Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads at the Iron Horse 15 March

[Victor Maurice Faubert]

[A typographically richer and therefore more readable version of this
posting is available at
      <http://homepage.mac.com/vicmf/ne/2009/15_mar/15_mar.html>
along with photos taken at the concerts. My apologies for the extreme 
lateness of this review, which took place 15 March over a week ago—it 
has been a very busy time since I got back.]



Since I was in the area for the  J. J. Chaisson concerts [1] at the 
Captain Charles Leonard House [2] over the week-end, I decided to stay 
for the Zoë Darrow and the Fiddleheads [3] concert Sunday evening at the 
Iron Horse Music Hall [4] in Northampton (Massachusetts), a fairly short 
drive away. It was my first time there, but, thanks to a friend who 
kindly guided me from Agawam to Northampton, I had no problem finding 
the Iron Horse in downtown Northampton.

Thanks to Meg and Dan Sullivan's concerts at the Captain Charles Leonard 
House over the years (see, e.g., here [5] and here [6]), I have become 
quite enamoured of Zoë's vibrant, energetic, and lively fiddle playing. 
Only nineteen and in her first year of university, she already has two 
recordings to her credit: "Please Don't Eat the Fiddleheads!" (2002) and 
"Fiddle Me This" (2007). She has attended the Cèilidh Trail School of 
Music in Inverside and the Gaelic College in St. Anns and last summer 
played with local musicians while visiting Ireland. Zoë is joined by Tom 
Coburn, a local musician and organist, on piano and by her father, Phil, 
on guitar and occasionally mandolin. Together, they produce spirited 
music: in addition to Scottish traditional fiddle music as heard in Cape 
Breton and Prince Edward Island, the group also plays traditional Irish 
and contemporary American fiddle music, both very popular as well in 
Western Massachusetts.

As I discovered when I got to the theatre, I am hardly alone in my 
enjoyment of the Fiddleheads' music: they are a local favourite and 
there was already a long queue outside the theatre, waiting for the 
17h30 opening of the doors. Indeed, I had done very well to have 
acquired my tickets beforehand, as the concert was sold out and the 
theatre filled up very quickly once the doors were opened. Luckily, I 
got a seat right below the stage that gave me a fine view of the 
proceedings, except that I could not see Tom, who was hidden behind the 
grand piano on stage. The Iron Horse Music Hall's seating is not that of 
a classical theatre; instead, it has chairs arrayed around a large 
number of tables spread about over two floors, all with clear sight 
lines to the stage. Prior to the concert and between halves, it offers 
pub beverages and pub food, which were very welcome as I had no time to 
eat between the end of the afternoon Agawam concert and my arrival at 
the Iron Horse. Thanks to my friend's conversation, the time before the 
concert passed very quickly.

Zoë opened the concert with a beautiful rendition of "Over the Moor 
Among the Heather", played as a slow air and enhanced by Tom's 
marvellous piano accompaniment, and followed it with "King George's 
Strathspey", "Dinky Dorian's", and "The King's Reel"; the piano and the 
guitar both provided a fine foundation for the strathspey and the reels, 
as they did through all the sets--Zoë is very fortunate in her 
accompanists! The second set was unfamiliar to me, a waltz, a 
strathspey, and some reels with a very Irishy character. The third set 
featured "Jean's Reel" and "MacArthur Road". The fourth set was inspired 
by "Beòlach" and featured a very nicely done "Norman's Reel", a fine 
Donald Angus Beaton tune. Next came a set beginning with a march I have 
often heard, a reel I do not know, and ending with the reel "The 
Longford Collector". Zoë then played a fine Cape Breton set, featuring 
Dan R. MacDonald's "Moxham Castle", Sandy MacLean's "Dismissal Reel". 
and the traditional "West Mabou Reel", sometimes attributed to Donald 
John (the Tailor) Beaton. Since J. J. Chaisson was in the audience and 
since he had asked Zoë to play at his Saturday concert at the Captain 
Charles Leonard House, she asked him to come to the stage to reciprocate 
the favour. On dual fiddles, they then gave us a great jig set starting 
with "Darla's Jig" and continuing with several others. They next gave us 
two fine tunes, "Northside Kitchen", associated with Brenda Stubbert's 
playing, and Jerry Holland's "Brenda Stubbert's Reel". Tom and Phil then 
left the stage and J. J. took up Phil's guitar, accompanying Zoë on 
fiddle during the next set. Phil then came back on guitar, while J. J. 
and Zoë gave us a long high-energy set, during which Zoë step-danced. J. 
J. then left the stage and Tom returned to provide another very fine 
accompaniment to the Irish air "The Mermaid", which Zoë followed with 
the Irish reels "Mist on the Mountain" and "Over the Moor to Maggie". 
She ended the first half with another energetically played set featuring 
the jigs "The Black Rogue", "Rocking the Baby", and "Calliope House", 
followed by the reels "Rorie's Reel", "Shetland Fiddler", and "The 
Clumsy Lover".

