Projects
Projects
Old Growth Graveyard
Old Growth Graveyard is the latest distillation of Colin Cotter and Ryan McKasson’s artistic partnership. A somewhat whimsical diversion for two musicians known best in Celtic and Americana circles for fiddle and acoustic guitar, Old Growth Graveyard features McKasson primarily on viola with Cotter on electric guitar and voice. From the moment that they stumbled across the unique combination of the viola’s throaty richness, the electric guitar’s undeniable edge, and the human voice, the two were smitten and immediately took to the mixology of grafting together the electric and acoustic sonorities with a vengeance. This new chapter in their creative journey takes new and familiar music on quite an adventure, giving two musicians – each established in their musical idioms – plenty of room to play around. OGG released their first video, a cover of “Sad Eyes” by Bruce Springsteen, in August, 2023.
Ciccone & Cotter
Few young Canadian fiddlers today can show off the breadth and range of North American fiddling like Adrianna Ciccone. With a “distinctive stamp and swing that is both rooted and infectious,” she crosses back and forth across the continent with ease. Adrianna showcases Cape Breton reels, crooked French-Canadian brandys, the rollicking rhythms of Ottawa Valley step-dancing tunes, way down to Southern Appalachian string band tunes; even incorporating Irish and Métis influences. A graduate of Berklee College of Music in Boston, her debut album, The Back of Winter, produced by Bruce Molsky, won Instrumental Solo Artist of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Folk Music Awards.
Sumaia Jackson & Colin Cotter
With driving groove and a smooth, open sound, fiddler and tunestress Sumaia Jackson is a quintessential modern West Coast fiddler. Jackson and Cotter weave together tunes and songs both original and found with an easy virtuosity and electric interplay. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Jackson was awarded a full scholarship to get her Bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in the American Roots Music department. Jackson has toured all over the world with Jayme Stone’s Folklife and Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards—playing places such as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Celtic Connections, Planet Bluegrass, and the Edmonton Folk Festival. She has also been a member of the Real Vocal String Quartet (who composed and recorded music for a world music Culture Kin project) and released her debut fiddle record—Möbius Trip—on May 1st, 2019, featuring Colin as a guitarist on several tracks.
MAC
MAC is part of the natural progression of Celtic music as it has worked away into the American consciousness. Ryan McKasson (fiddle), Elias Alexander (bagpipes/vox), and Colin Cotter (guitar/vox) are all three well-versed in the Celtic music tradition. The music that they write and perform as the contemporary Celtic-Americana folk trio, MAC, reveals fiery personas tempered with artistry, finesse, and virtuosity as they draw from a deep well of innovative original music and lush arrangements of traditional songs and tunes. Released in 2018, their debut album “Perfectly Manufactured Reality” depicts this creative journey from its infancy up to the present moment.
A Thousand Years at Sea
With two full-length albums, “The Stillness Here” and “Silver Shores Await” in addition to two EPs, “We Will Fall Apart” and “Tree Pool,” A Thousand Years at Sea has been heavily-embedded in the Northern-California folk scene for 10 years. Featuring a unique blend of Americana, contemporary Celtic music, folk-rock, and African percussion, ATYAS keeps the party going with earthy grooves.