March 29, 2024

MacMaster and Leahy

Nov. 6, 2015
Live at the City Opera House

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy are each impressive musicians. Both highly respected fiddle players with lengthy and accomplished careers, the now married pair is regularly referred to as “the first couple of Celtic music,” and for good reason.

Their live performances together are truly something to see. They communicate onstage so well that, if you weren’t watching, it would be tricky to tell where one fiddle part ended and the other began.

They’ve taken that synchrony to their first album, the critically acclaimed One, produced by celebrated rock producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd/Lou Reed/Phish), but it took more work than you might expect for them to get there.

CELTIC CLASH

“We met through music,” Leahy said. “We were aware of each other, and fans of each other, but we hadn’t played any music together. Once we got together, it seemed like it took even longer to work on any music as a couple because we were both already booked and had projects underway when we got married.”

With their constant proximity, it was only a matter of time before they collaborated musically. The twist they didn’t expect, because they got along so beautifully, was that it was going to be a trick to blend their two contradictory fiddle styles.

“They were very different!” Leahy emphasized. “Early on, we played at a house party and one of our relatives recorded it. We went to listen back, thinking it was going to be great, and…it wasn’t great.”

They found that Leahy’s more energetic style covered up MacMaster’s more subtle inflections, and her more complex trills clouded his forthright melodies. Even the traditional Celtic songs they’d both learned had been learned in different ways, so those clashed, as well.

AUDIO EFFORTS

Just as they’d made their personal relationship harmonious, they found the same would apply to their music.

“We figured the best way was to write together or arrange together,” Leahy explained, “to start from the ground up. It was actually easier not to play standards.”

The second roadblock would be occupying the same space on stage. Alongside seven of his siblings, Leahy was the focus of his former group — the band Leahy — especially beloved in his Canadian homeland and touring with the likes of Shania Twain.

Meanwhile, MacMaster was a solo artist who had collaborated with Carlos Santana, The Chieftains and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.

“So when we finally got onstage together, neither of us wanted to upstage the other,” Leahy laughed. “I’d retreat so as not to step on her parts, and she would do the same for me. We had to relearn how to be ourselves.”

Those efforts paid off well, as the couple suspected they would.

“Now, we really complement each other,” he said. “What made it work is that we hear things the same way. So, even though we come from different musical backgrounds, the skills and nuances we can add to each other’s tunes combine to make our music so much more broad.”

TWO MAKE ONE

And then came One. “The album was never I guess what you’d call an ‘emergency,’” Leahy explained. “We always seemed to have other tours or records that needed to be completed. We wanted it to happen, but we kept postponing it.”

They finally set a date to record together last May, but it stalled yet again.

“While we were waiting to set another date, Bob [Ezrin] called us,” Leahy said.

Ezrin, to their surprise, told them he’d always wanted to do a Celtic record.

“He ended up producing our album, which wouldn’t have happened if we’d recorded earlier,” Leahy said. “So the postponements happened for a reason.”

One is a skillful set of songs, balancing balladry with more up-tempo, rollicking numbers, all based in Celtic sounds and infused with just enough contemporary edge, courtesy of Ezrin’s production style. From the quieter sentiments of “Hector the Hero” and “The Whistler of Rosslea” to the more elated, quicker pace of tunes like “Fiddler’s Despair” and the standout “Cagaran Gaolach,” all sounds are in sync and the results are striking.

Listening back now, it’s no wonder these two are succeeding in both life and music.

“We just really inspire each other,” Leahy said.

Natalie MacMaster and Donnell Leahy will be in concert at the City Opera House in Traverse City Nov. 12 at 7:30pm. For more information and tickets, visit cityoperahouse.org or call the box office at (231) 941-8082.

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