~~ The Cottars » Biography

January 3, 2006
Folk's fresh faces: Six acts poised for an '06 breakthrough
By Daniel Gewertz Music

Folk music is the ultimate indie genre. It lies so far from the music industry's star-making machinery that predicting future stars is like picking an American League pennant winner based on farm league reports.

Despite the folkie belief in purity, it takes a lot more than talent to make it. Physical appeal, youth and industry connections are far more important than the local folk mafia lets on. Some likely stars have been kicking around for years. Why isn't the stylish, sexy and witty Brian Webb a star?And what about Jake Armerding - will 2006 be the year this rootsy whiz-kid charmer moves from folk club popularity to crossover success?

If it were based on talent alone, Boston's Americana gem the Eilen Jewel Band would be huge along with winsome April Verch, the Canadian fiddler/singer who has a new Rounder CD due in February.

So who - like Peabody's Ryan Montbleau did in 2005 - is ready to go from small club to large? Here are six folk acts to watch in '06.

- The Cottars. Together for five years, these Cape Breton teens will release their first American album on Rounder Records in two weeks and then join The Chieftains for a 23-city tour. The Cottars used to be prepubescent adorable. Now, ages 15 to 17, they're on the verge of teen sexy. Their brilliant Celtic folk has added a hint of pop, and their beseeching vocals offset the instrumental excitement.

- Antje Duvekot. Born in Germany, Duvekot has recently moved from Vermont to Somerville. New manager Ralph Jaccodine has arranged for the personable singer to open a bunch of high-profile shows for his other client, Ellis Paul. Duvekot possesses unique lyrics, melodic flair, a nicely daffy style and — it can't hurt — she's beautiful, too. Maybe her next album will capture her best gifts.

- Girlyman. Just another Asian/Jewish New York City folk-pop trio.They sing beautifully, and their shows are lots of fun. With two CDs on Indigo Girl Amy Ray's Daemon label and a recent tour with Dar Williams, Girlyman's bound to grab more adoring fans in 2006. In March, they openClub Passim's anniversary show at Sanders Theatre.

- The Duhks. How many Canadian fiddle bands get a full-page color photo in Rolling Stone? OK, it was a Chevy ad. But the fact that they were chosen for a 'Year in Rock' car calendar says a lot. The Duhks' merging of haunting Americana vocals, bracing rhythms and folk-stringed finesse is fresh.

- Anais Mitchell. A scratchy, piquant little voice, a strange way with a sentiment, an expressiveness that reflects and goes beyond her youth: Vermont's Mitchell is an original. Perhaps manager Gabriel Unger will have some of the luck he had with Lori McKenna. She appears with another young talent on the rise, Kate Klim, Saturday at Club Passim.

- Meg Hutchinson. After winning or being a finalist in a slew of major songwriting contests, this local gal, with producer Crit Harmon's help, has made a moody CD worthy of her evocative, writerly gifts: 'The Crossing.' She plays Jan. 14 at Club Passim.

January 5, 2006
FORERUNNER: The Cottars (3 STARS)
by Dan Aquilante

UP in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, the Cottars, two brother-sister pairs, had trouble deciding on their sound, so they took the kitchen-sink approach.

On 'Forerunner,' there's plenty of Celtic stomp, American mountain music and nods to songwriters like Tom Waits. The Cottars' cover of Waits' bad-luck piano ballad 'Georgia Lee' is the most striking piece on this disc.

Despite that, the Celtic suit remains the band's strongest. If that's not clear from the Irish polkas, jigs and airs, the Chieftains have even chosen them to warm up their upcoming concert tour that concludes at Carnegie Hall on St Paddy's Day.

January 13, 2006
The Cottars Share The Stage With The Chieftains In Shreveport, Louisiana -- The Shreveport Times

The Chieftains, the Irish legends of Celtic music, will share The Strand's stage on Tuesday with some promising Canadian up-and-comers, The Cottars. And to the ears of Chieftains' founder Paddy Moloney, the future of Celtic music is alive and well.

