Fans of Celtic and Americana music are in for a double treat this month at Market Hall Performing Arts Centre in Peterborough with back-to-back concerts featuring two outstanding roots music duos.
On Friday, May 26th, Cape Breton fiddler Mairi Rankin and Scottish harp player Ailie Robertson perform together and then, on Saturday, May 27th, New Mexico singer-songwriter Max Gomez and Peterborough’s own bluesman extraordinaire Rick Fines get together for an evening of song and story called “South Meets North”.
Mairi Rankin and Ailie Robertson
Cape Breton fiddler Mairi Rankin and Scottish harp player Ailie Robertson have just launched their first-ever Canadian tour this month, after returning from a tour of Europe as members of the Scottish-Irish-Canadian supergroup The Outside Track.
Mairi and Ailie will be performing at the Market Hall at 8 p.m. on Friday, May 26th, with Peterborough singer-songwriter Missy Knott opening.
VIDEO: “Brandy” by Mairi Rankin and Ailie Robertson
After their recent tour in the five-piece band The Outside Track, Mairi and Allie have joined forces for a new duo project. They are touring together in May and June and are hoping to record their first album as a duo in the fall.
Mairi, who is best known as a member of Canada’s Rankin Family, plays fiddle, sings, and also step dances. Now living in Vancouver, she was born in Nova Scotia and has been influenced by some of the best Cape Breton traditional musicians and instructors on the island.
As well as performing in The Outside Track, she is a member of the Cape Breton Celtic group Beolach and has performed with the Rankin Sisters, Unusual Suspects, Bruce Guthro, and more. She has recorded one solo album, two each with Beòlach and The Outside Track, and been featured on numerous compilations and recordings.
VIDEO: “Set You Free” – The Outside Track featuring Mairi Rankin and Ailie Robertson
Ailie Robertson has been living in Montreal for the last year, but she’s a native of Edinburgh and is considered one of Scotland’s leading young traditional musicians. A master of the clàrsach (the Celtic harp), she began playing when she was 11 years old and, through training in both clàrsach and piano, developed a love for both classical and traditional music.
Ailie fuses Irish, Scottish, and contemporary harping technique into her own unique style, which earned her a 2009 nomination as Up and Coming Artist of the Year in the BBC Alba Scots Trad Music Awards. Not only is she a harp virtuouso, composer, arranger, and improviser, but she’s a much-in-demand teacher who has published six books of harp music.
VIDEO: Swerving for Bunnies – Ailie Robertson
General admission tickets are $20 plus fees ($17 plus fees for students) and assigned cabaret-style table seating is $25 plus fees.
Tickets are available in person at the box office (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
South Meets North: Max Gomez and Rick Fines
New Mexico songsmith Max Gomez joins Peterborough’s award-winning bluesman Rick Fines at the Market Hall on at 8 p.m. on Saturday, May 26th for an evening of song and story.
At this concert, the two singer-songwriters will perform separately … but Rick says they’ll also be playing a few songs together too.
Max Gomez hails from the hamlet of Taos, the most northern of the New Mexico pueblos, about an hour and half drive north of Santa Fe. The son of an artisanal furniture craftsman, Max grew up watching and learning the tools of the trade from his father, while also learning how to play guitar.
A blues enthusiast from an early age, Max immersed himself in the Delta and traditional folk blues of Lead Belly, Big Bill Broonzy, and Robert Johnson. Having honed his chops on the blues, he then turned his interest to traditional American folk music, and then became influenced by master songwriters like John Prine, Townes Van Zandt, Kris Kristofferson, Guy Clark, and John Hiatt.
VIDEO: “Ball and Chain” – Max Gomez
Max began performing his original tunes along with country and blues classics in bars around Taos when he was 15 years old. After high school, he moved to Los Angeles to study music and pursue his musical career.
At 24 years old, he released his debut album Rule This World in 2012. The 10 songs on the record cover themes of heartbreak, regret, young love, desperation, and redemption.
“The songs I write are not real straightforward,” Max says. “You have to decode them. I like when the listener has to create their own story, rather than be told what’s happening.”
VIDEO: “Run From You” – Max Gomez (directed by Kiefer Sutherland)
While local music fans may not have heard of Max before, there is a local connection. Canadian-born actor Kiefer Sutherland — who himself has embarked on a music career and played at Peterborough Musicfest last summer — directed the video for Max’s song “Run From You”.
“The thing that I seem to gravitate most to in music is the basic fundamental of the telling of the story,” Sutherland says. “When I heard this record, not only did I find it unbelievably beautiful and melodic, but there was such a rich tapestry of storytelling that I couldn’t help but gravitate to it.”
Local music fans don’t really need an introduction to Peterborough’s own Rick Fines. A veteran of the blues and folk circuits, Rick is well known both for his captivating songs, his signature vocal growl, and his diverse guitar playing.
He’s also familiar to many for his 15-year membership in the legendary acoustic blues trio Jackson Delta and his collaborations with singer-songwriter Susie Vinnick. As part of Jackson Delta (along with Gary Peeples and Al Black), Fines received both Juno and Handy award nominations. With Susie, he earned a Maple Blues Songwriter of the Year Award.
As a solo artist, Rick has won two Maple Blues Awards for Solo Act of the Year, and eight other nominations.
VIDEO: “No Expections” – Rick Fines
Aside the songwriting chops that won him a 2003 International Songwriting Competition, he is a master of the guitar. He has played for legendary blues piano player Pinetop Perkins, songstress Colleen Peterson, folk icon Penny Lang, and many others.
Rick is also an enthusiastic teacher, and is often found sharing the transformative power of music with students across Canada, including work with the Blues In The Schools programs in Ottawa, Saskatoon, Toronto, and Yellowknife.
VIDEO: Driving Home CD Release – Rick Fines
Rick has recorded 14 albums with Jackson Delta, Suzie Vinnick, with others or on his own, with his latest solo record Driving Home released in 2015.
He has performed almost everywhere, from the National Gallery and Governor General’s Garden Party to Montreal Jazz, Ottawa BluesFest, the Edmonton Folk Festival, and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Internationally, he has toured France, Italy, Scotland, Newfoundland, BC’s Gulf Islands, and even the Northern Arctic.
VIDEO: “Back Up From Zero” – Rick Fines performing with Jackson Delta
General admission tickets are $30 plus fees. Assigned cabaret-style table seating is $40 plus fees.
Tickets are available in person at the box office (140 Charlotte St., Peterborough), by phone at 705-749-1146, or online at tickets.markethall.org. Tickets are also available (cash only) at Moondance (425 George St. N., Peterborough, 705-742-9425).
