Cultural Dessert

'The Willow Collection' by Cassie and Maggie

9 March 2017

I’ve been enjoying ‘The Willow Collection’ - a concept album by Nova Scotia folk duo Cassie and Maggie. Bringing together songs and tunes on the theme of the Willow tree from a variety of folk traditions, the MacDonald sisters play fiddle, guitar and piano and sing close harmonies. They showcase a wide range of styles including Cape Bretton fiddle, folk-rock, Scottish folk and Americana. Some tracks reminded me of the music of Julie Fowlis (reviewed here in February 2006, May 2007 and May 2014) while there was also something of the frantic, furious fiddles of the Finnish group Tsuumi Sound System (reviewed here in April 2008). ‘The Willow Collection’ includes gentle lullabies and toe-tapping dance tunes. It is a good reminder of how strong the Canadian folk scene is and bears comparison with the great Canadian folk/roots group ‘The Bills’ (reviewed here in May 2006). This video taster give a good flavour: https://vimeo.com/184245783

Labels: Albums, Music

posted by Robin Simpson @ 2:42 pm