'It's unbelievably strong,' said Moloney, who heard evidence while listening to The Cottars play for him at a recent award ceremony in Edinburgh, Scotland. 'What fascinated me about the evening was the young singers carrying on the tradition. The Cottars, unbeknownst to them, have kept the tradition going that's been handed down to them.'

That's no small praise from a man sitting atop the Celtic music world. The Chieftains have earned six Grammys and 12 nominations during their 40-plus year career. For the current round of Grammys, 'Live in Dublin: A Tribute to Derek Bell' was nominated in the best traditional folk album category.

Shreveport marks the beginning of The Chieftains' 2006 tour of the United States. No member of The Cottars, a four-part band from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, is older than 18. Touring with legends is nearly unbelievable.

'I don't think it registered the first time I heard it,' said Cottars member Ciarán MacGillivray. The Cottars have performed with The Chieftains for two special concerts before, but this will be the first time they share the road. MacGillivray is not feeling the pressure.

'It drives you to excel,' he said. 'You feel like you want to do better in the company of those you look up to.'

He said concertgoers who don't know much about Celtic music can find something to love in the program. What's old can sound new to new ears.

'We work off of traditional music that's hundreds and hundreds of years old. I think it's important that people get a sense of this music,' he said. 'But the other major aspect is trying to make it continually interesting to the listener. We haven't ever played the same song in the same way twice. We're always adding to it. We're always adding a different lick or a different chord.'

The Cottars will likely play three or more of their own songs, but The Chieftains will be on stage for most of the evening, often sharing it with more guests, like step-dancers Jon and Nathan Pilatzke and harpist Triona Marshall.

Moloney looks forward to introducing all the acts, especially The Cottars, to Shreveport. 'I'm always looking to the young people to bring something new,' he said. 'Their wild stuff is amazing.'

January 15, 2006
The Cottars just keep getting better (CD Review)
By Patrick Langston, Ottawa Citizen

Three albums since debuting four years ago, and Cape Breton's the Cottars just keep getting better. Rooted in tradition (jigs, Irish polkas and the like), their latest also explores wonderful new territory including a couple of Tom Waits tunes and the sad, lovely Waterlily by contemporary Scottish songwriter Karine Polwart. Noteworthy too is Cottar member Ciaran MacGillivray's arrangement for piano of the traditional Irish air Sliabh Na mBan, its lilting folk melody embellished with classical romantic overtones. None older than 18, the Cottars (to brother-and-sister teams) mesh seamlessly throughout the album.

January 17, 2005
The Road to Carnegie Hall
Cape Breton quartet releases new CD, tours with The Chieftains and plays renowned New York music hall on St. Patrick’s Day
By ANDREA NEMETZ, Haliax Herald

THE STARS will align perfectly for The Cottars on Saint Patrick’s Day this year, says band member Ciaran MacGillivray.

On March 17, the talented young Cape Breton folk quartet will play with Irish music legends The Chieftains at New York’s Carnegie Hall.

'It’s the No. 1 Irish group on the No. 1 Irish Day at the No. 1 concert venue in the U.S.,' said the 17-year-old, reached at his home in Albert Bridge, the day before the group was to fly to Louisiana for the start of a 23-date tour with the six-time Grammy winners.

'I’ve wanted to play Carnegie Hall from the beginning of my music career. I remember when I was four or five years old saying I wanted to play there and my parents saying ‘Well if you work, you might end up there.’ I think they said it more to encourage me to work hard. But I never imagined that it would really happen. It will be the show of a lifetime.'

The U.S. tour begins tonight at The Strand Theatre in Shreveport, La., and wraps up at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on March 18.

'It’s amazing (to be playing with The Chieftains),' says an exuberant Fiona MacGillivary, 16, who with Roseanne MacKenzie, 15, and her brother, Jimmy, 18, of Baddeck, round out The Cottars.

'They’re like Celtic music gods to us. We’ve been listening to them for as long as I can remember. My parents would play their music to help Ciaran and I get to sleep when we were infants.'

