![]() Like any great marriage or artistic collaboration, MacMaster and Leahy have learned how to bring out the best in each other. And here I am now doing almost exactly the same thing. “I was so in awe of Donnell’s family,” says MacMaster, “of 11 siblings who could play and had a family band. They feel like a part of the tour and that provides amazing gratification.” Our kids are practicing and when they come out on stage and do their little number, it’s their reward. For me, the game was playing house parties. But you need to get into the game at some point. When I was a kid, I played the fiddle for my parents and my brothers and sisters. “But then one night we put Mary Frances on stage. We worried the expectations might be too much,” Leahy says. “Initially we were reluctant to let the kids perform. Guests include Rhiannon Giddens (“Woman of the House”), Yo-Yo Ma (“So You Love”) Brian Finnegan (“Colour Theory”)-and, on “Choo Choo,” their 17-year-old daughter Mary Frances Leahy.Īll seven of their children have become essential components of the live show, which sells out performing arts centres across North America-especially leading up to Christmas holidays. Rock, pop, Latin and classical influences come to the fore on the new material of mostly original melodies. With a few challenges along the way, it was a delight from beginning to end.” As Donnell often said, ‘Let the music decide.’ So, we indulged in full musical freedom, throwing patterns of the past aside. There were no restrictions, rules, agendas, considerations. Like an empty canvas, our minds were clear, open for the music that was about to flow. ![]() “One thing Donnell and I were given in 2020 was the space and time to be creative, to think and focus and find what was inside of us. “Creativity comes when there is space for it,” says MacMaster. They approached it not bound by easy patterns or habits, but as a blank canvas. A power couple was born.Ĭanvas is only their third album together. They were married in 2002, by which point their cumulative album sales topped one million. They are two of the world’s top Celtic fiddlers: she a renowned, award-winning solo artist from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia he from the legendary Leahy family of Ontario, an intergenerational musical act that toured the world. I have chosen one of my very favourite musicians to join me, Tim Edey, an absolute Jen of a player and person.A blank canvas is full of possibility - much like the partnership of Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy, whose new album Canvas comes out March 17, 2023. It is a moment during my 47th year of life, my 37th year of fiddling, my 16th year of marriage, my 13th year of parenting. It’ll be a moment of joyous appreciation inspired by years of parenting, marriage, life, friendships, and music. Natalie’s describes the artist direction of the project “I have something to say through my fiddle. Natalie returned to the studio in 2019 to record a solo LP which was co-produced by Donnell and featured the performances of Tim Edey. “It has carried me through my childhood, through my teens, my young adult life, my married life and now motherhood. “I’m continually amazed by what the fiddle has brought to my life,” MacMaster offers. They certainly couldn’t have imagined capping off what they jokingly refer to as their combined 83 years as performers with milestones including another hotly anticipated Christmas tour, an accompanying TV special, a pending third instalment of their Greenbridge Celtic Folk Fest, a recent Road Gold Award from the Canadian Independent Music Association, and last but certainly not least, the arrival of Maria, newest sib to Mary Frances, Michael, Clare, Julia, Alec and Sadie. 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. 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. 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.
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