November 13, 2007                                                                                                                                             Associate Director of Marketing

                                                                                                                                                                               Phone: 253.573.2360

                                                                                                                                                                               Email: laceyl@broadwaycenter.org

Broadway Center presents

Celtic Music’s Voyage to Appalachia

Highland Heath and Holler

Featuring Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, and Bruce Molsky

Sponsored by Heritage Bank

Tacoma, WA – Celebrating Celtic music’s voyage to Appalachia with a combination of musicians from Scotland, Ireland and Appalacia, Highland Heath and Holler brings a remarkable cultural transference to the stage of the Rialto Theater on Thursday November 29, 2007 at 7:30pm.  Highland Heath and Holler features musicians Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas, Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill, and Bruce Molsky.

The early Scottish and Irish immigrants who filtered into southern Appalachia brought with them their culture, their stories and their music. Their ballads, jigs, reels and rowdy tunes served as a foundation for the unique musical heritage of the region. With musicians steeped in their own traditions and far reaching in their artistic views, Highland Heath and Holler creates a mix of styles that once served as the foundation for Bluegrass and American Roots Music.

Alasdair Fraser and Natalie Haas: Master Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, long regarded as one of Scotland’s premier musical ambassadors, presents music of his homeland. He links bows with cellist Natalie Haas in a weave of rocking, reeling rhythms, melodies and musicianship. The duos’ performances have been featured on nationally-broadcast radio programs, including Thistle & Shamrock and Mountain Stage. As a student at the Juilliard School in New York, Haas regularly performs throughout the U.S. and Europe with Fraser and is a member of American fiddler Mark O’Connor’s Appalachian Waltz Trio.

Martin Hayes and Dennis Cahill: Irish fiddle virtuoso Martin Hayes and American guitarist Dennis Cahill possess a rare musical kinship. Together they have garnered international reputations for taking traditional music to the very edge of the genre, and holding listeners spellbound with their slow-building, fiery performances. The duo opens the doors of traditional Irish music, while incorporating sensibilities from the worlds of blues and jazz.

Hayes has been an All-Ireland fiddle champion six times over, has taken home a National Entertainment Award (the Irish equivalent to the Grammy) and in 1999 was named Folk Instrumentalist of the Year by the BBC Radio Awards. Hayes and Cahill have appeared internationally on television and radio, including NBC’s Nightwatch, PRI’s A Prairie Home Companion, and the BBC’s Jools Holland Show. They’ve collaborated with Sinead O’Connor, Iarla O’Lionáird (of Afro-Celt Soundsystem) and photographer Steve Pyke in a special stage performance and film of Timothy O’Grady’s acclaimed novel of Irish emigration, I Could Read the Sky. Named “Man of the Year” by the American Irish Historical Society in 1999, Hayes was cited by the Irish Sunday Tribune as one of the 100 most influential Irish men and women in the fields of entertainment, politics and sports at the start of the new Millennium and one of the most important musicians from Ireland in the last 50 years.

Bruce Molsky: One of the most influential fiddlers of his generation, Bruce Molsky is also a remarkable guitarist, banjoist and singer. His high-spirited music melds the archaic mountain sounds of Appalachia, the power of blues and the intricacies of traditional African music.

His Poor Man's Troubles album won a 2001 Indie award for Best Traditional Folk Recording and has received praise from the Washington Post, Washington Times, Bluegrass Unlimited and others. Bruce has been featured on Garrison Keillor's acclaimed A Prairie Home Companion radio show with Fiddlers 4, Laurie Lewis and Tom Rozum, and with Big Hoedown. He also appears as special guest artist on Darol Anger's Diary of a Fiddler. He has been featured in and occasionally writes for Sing Out!, Fiddler Magazine, Acoustic Guitar, Acoustic Musician, The Old Time Herald and Banjo Newsletter.

Bruce's band Fiddlers 4 was a 2003 Grammy Nominee. Bruce continues to tour extensively as a solo artist. He toured the U.K. with internationally acclaimed fiddler Kevin Burke and others on the Fiddles on Fire tour. Along with Mark O'Connor and Natalie MacMaster, Bruce and was a featured performer at Fiddles of the World in Nova Scotia in 1999. The long list of great players with whom Bruce has worked includes luminaries like Martin Hayes, Mike Seeger, Stuart Duncan, Bill Frisell, Tony McManus and of course Alasdair Fraser.

On sale now, tickets are $36 and $46 and may be purchased at the Broadway Center Box Office located on 9th & Broadway or by calling the Box Office at 253.591.5894. To purchase online at any time or for information about upcoming events visit www.broadwaycenter.org.

The Broadway Center for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the following for support of the 2007-2008 Season: ArtsFund, Ben B. Cheney Foundation, The Boeing Company, City of Tacoma, Forest Foundation, The News Tribune, Pierce County Arts Commission, Sequoia Foundation Pierce County Program, and Washington State Arts Commission.

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