Since they learned they’d be touring with the Celtic kings about six months ago, they’ve been brushing up on The Chieftains’ material. Ciaran was sent a CD by the Chieftains of tunes they wanted him to learn so he could accompany them on piano. 'It’s an interesting compilation of music with six or seven songs, including some old material, some fiddling tunes, some Southern tunes, some bluegrass tunes.'

Besides keyboards, Ciaran plays guitar and flute, while Fiona is the lead vocalist and plays whistles, harp and bodhran. Roseanne plays fiddle and is the stepdance leader and Jimmy plays rhythm guitar.

The group will sing with The Chieftains on the Gaelic tune Jimmy Mo Mhille Stor, which The Chieftains originally did with The Rankins (and recorded on their 1999 CD Tears of Stone). 'It’s a soft flowing song, with a beautiful arrangement and three-part harmony,' says Ciaran.

The Cottars, who first performed together in 2000 and won an ECMA as best new group in 2003 for their debut release Made in Cape Breton, will also perform some of their own material and expect to do some stepdancing. 'Paddy Moloney loves stepdancing,' says Ciaran.

The tour coincides with the release of their new CD Forerunner, recorded at Sound Emporium in Nashville with fellow Cape Bretoner Gordie Sampson as producer and at Lakewind Sound Studio in Cape Breton with Ciaran and Fiona’s father Allister sharing producing and arranging duties.

Forerunner, released in the U.S. on Jan. 10, is the first CD released under the group’s multi-album contract with Rounder Records (home of Bluegrass star Alison Krauss, among others). Featuring 12 tunes, including songs by Ron Hynes, Tom Waits, Scotland’s Karine Polwart and Sinead Lohan, as well as traditional numbers arranged mostly by Allister, it will be in stores in Canada today.

'We stayed with Gordie Sampson and got a real glimpse of how they record in Nashville, which is still the heart and soul of music. We were so excited.'

Fiona says going over records with Sampson in Nashville last fall was like being at a Cape Breton party.

'We’ve jammed with him a lot, but this is the first time we’ve worked with him on a record and he’s amazing.'

Fiona picks Hynes’ soulful Atlantic Blue about the heartache that follows a death at sea as her favourite song on the album. 'I adore the song, it’s very Maritime and addresses a serious issue. As soon as I heard it, I knew we had to do it.'

Ciaran singles out Waits’ aching Georgia Lee, about a troubled, young girl found dead in a small grove of trees, with its haunting chorus 'Why wasn’t God watching, why wasn’t God listening, why wasn’t God there for Georgia Lee' as his favourite to have both recorded and to listen to.

'It’s a heart-wrenching song. I remember a lonely cello and a dark piano in the background and feeling tears in the back of my throat listening to it. I’m really proud of the way it turned out. It reminds me of The Briar and the Rose.'

The Briar and the Rose, another Waits tune, has become a signature of sorts for The Cottars. They stole the 2003 ECMA broadcast with a live performance of the song at Halifax Metro Centre and earned a Gemini nomination in the category of best performance in a variety program or series.

'I’ve always told people I think Tom Waits is one of the most important songwriters of the century. He writes about important issues, things groups would have second thoughts singing about,' says Ciaran.

'Both my father and I are huge Tom Waits’ fans, it’s something about the mix between his beautiful lyrics and melodies and gruff voice,' says Fiona, noting a few years ago the group would have been too young to record a song about so serious a subject, but it fits with their growing maturity.

While the teens may be growing up, they still have to take homework on the road.

Fiona is in Grade 11 at Riverview High and Ciaran in Grade 12, while Roseanne is in Grade 10 at Memorial High and Jimmy, who took last year off because of illness, is completing courses by correspondence.

They’ll be back home in February and will do their exams then. And wherever the group tour, members make it a point to take in the sights and visit museums, says Fiona, along with sampling the local delicacies.

'In Louisiana, we had crawdads and fried chicken. In Japan, we had raw liver.'

