![]() MacMaster said she and Leahy sometimes bring their kids up on stage to perform with them. MacMaster is the niece of the late renowned Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster and the cousin of two other famous fiddlers, Ashley MacIsaac and Andrea Beaton.ĭonnell Leahy is also part of a fiddling family - eight of his 11 siblings make up the Juno award-winning folk group Leahy, and have been touring Canada and internationally since the early 1980s. The older kids are even becoming fiddlers in their own right, something that's not surprising, given their pedigree on both sides. Often, though, the kids tag along with mom and dad on gigs. “After two months of consideration, we decided it was right to do. “Donnell and I thought long and hard, and we prayed a lot about making this decision,” she said. “Awful, it is awful,” MacMaster said, but is quick to point Leahy is “amazing” with the kids, and that makes her feel better. They're at home in Lakefield, Ont., with Leahy while MacMaster tours with Reid across Canada for two months, something she said is a wrench. Together, the couple have six children aged one to 10 years old. We've learned how to write so it accentuates both our qualities.” Especially when we write music together, it's a whole life in itself. I'm so thrilled with this unique blend that we have. “We just kind of had to learn how to make our music sound good, and how to make it so it's honest to our individuality,” MacMaster said. She said when the couple first started playing together, it was difficult because they have such different styles, and would cover up each other's nuances. ![]() Last year, the couple released "One," their first album together. She often performs with her husband of 14 years, and fellow fiddler, Donnell Leahy, of the folk group Leahy. MacMaster is quite used to fronting her own concerts. I'm honoured and delighted, and love my little segment within his show, and encourage everybody to check this show out.” “He's an amazing entertainer,” said MacMaster, who will perform her own segment during the show, as well as accompany Reid. The 43-year-old Cape Breton, Nova Scotia native said she's thrilled to be tagging along as part of gravelly voiced, blue-eyed soul singer Johnny Reid's latest tour for his latest release, "What Love Is All About." Because her music and Reid's are so different, she said, they complement each other nicely. She appears in concert with her husband in Sarnia April 1 and in Chatham May 12.Fiddler Natalie MacMaster may be a Juno award-winner and a member of the Order of Canada, but when she visits Sudbury March 10, she'll be playing second fiddle. March 19, in London March 20, Toronto March 21, Peterborough March 22, Kingston March 24 and Ottawa March 26. I just love it.”įor tour dates visit and look for MacMaster and Leahy on a national Christmas tour with their kids in November and Dates It is still a thrill to perform or to sit down with my fiddle and have an idea about a tune to write. As an artist over the years making music and writing it just never stops. “Over the years I think we’ve gotten better mostly at listening to one another while we play but also creating arrangements so that it highlights one another’s music.”Ī: “Musically speaking it’s always a growth, which I love. “There was no pressure on us to do something together other than the pressure just created by the two of us wanting to record together.” With Natalie and Donnell as one entity there was nothing, it didn’t really exist,” she said. I have been doing about 100 shows a year for the last 10 years but as far as recording, with the Natalie McMaster brand and the Leahy brand, both of us had reasons to record, bands and tours booked and record companies and agents and all that. Q: Why did it take so long to get together on your first album One, released in April 2015?Ī: “I’ve just been either pregnant or nursing. They dated for two months, he proposed and they were married five months later when she was 30. He was in town and he called me and said ‘I’m back in town do you want to have dinner?'” “We dated for two years and then we broke up for 10 years,” MacMaster said referring to their young ages as the main reason for the decade-long pause.Ī: “Same thing. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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