Your Country's Right Here: Feast of Fiddles Fuels the Imagination
posted in: Country • Features
True, the guitar is falling out of favor these days”who would have thought Nashville would replace it as Music City’s iconic symbol?”but it’s still curious that a melodeon player would form a group around fiddlers. Or is it?
Think of Feast of Fiddles as founder Hugh Crabtree’s gift to music fans, or maybe even something akin to a music education program. When many of us just hear the term fiddle playing we automatically summon the sonic memory of Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down to Georgia,” but there’s a whole lot more to the instrument than Daniels has said. Lucky us, we can hear that versatility in the work of Feast of Fiddles.
The unkind would say I couldn’t put up with any competition, but I think actually the more accurate answer is that a battery of [accordions] would be most unpleasant, said Crabtree with a laugh when asked what prompted him to found the group that next year will celebrate its twentieth anniversary. I think having a big fiddle sound with a rock band behind it is a very exciting thing that is thoroughly enjoyed each year.
Clearly, that’s by design. When you have a host of renowned musicians”including Peter Knight of Steeleye Span, Scottish fiddler Brian McNeill, Chris Leslie of Fairport Convention and drummer Dave Mattacks, whose credits also include Fairport”playing a repertoire that shifts from classical to traditional folk to rock and pop, including songs made famous by the likes of such groups as Deep Purple and Abba, what’s not to like?
It’s little surprise that the demographic of the Feast of Fiddles’ audiences has shifted from classic folk faithful to music fans of all genres including aspiring musicians, some of whom likely gained an affinity for fiddle playing through some of the iPad, iPod and iPhone apps that have recently gained international popularity.
I am very happy to spend the evening playing tunes when there is a Feast of Fiddle tour, said Knight. The backing band is full on and in the middle of this huge full beautiful sound and that is absolutely fantastic. As an individual player you are constantly striving to keep the music interesting for yourself, not playing by the numbers.
The varied styles of music played ensure that isn’t an issue, said McNeill.
We use a different approach [to devise the set list], he said. There are no real rules. We can make up our own minds [what to play].
And often times that flexibility leads the band mates, all long-time friends, to choose an array of songs one might not associate with fiddle playing interspersed with more traditional folk numbers.
It is quite easy to learn a song and learn chords and entertain people. That is the easy bit. The difficult bit is to recognize as a musician you are an individual¦[and to] make music that is as individual as you are, said Knight. When you look at the band members [including] Dave Mattacks, he sits there every night giving a master course in drumming, you realize how extraordinary it really is.
If you want to see Feast of Fiddles, you’d better hurry. They only tour for a few weeks in April. Check out tour dates and locations on the group’s Web site.