The Latest

Canadian Folk Music Award Nominations | September 27th 2013

Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac have received multiple Canadian Folk Music Award nominations for their album Seinn: Ensemble of the Year, Traditional Album of the Year, and Mary Jane received a nomination for Traditional Singer of the Year.

The CFMA weekend begins on November 8 and runs through to November 10, culminating in the bilingual gala awards presentation at the University of Calgary’s University Theatre. For more information about the CFMA and the complete list of nominations, visit folkawards.ca

Chester Playhouse Concert on Atlantic Airwaves this weekend | September 19th 2013

Mary Jane and Wendy played a concert at The Chester Playhouse and it’s is programmed for broadcast this weekend on Atlantic Airwaves. It was a terrific show! Tune in to listen on Atlantic Airwaves, Saturdays at 10:00 a.m. on CBC Radio 2 and at 5:05 p.m. on CBC Radio 1 throughout the Maritimes.

Seinn Nominated for two Music Nova Scotia Awards | September 6th 2013

Music fans and international guests will gather in Sydney, Cape Breton in November for Nova Scotia Music Week.

The Music Nova Scotia award nominations were announced today and Mary Jane and Wendy are nominated for Group Recording and Traditional/Roots Recording of the Year for their album Seinn.

We’re looking forward to seeing everyone in Cape Breton to celebrate!

This week at the Milwaukee Irish Festival | August 14th 2013

This week Mary Jane and Wendy are spending their time in Wisconsin at the Milwaukee Irish Festival. And, lucky for fans there, they are not only performing, but teaching several workshops too. ( You can check out there schedule on the shows page ). Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity!

Folk Alley Sessions: Mary Jane Lamond and Wendy MacIsaac “Yellow Coat” | July 13th 2013

Mary Jane Lamond & Wendy MacIsaac with Seph Peters (guitar) & Cathy Porter (percussion) perform “Yellow Coat” at the Folk Alliance International in Toronto, ON. February, 2013. Filmed and recorded by Beehive Productions for FolkAlley.com

[UK] The Living Tradition Review | July 6th 2013

The Nova Scotian’s links with their Scottish and particularly their Gaelic heritages have always been strong, and this sparkling CD shows that there is no danger of that connection being broken.

Mary Jane Lamond has a warm and rich singing voice with some of the clearest diction you could home to find. Although she was a student of Celtic Studies, her approach to her matieral is not that of a dusty academic, but rather that of a storyteller who is passionate about the material she sings, and who wants to get that story over to her listeners. This she easily and effortlessly achieves as her voice not only carriers all the subtleties of the tunes, but also gets to the core spirit of the message.

Wendy MacIsaac is a fiddle and mandolin player and pianist of distinction, who (like so many from that airy) can combine all this with step-dancing, too. Her playing is as clear and crisp as the frost on a Cape Breton winter’s morning, but with a warmth and depth of subtlety. She can turn her hand to hard driving reels just as much as to hauntingly lyrical slow airs.

Here, the two friends combine seamlessly, along with a vast array of guest musicians, to give a fusion of arrangements and presentation which shows their appreciation of each others’ approach to their music. The full Gaelic song texts are printed in the liner notes, and the whole production standards are of the highest quality, making this an essential purchase.

by Gordon Potter, The Living Tradition