Fiddler and folksinger Emerald Rae brings the duo of strings and song to a new plateau with mesmerizing dexterity. Hailing from the historic fishing community of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Emerald Rae is both a small-town girl steeped in cherished folk traditions and a world-class artist breaking new ground with inventive fiddle effects. Roots Music Report hailed her as “a spell-caster of no small skill… maxing out her axe’s potential in the service of her consistently compelling melodies” and recognized her self-titled 2018 release as “one of the year’s more fetching releases.” A degree in film scoring from Berklee College of Music in Boston gave her the freedom to cast a wide creative net, while her grit and intensity was earned during her twenty-year career as a powerhouse fiddler and dancer. Rae embarked on her first journey into songwriting and multi-instrumentalism with If Only I Could Fly (2013), which features her prowess on fiddle, vocals, guitar and the crwth [an ancient Welsh fiddle, pronounced “krooth”]. 

Zeroing in on the synergy of voice and fiddle, her self-produced, self-titled album Emerald Rae (2018) offers a rare scope of vision and reveals her depth as an artist. Rae’s extraordinary chops transform the fiddle into everything from bagpipes to flamenco or electric guitar, slap bass or ukulele. Her direct and intimate voice, alternately high and honeyed then gutsy and soulful, encompasses both wind and sea, animal and etheric.

emeraldrae.com

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