When I saw Anna play at the final of the 2003 BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician Award I knew I was watching a star in the making. Before she had even played a note she had the audience laughing and after she had finished her 15 minute performance the audience were in raptures. So I've been looking forward to this CD for a while to see if Anna could keep up the momentum of that great night. Well I'm happy to say that Anna has exceeded herself. Anna (fiddle, guitar, banjo) has brought together another two musicians -Mairearad Green (accordion, bagpipes) and Jenn Butterworth (guitar, vocals) to form a great trio with real depth. All musicians are young but show a maturity in their playing that is more common amongst older players. The material is a range of traditional and original tunes with a couple of songs that fit in very nicely. Anna also plays a few solo tracks. The opening track on the CD blows you away when Anna accompanies herself playing DR MacDonald's reel 'Trip to Windsor.' This album is the start of a bright career in traditional music so buy this CD and be excited.
Media Reviews
a captivating debut album, full of vivacity and verve
Radio Scotland’s current Young Traditional Musician of the Year, Lochinver-born multi-instrumentalist Anna Massie – playing guitars, mandolin, fiddle and banjo – delivers a captivating debut album, full of vivacity and verve, in cahoots with fellow tender-aged talents Mairearad Green (accordion/bagpipes) and Jenn Butterworth (guitar/vocals).
The material’s freshness and simplicity is the perfect foil for Massie’s formidable finger-picking skills, whose sparkle is further enlivened by natty rhythmic twists and ornamental flourishes.
..another wonderful example of how youth embraces and refreshes traditional culture..
Another brightly shining young Scottish star who this year won BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of Year. A talented muti instrumentalist she is featured here on fiddle, guitar, mandolin and banjo and joined byJean Butterworth (guitar, vocals) and Mairearad Green (accordion, bagpipes). Her career started when she joined her father's band, the Kerry Blues Ceilidh Band in 1996 and spent most weekends playing at dances around the Highlands,she also became joint leader of the Highland Region Youth Orchestra and was part of the National Youth Orchestra of Scotland for four years. Now she gets her own chance to shine and she does it with great style, another wonderful example of how youth embraces and refreshes traditional culture. Excellent.
The first set of reels places her amongst a select league of great British guitar players for its dazzling technique, energy and inventiveness. The fact that she is also an excellent fiddler is too much to ask for.
Anna Massie (fiddle, mandolin, guitar, tenor guitar, tenor banjo); Jenn Butterworth (guitar, vocals); Mairearad Green (accordion, bagpipes)
This is a fantastic debut from last year’s winner of BBC Radio Scotland’s Young Traditional Music award. Massie’s precocious ability on a wide range of instruments is phenomenal. The first set of reels places her amongst a select league of great British guitar players for its dazzling technique, energy and inventiveness. The fact that she is also an excellent fiddler is too much to ask for. There is good support here from Green and Butterworth and, although the focus is certainly on Massie’s talents, they come off as a warm and cohesive band. Unusual and varied material presents itself in the form of a ‘slip reel’, a rousing Civil War song, a sensitively finger-picked Gaelic air (‘An Cluinn Mi Mo Nighean Donn’) and even the odd 7/8. Peppered with flavours from Cape Breton, Ireland and of course Scotland, there is something for every traditional music enthusiast here. Not a bad track to be found, and a few which will apply strong downward pressure to your jaw.
As a guitarist she is frighteningly good ...
The CD from Anna Massie is most impressive.
Massie was awarded the BBC Scotland Young Traditional Musician award last year and this is her debut CD. She plays guitar, fiddle,mandolin and similar stringed instruments, all with equal felicity, and apparently taught herself mandolin by combining her left hand fiddle fingering with her right hand guitar technique. As a guitarist she is frighteningly good and the CD opens with a set of reels that Massie plays on double tracked guitars, one playing lead and one rhythm in a way that would have the judges blinking at any of the flatpick guitar competitions in the US.
The sets of tunes have all been arranged inventively by Massie along with the two other young female musicians on the CD, guitarist and singer Jenn Butterworth and accordionist Maiearad Green. They all look about sixteen on the record cover, but are a few years older. Like many of the younger Scottish players, Massie combines traditional music with formal training, but the Scots seem to have worked out a way of mixing the two so the traditional music just gets improved by it.