January 18, 2006
CD review: The Cottars
By Mario Tarradell / The Dallas Morning News

A FAMILY AFFAIR: From the windy island of Cape Breton in Nova Scotia comes the Cottars, a quartet comprising two sets of teenage siblings. Fiona MacGillivray, 16, is the group's lead singer. Her brother, 17-year-old Ciarán MacGillivray, plays keyboards, guitar and flute as well as arranges and writes some songs. Then we've got fiddle player Roseanne MacKenzie, the youngest member at a mere 15. Her brother, Jimmy MacKenzie, 18, picks the rhythm guitar.

FOLK MEETS CELTIC MEETS POP: Forerunner, the Cottars' U.S. debut album, sparkles with beautiful musicianship, pure singing, airy melodies and the contagious energy of Celtic instrumentation. There's a folk simplicity to many of the songs, particularly the gorgeous CD opener 'Waterlily,' as well as a slight pop sheen that can be heard on the catchy, drum-heavy closer 'Hold On' (co-written by Tom Waits). In between, we get plenty of traditional Celtic numbers that showcase the foursome's instrumental prowess.

BOTTOM LINE: As Nickel Creek brought a young, aggressive vibe to bluegrass, the Cottars should infuse Celtic-folk-pop with a splash of youthful vibrancy.

January 19, 2006
Still chiefs of Celtic music
By Shirley Jinkins, Star Telegram

FORT WORTH -- After 42 years, The Chieftains and their guest artists are still defining Celtic music with dignity and clarity in a Riverdance-crazed world. Not that there's anything wrong with a bit of step dancing.

Their Wednesday show at Bass Performance Hall, which has become a frequent stop for the popular band in traditional-music-loving Fort Worth, wasn't short on footwork. The second half of the concert was climaxed by dancers, a couple of bag-pipers and America the Beautiful.

The Chieftains' current tour is in honor of the Derek Bell, a longtime member who died in 2002, and they've managed to fill that huge void with guest artists. But then, the Dublin band has made its international reputation on its penchant for and proficiency in playing with all manner of artists from The Rolling Stones to Ry Cooder.

As always, founder Paddy Moloney's definitive style on the uillean pipes formed the backbone for most of the music, although his haunting tin whistle is almost as much a trademark. Matt Molloy's standard flute on Easter Snow and Rites of Man was inspiring as was Kevin Conneff's spirited bodhran (a goatskin drum) and ditty of a song, The Salt.

The Chieftains were almost overwhelmed by their guest band The Cottars, four Nova Scotian teens. Ciaran and Fiona MacGillivray and Roseanne and Jimmy MacKenzie are two brother-sister duos who electrified the audience with their vocal harmonies and dancing.

One of the night's most familiar guests to local audiences was country-bluegrass musician Jeff White, a regular with Vince Gill and Lyle Lovett whose recording credits also include The Chieftains' Down the Old Plank Road albums. His Country Blues offering was a highlight of the first half.

Canadian brothers Jon and Nathan Pilatzke combined wicked step dancing with Jon's fiddling, and harp purists in the audience enthusiastically applauded the solo turns of guest Triona Marshall.
GRADE: A

January 19, 2006
Cottars grab chance to join idols
By Carl Hoover, Tribune-Herald

When Ciaran MacGillivray says he and his sister Fiona have heard the Chieftains since they were born, he's not joking: a Chieftains album was playing in the background during his birth and, a year and a half later, his sister's.

Sixteen years later – Fiona's 16, Ciaran 18 – the two musical natives of Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, find themselves opening for the Chieftains on the Irish band's American tour.

'Is that fate or what?' Ciaran asked rhetorically in a phone interview from his Canadian home.

The MacGillivrays, half of the contemporary folk-pop-Celtic band The Cottars, only started performing professionally four years ago. Their native Cape Breton boasts a strong tradition of Celtic music – from Scottish immigrants in the early 19th century – and so does The Cottars' music, a blend of traditional Scottish and Celtic tunes, with fiddle and tin whistle accents, with folk and contemporary pop from such songwriters as Tom Waits.

