Natalie MacMaster, Donnell Leahy, and Family: Four on the Floor
Friday, November 7 - 7:30pm
Celtic superstars and power couple Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy are back on a world tour for the first time since their marriage in 2002. In the intervening years they raised seven children (all budding world-class musical talents), ran a fully operational farm, and built a thriving Farmers Market in Lakefield, Ontario—all while playing over 75 shows a year throughout North America.
Natalie MacMaster’s mother taught her to step dance at age 5. When she was 9 years old her great-uncle gave her a miniature violin, and she began to learn traditional fiddle tunes by ear. For three years she traveled to mainland Antigonish to study violin, and made her debut playing at Cape Breton square dances. At age 12 she toured the North American Celtic festival circuit. Two years later she performed at Expo 86 in Vancouver.
MacMaster’s traditional Cape Breton fiddling is based on a Scottish Highlands repertoire of 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century airs, strathspeys, marches, jigs, reels, and hornpipes. “It’s not a very common fiddle style,” says MacMaster. “The only place you can find it is on Cape Breton Island. In Scotland, they have lost that style. The Cape Breton style still has some rawness.” She occasionally layers the traditional music with her original contemporary stylings, explaining, “Some people will argue that this ruins the tradition, but it doesn’t really. It’s keeping the tradition alive, and who can argue with that?”
MacMaster has earned multiple gold albums and collaborated with musical peers from a range of genres. She has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana, and Alison Krauss, and performed with Don Henley, Béla Fleck, and Rhiannon Giddens. Her recognitions include Best Instrumental Album at the 1999 and 2000 Juno Awards, a 2000 Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk Music Album, Artist of the Year from the Canadian East Coast Music Association, and Fiddler of the Year from the Canadian Country Music Association. She played on the Grammy-winning Yo-Yo Ma and Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace (2008). She has appeared on numerous television shows on CBC, ABC, and PBS, and her image has been used in national advertising campaigns. Donnell Leahy was the incendiary musical leader of “Leahy,” a double Platinum–selling, festival-headlining, Ontario-based Celtic family group. He led his eight-piece band of siblings to more than a half-million worldwide CD sales. The group has performed across the globe and received Juno Awards for Best New Group, Best Country Group, and Best Instrumental Album.
In a 2019 interview he compared his fiddling technique with MacMaster’s: “Natalie has a lot of Cape Breton influences. I have more of Cape Breton, Irish, French and whatever-was-on-the-radio rock and country influences… When I play with Natalie, it’s not two Cape Breton fiddlers playing,” Leahy said. “We are both challenged to ‘keep up,’ shall we say.”
MacMaster has great admiration for Leahy’s artistry: “It is remarkable how he can play with this intense power, but maintain the sweetness and tone of the instrument. He’s absolutely precise and articulate—a must-see to believe.” In 2015 the couple documented their musical growth together in the album One, which was produced by Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd, Alice Cooper, Deep Purple) and Justin Cortelyou (Taylor Swift, Ke$ha, Alan Jackson).
The couple’s most recent recording together is Canvas (2023), which an Americana Highways reviewer praised as “fabulous … rich with powerful strings and potent spaces.” Another reviewer enjoyed the “pronounced Scottish flavors … along with jazzy flourishes and even a smidgen of rock ‘n’ roll energy driving certain numbers” (Deep Roots Magazine).” And from mxdwn.com: “The diversity of this album is remarkable…. [It is] full of top-class musicality and unpredictable turns.”
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