It should be illegal to be so young and so talented!
Anna Massie is another winner of the BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Award (2003) who displays her multi-instrumental talent on her first solo recording. She starts with a set of tunes played brilliantly on guitar, and the second track features her impressive fiddle playing. Then there's a piece that has her playing mandolin, and if that's not enough, on the fourth track, "The Pippin", she multi-tracks herself on guitar, fiddle and banjo. It should be illegal to be so young and so talented! But this isn't a one-woman show, as Massie is joined by Mairearad Green on accordion and bagpipes and Jenn Butterworth on guitar and vocals on two tracks. Tunes range from the traditional to the contemporary, with a few by Massie, and all played with a sense of adventure and fun. You know the tradition is alive and well in the hands of musicians like Anna Massie and friends.
one of the most sparkling debut recordings I've come across
This is almost certainly one of the most sparkling debut recordings I've come across from a young musician. After a grounding in both classical and traditional music, Anna joined her father's Highland ceilidh band at the age of 13; after school she spent a year in Toronto absorbing Cape Breton and Irish fiddle influences before starting her university music course, during which last year she won the coveted BBC Radio Scotland Young Musician of the Year title. Anna's exceptional prowess on not not just one but four instruments (guitar, fiddle, mandolin, tenor banjo) is awesome (most of us would give heaps just to be half as good on one of those!), and she gets every chance to show off (in the nicest possible way!) on Glad Company her recorded debut. Although it's largely a solo effort, with plenty of tasteful multitracking, Anna also enlists Jenn Butterworth for ancillary guitar duties (she also sings on two tracks) and Mairearad Green for accordion and border pipes. Anna plays superbly, with an easy skill and a true wit, on whatever instrument she picks up, and proves herself equally adept at interpreting straightforward reels and jigs, time-stoppingly beautiful slow airs (An Clunnie Mi Mo Niighean Donn) waltzes, and tunes with avowedly tricky time signatures (7/8s). And she's dab hand at composition too - there are no less than four examples scattered throughout the album. I must also single out the quality of the recording for special mention - impeccable clarity of textures and individual instrumental colours, with just enough bloom on the tone to make it all a real joy to listen to. the album's 41 minures fly by so fast that you just have to play the whole CD through again immediately, and it stands even more repeated plays I can assure you!
Customer Reviews
Guitar magic! Reuben Karpowski
I keep playing the first track of this CD to try and work out how the girl can play so fast and still fit all the notes in with one guitar and one pair of hands! My goodness, she is amazing and also so good with violin and other instruments! I am biased to the guitar because I also play this instrument. A CD full of joyful music.
A transatlantic set of reels to begin with - from Quebec to Scotland and then back to Cape Breton
2.
Dad's Landrover
3 tunes, the latter 2 tunes are Mairearad creations, the first for the vehicle she is learning to drive in.
3.
Westcoaster
The last tune is named after Sevier County, Tennessee, where my family spent Hogmaney 2001/2002. The car broke down and we were stranded in Dolly Parton's home town!
4.
The Pippin
Johnnie wrote this reel for his daughter Kerrie, who was a lovely little girl.
5.
The Mission Hall
A song about life, love and luck.
6.
7/8's
A set that developed when Jenn innocently asked "Have you ever tried anything in 7/8?"
7.
An Clunnie Mi Mo Nighean Donn
I learned this in the village hall in Lochinver where it was sung at countless ceilidhs when I was starting to play.
8.
Bogle's Majority
When my friend Inga Tait (known as Bogle to her friends) reached voting age, I wrote this march for her birthday.
9.
Spoon River
A beautiful song about the end of the American civil war, with a beautiful message about reconcilliation and life going on.
10.
Slip Reel
A tune about the traditional washing of a bride's feet before her wedding by female relatives.
11.
100 years since
Johnnie Stewart of Lossiemouth is a truly amazing man and a great musician!
12.
Glad Company
A wee waltz I wrote for all my friends in music - true 'Glad Company!'
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