After a break that allowed the rapt and enthusiastic audience to catch 
its collective breath and converse about the amazing musical 
tour-de-force it had just witnessed, the lights dimmed once again and 
Zoë reäppeared to gave us a fine bodhràn solo, after which Phil played a 
mandolin tune to Zoë's accompaniment on bodhràn and Tom's on piano. The 
next set featured a clog or a hornpipe (or both--I can't quite make out 
which from my hastily scribbled notes). Then came a vigorous set Zoë 
learnt from J. P. Cormier, who learnt it from the Irish fiddler Martin 
Hayes, featuring "Whistler from Rosslea", "Conner Dunn's", and "Good 
Natured Man". Slowing it down a bit, Zoë then gave us a beautifully 
played "If Ever You Were Mine". The next set was composed mostly of 
tunes I don't know, presumably Irish because they drew a lot of clapping 
from the audience, who clearly did know them well; the final tunes, 
which I did know, ended with a wild frenzy of playing--an amazing 
performance! The next set again took it slower, beginning with an air 
I've heard before, switching to reels I hadn't known, the whole sounding 
as if in a minor key. Zoë then invited J. J. back to the stage and they 
played on dual fiddles Donald Angus Beaton's "Ann MacQuarrie Reel", 
another tune, and ended the set with "Cape Breton Fiddlers' Welcome to 
the Shetland Islands", written by Shetlander Willie Hunter in the Cape 
Breton style to welcome the group known as the Cape Breton Symphony to 
the Shetlands Islands in 1982. The final set was a great group of Cape 
Breton tunes including the reel "The Night We Had the Goats". This 
performance was greeted by a standing ovation, which lasted long enough 
to cause the players to give us yet another fine set to round out the 
evening's performance.

Even though she had played for a good two and a half hours, Zoë was as 
fresh at the end as she was at the beginning--what a gift it is to be 
nineteen with the energy and talent this young lady has! It was 
certainly a concert to remember, full of infectious music, from slow 
airs gorgeously rendered and reels played accurately at breakneck speed 
not only by Zoë, but also by her collaborators who produced an evening 
of eminently listenable traditional music. If you haven't yet had the 
opportunity to hear this superb group, you should certainly avail 
yourself of the next chance, which will apparently be the 16 May concert 
at the Captain Charles Leonard House (no other engagements are currently 
listed on Zoë's web page schedule).



[1]	<http://homepage.mac.com/vicmf/ne/2009/14_mar/14_mar.html>
[2]	<http://thecaptaincharlesleonardhouse.blogspot.com/>
[3]	<http://www.zoedarrow.com/>
[4]	<http://www.iheg.com/index.asp>
[5]	<http://homepage.mac.com/vicmf/ne/2007/17_feb/17_feb.html>
[6]	<http://homepage.mac.com/vicmf/ne/2008/16_feb/16_feb.html>