate it. The reception so far has surpassed all our expectations.”

MacMaster continues: “I started playing the fiddle when I was nine, and I never intended to make a career out of it, mostly because I didn’t think it was possible. Even the most adored fiddlers in Cape Breton had day jobs. And yet here I am.

“This whole thing — first playing music by myself, then playing music with Donnell, then touring with Donnell and the children and all of us playing music together — has evolved in a very natural way. We feel incredibly lucky to be together as a family and to be letting our children develop their musical talent.”

Adds Leahy, “The only downside is that we can’t do all we’re asked to do and might like to do in other circumstances because we are parents first. You think about touring Australia and Ireland and The Netherlands, where we’ve been invited to play. But then you remember the kids’ math homework has to get done!”

All because of fiddles. Unexpected and awesome indeed.

Find Natalie on social media!

natalieanddonnell.com
Natalie MacMaster
@NatMacMaster
 @nataliemacmaster_donnellleahy

Natalie MacMaster
fiddle

Hearing Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy speak reverentially about the fiddle, which has propelled their dazzling careers since childhood while cementing their status as Canada’s reigning couple of Celtic music, is almost as electrifying as hearing them play it.

Indeed, when MacMaster and Leahy married in 2002 — both were already stars in their own right — they could not have predicted their merger would recast what contemporary musical success looks like. Or that they would produce a large family and ensure their mantelpiece was jammed with JUNO and East Coast Music Awards while creating an inventory of achievements spanning the globe.

“I’m continually amazed by what the fiddle has brought to my life,” MacMaster offers. “It has carried me through my childhood, through my teens, my young adult life, my married life, and now motherhood. And I still love it as much as ever. Same with Donnell. It’s unexpected and awesome.”

Though MacMaster and Leahy followed different trajectories to this point — she a Cape Breton native who could step-dance before she could walk, he the oldest brother of acclaimed family group Leahy —  both have confidently crested the traditional music peak.

Their synergy was brilliantly showcased on the pair’s first recorded collaboration, 2015’s Bob Ezrin-produced album One, a crowning achievement complementing combined album sales of over one million; a CV listing cellist Yo-Yo Ma, bluegrass star Alison Krauss, and banjo ace Béla Fleck as past collaborators (and Shania Twain and The Chieftains as fans); plus a devoted audience stretching from Sydney, Nova Scotia, to Sydney, Australia.

“The fiddle was definitely common ground for us when we first got together,” MacMaster, a Member of Order of Canada since 2006, recalls with a chuckle. “But I was so in awe of Donnell’s family, of 11 siblings who could play and had a family band. And here I am now doing almost exactly the same thing. Well, kind of.”

MacMaster is referring to her and Leahy’s seven gifted children, five of whom are often the showpiece of the MacMaster/Leahy live set though not because the couple necessarily envision showbiz careers for the kids, who performed (actually knocked ‘em dead) on German TV variety show Willkommen bei Carmen Nebel.

Rather, the pair realized early on that being on the road without their kids was infinitely harder than touring with them. That the children were already being home-schooled (MacMaster has a teaching degree) made enacting that decision easier.

“Initially we were reluctant to let the kids perform. We worried the expectations might be too much,” Leahy says. “But then one night we put Mary Frances on stage. Soon after that Michael wanted to play. And you must reward practice.”

And there’s always room for more music. Ergo, the couple’s launch in 2017 of the successful Greenbridge Celtic Folk Fest, which, for an August weekend each year, transforms the bucolic agricultural hub of Keene, Ontario, into a foot-stomping, fist-pumping, string-shredding Celtic ceilidh.

“We’ve been talking about the kinds of shows we can do since we got married. We finally decided to start something in our backyard,” says MacMaster, who with Leahy both headlines and curates the Fest. “Plus, we wanted to bring this multi-generational, big-picture celebration of this music to an environment that would really appreciate it. The reception so far has surpassed all our expectations.”

MacMaster continues: “I started playing the fiddle when I was nine, and I never intended to make a career out of it, mostly because I didn’t think it was possible. Even the most adored fiddlers in Cape Breton had day jobs. And yet here I am.

“This whole thing — first playing music by myself, then playing music with Donnell, then touring with Donnell and the children and all of us playing music together — has evolved in a very natural way. We feel incredibly lucky to be together as a family and to be letting our children develop their musical talent.”

Adds Leahy, “The only downside is that we can’t do all we’re asked to do and might like to do in other circumstances because we are parents first. You think about touring Australia and Ireland and The Netherlands, where we’ve been invited to play. But then you remember the kids’ math homework has to get done!”

All because of fiddles. Unexpected and awesome indeed.

Find Natalie on social media!

natalieanddonnell.com
Natalie MacMaster
@NatMacMaster
 @nataliemacmaster_donnellleahy