Here’s a traditional music lover’s dream: UK folk stars The Magpies return to The Carleton to co-headline a show with Coíg’s Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen on Thursday, September 11th. Show time is 7:30 PM. Tickets are an affordable $30 + HST. This is going to be a dynamite show, we’re excited about it!
Transatlantic folk band The Magpies are quickly becoming one of the most exciting and innovative acts on the contemporary roots scene. Combining sublime harmonies with exquisite musicianship and impressive songwriting, The Magpies traverse Anglo and American roots, drawing inspiration from traditional Celtic folk, bluegrass and Appalachian trails, to create an effortless melting pot of music.
Accomplished musicians in their own right, founding members Bella Gaffney (award winning singer-songwriter, guitarist and banjoist) and Holly Brandon (acclaimed fiddle player and tunesmith) perform alongside gifted singer-songwriter and guitarist Ellie Gowers. These talented young musicians work collaboratively to create their fresh brand of transatlantic folk and champion gender equality in the music industry, with a fervent thread of feminism running through their music.
In their live performances, The Magpies have been exceptionally well-received, touring extensively throughout the UK, with festival highlights including Glastonbury, Cambridge, Larmer Tree, Shambala, Towersey and Deer Shed and international performances in USA, Canada, Ireland, Portugal and Luxembourg. Their live shows are known for their high energy and wry delivery, transporting audiences to distant lands with ethereal voices and glistening instrumentals.
‘One of those effervescent albums you’d be happy to recommend to people who might not consider themselves folk fans’ – The Sunday Times
‘Folk with finesse’ – The Daily Mail
‘Check that album out! Really good mix of songs and instrumentals – they’re great players!’ – Mark Radcliffe, BBC Radio 2
With more than a decade of making records and touring around the world behind them—as members of the award-winning group Còig—Rachel Davis & Darren McMullen now have their sights set on something new—Home.
Recorded with award-winning songwriter, musician, and producer Dave Gunning, Home is Rachel and Darren’s long-imagined, and much-anticipated, duo album. Highlighting the pair’s outstanding musicianship and vocals, Home mixes traditional tunes and songs with original co-writes and signature classics.
Rachel and Darren are well-established and respected instrumentalists in the traditional music world and their playing on this album certainly lives up to that reputation. From the gentle but commanding riff that opens River and the Road, written by Scottish songwriting royalty Archie Fisher, to the unexpectedly bouncy breath of fresh air that is Laurence Gowan’s 1993 hit Dancing on My Own Ground, to an old standby from their live sets, We Remember You Well by their pal, Cape Breton Music Hall of Fame writer Buddy MacDonald, the songs on Home couldn’t be a better fit for Rachel and Darren’s voices and musical sensibilities.
The pair also wanted to do more songwriting for this album and they hit the jackpot with recording, engineering, and arranging collaborator Dave Gunning and acclaimed singer-songwriter Terra Spencer. Both Gunning and Spencer add harmony vocals to the songs they co-wrote, with Gunning also playing a variety of instruments on the album. Other musical guests include Margie Beaton (piano), Thierry Clouette (bouzouki, foot percussion), and Zakk Cormier (guitar, foot percussion) taking turns on the tunes, and English folk singer Jackie Oates who joins Rachel and Darren on harmony for the lovely Cornish folk song Sweet Nightingale, which closes the album.
Listening to Rachel and Darren, it’s obvious that they’ve been playing together for a while—not just as part of Còig, but also as a duo, as guests on each other’s records, and as part of bigger stage productions and ensembles. There’s an easy way about them, a sense of comfort that comes through in the music, in the mix of their instruments, the blending of their voices, and how the arrangements leave room for each other. They seem to know just when to lay back and when it’s time to “give’er”.