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Natalie MacMaster
Natalie MacMaster 2007.jpg
MacMaster performing in Centralville, Massachusetts, 2007
Background information
Birth name Natalie Ann MacMaster
Born (1972-06-13) June 13, 1972 (age 52)
Troy, Nova Scotia, Canada
Genres Cape Breton fiddle music
Occupation(s) Musician
Instruments Fiddle, piano, vocals
Years active 1989–present
Labels Rounder Records
Associated acts Buddy MacMaster
Donnell Leahy

Natalie MacMaster CM ONS (born June 13, 1972) is a Canadian fiddler from Troy, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, who plays Cape Breton fiddle music. She has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. She has appeared at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton, Celtic Connections in Scotland and MerleFest in the United States.

Background

Natalie McMaster & Donnell Leahy at SoM2018
MacMaster and Donnell Leahy performing together at the 2018 Burlington's Sound of Music Festival

MacMaster is the daughter of Alex and Minnie (née Beaton) MacMaster and the sister of Kevin and David MacMaster. She is the niece of the late renowned Cape Breton fiddler Buddy MacMaster and the cousin of two other fiddlers, Ashley MacIsaac and Andrea Beaton. She is also distantly related to Jack White.

In 2002, she married the fiddler Donnell Leahy of the Leahy family band, and moved to Lakefield, Ontario. They have seven children, and have performed and recorded together as a duo, and occasionally include their children, who also play fiddle, in their performances.

Musical career

MacMaster began playing the fiddle at the age of nine, and made her performing debut the same year at a square dance in Glencoe Mills, Nova Scotia. When she was 16, she released her first album, Four on the Floor, and a second album, Road to the Isle, followed in 1991. Her first album was self-produced, while her second was co-produced by John Morris Rankin (The Rankin Family) and Tom O'Keefe. Both albums were initially released only on cassette, but Rounder Records omitted a few tracks and re-released them as A Compilation in 1998. In 1999, she performed at the Juno Awards show in Hamilton.

In recent years she has expanded her musical repertoire, mixing her Cape Breton roots with music from Scotland and Ireland, as well as American bluegrass.

In 2004, MacMaster appeared on Sharon, Lois & Bram's 25th Anniversary Concert special titled 25 Years of Skinnamarink that was broadcast on CBC on January 1, 2004, at 7:00pm. She performed two songs with the trio, "C-H-I-C-K-E-N" and "Grandpa's Farm".

Awards

MacMaster has received a number of Canadian music awards, including several "Artist of the Year" awards from the East Coast Music Association, two Juno Awards for best instrumental album, and "Fiddler of the Year" from the Canadian Country Music Association. She was also awarded an honorary doctorate from Niagara University in New York in 2006. In 2006, she was made a member of the Order of Canada and, in 2020, she was made a member of the Order of Nova Scotia. In 2023, she was inducted into the Canadian Fiddle Hall of Honour at the 2023 Canadian Grand Masters event in Truro, Nova Scotia.

Discography

Albums

Title Album details Peak chart positions Certifications
(sales thresholds)
CAN US Heat US Indie US Folk US Grass US World
Four on the Floor
  • Release date: 1989
  • Label: Astro Custom Records
Road to the Isle
  • Release date: 1991
  • Label: Astro Custom Records
Fit as a Fiddle
  • Release date: 1993
  • Label: Rounder Records
A Compilation
  • Release date: 1996
  • Label: Rounder Records
No Boundaries
  • Release date: March 11, 1997
  • Label: Rounder Records
  • CAN: Gold
In My Hands
  • Release date: September 14, 1999
  • Label: Rounder Records
32 6
  • CAN: Gold
My Roots Are Showing
  • Release date: April 11, 2000
  • Label: Rounder Records
4
Live
  • Release date: June 4, 2002
  • Label: Rounder Records
Blueprint
  • Release date: September 9, 2003
  • Label: Rounder Records
6 4
Natalie & Buddy MacMaster: Traditional Music from Cape Breton Island
  • Release date: August 18, 2005
Yours Truly
  • Release date: October 3, 2006 (Canada), October 10, 2006 (USA)
  • Label: Rounder Records
10
Cape Breton Girl
  • Release date: November 1, 2011
  • Label: MacMaster Music
One (with Donnell Leahy)
  • Release date: April 28, 2015
  • Label: DLL/MacMaster Music
23 4 15 6 1
A Celtic Family Christmas (with Donnell Leahy)
  • Release date: 2016
49 10
Sketches
  • Release date: November 1, 2019
9
Canvas (with Donnell Leahy)
  • Release date: March 17, 2023
  • Label: DLL/MacMaster Music
7

Singles

Year Single Peak positions Album
CAN AC
1996 "Catharsis" No Boundaries
1997 "Fiddle and Bow" (with Bruce Guthro)
"The Drunken Piper" (with Cookie Rankin)
1999 "In My Hands" 18 In My Hands
"Get Me Through December" (with Alison Krauss) 40
2004 "Appropriate Dipstick" Blueprint
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

Music videos

Year Video Director
1996 "Catharsis"
1997 "Fiddle and Bow" (with Bruce Guthro) Andrew MacNaughtan
"The Drunken Piper" (with Cookie Rankin)
1999 "In My Hands" Christopher Mills
"Get Me Through December" (with Alison Krauss) Mark Hesselink
2004 "Appropriate Dipstick"
2014 "Go Tell It on the Mountain"
(with Johnny Reid and The Rankins)
Margaret Malandrucco

Other appearances

Natalie MacMaster at MerleFest, 2004
MacMaster at Merlefest, 2004
  • Traditional Music From Cape Breton Island, Nimbus NI5383, 1993 (two tracks)
  • Celtic Colours – The Road Home, 1997 (one track)
  • Celtic Colours – The Second Wave, 1998 (one track)
  • Celtic Colours – Forgotten Roots, 1999 (one track)
  • Roots Music: An American Journey, Rounder 0501, 2001 (one track)
  • Songs for the Savoy, 2001 (one track)
  • Celtic Colours — The Colours of Cape Breton, 2002 (one track)
  • Celtic Colours — Volume VII, 2003 (one track)
  • The Rough Guide to the Music of Canada, 2005 (one track)
  • Yo-Yo Ma & Friends: Songs of Joy and Peace; Songs:A Christmas Jig/Mouth of the Tobique Reel; 2008 (Sony BMG)
  • Thomas Dolby: Amerikana EP, Songs:Toad Lickers and 17 Hills, 2010 (Lost Toy People, Inc)
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