To open for one of the world's most famous bands in their style of music, well, Ciaran is close to bursting into song.

'It's like preparing for the greatest opportunity of our lives. It's a huge dream come true,' he said.

The MacGillivrays grew up in a musical household and met a similar brother-sister act, Jimmy and Roseanne MacKenzie, at a public performance at a Cape Breton festival in 2000.

A second chance meeting led to an improvised jam session together where the four realized how well their talents meshed: Jimmy, age 18, on guitar, Ciaran on keyboards, Roseanne, 16, on fiddle and Fiona on lead vocals and tin whistle, her brave, clear soprano cutting straight to the heart on folk ballads.

They agreed to combine forces and The Cottars – the name for Scottish peasant farmers – were born in 2001.

Sibling understanding creates an intuition in The Cottar's onstage performances, Ciaran noted. 'Some internal magic can happen when the duos play off each other,' he said. In 2003, the group's performance of Tom Waits' 'The Briar and the Rose' led them to walk off with top honors at the East Coast Music Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Two self-produced albums and performances throughout Canada and the United States later, The Cottars find themselves signed to the influential folk-independent recording label Rounder Records.

Oh, and playing with that Irish band in places like Waco's Hippodrome Theatre.

'What's the weather like there?' Ciaran asked. Told warm and really, really dry, he laughed in delight. 'Oh, I love it.'

The Cottars' tour with The Chieftains likely will boost the band to a new level of visibility, but Ciaran seems to take it all in stride.

The Cottars' spring tour with The Chieftains ends with a St. Patrick's Day concert at Carnegie Hall – the perfect close to a perfect opportunity.

'The stars are aligned,' Ciaran said.

January 21, 2006
Welcome back Cottars; Cape Breton kid quartet getting older
New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal

Like all kids, the Cottars seemed cute when they started out. In 2001, their high-pitched voices and rosy cheeks overshadowed their talents. Now that the two brother-sister pairs have grown up a bit (they now range from 15 to 18), the sweetness is taking a back seat to a whole lot of talent.

The new disc Forerunner (Rounder) sees the group jump up a major level, from Canadian sensations to world players on the folk music stage. Recently signed to Rounder Records, perhaps the most important folk label, The Cottars have caught the ears of The Chieftains, who have tapped the group to open a U.S. tour this month.

While the band follows in the footsteps of Cape Breton family acts The Rankins and The Barra Macneils, there's a belief they'll be the ones to really break through on the international stage. Forerunner is produced by Gordie Sampson, who has recently made his mark by writing songs for Faith Hill. Sampson has helped the Cottars add some modern elements to the traditional Celtic tunes, adding in significant, but not overbearing, touches.

An old tune such as Byker Hill would normally be just a showcase for four-piece a capella harmonies, but Sampson shoots it up with electronic percussion and acoustic power chords.

For songs, the group goes further than the Cape Breton playbook, wisely tapping the catalogue of Ron Hynes, with his masterpiece Atlantic Blue. Cello sets the mood, but right alongside it is a distorted electric guitar. It's not loud enough to bother anyone but it's noticable enough to say 'This isn't a straight folk act.' There's nothing especially different about The Cottars, if you're a Maritimer.

You hear pretty much the same act as several other bands, although the youngsters are certainly talented and have now entered the top ranks, along with Natalie and Great Big Sea. This is all a blessing if you're a Celtic fan living on the East Coast; now we'll get to see whether The Cottars have found the magic formula of just the right amount of old and new to break past the Canadian border.

January 24, 2006
Spontaneous instruction
By Chris Connors, Cape Breton Post

SYDNEY – With two award-winning albums to their name, glowing accolades from the biggest names in the business and shows in places like Japan, the teenage members of The Cottars have had the sort of hands-on musical education that few people receive in a lifetime.

But on their current tour, The Chieftains frontman Paddy Moloney is putting everything the quartet of musical wonderkids has learned over the past five years to the test — and teaching them a few new lessons to boot.

It seems that after more than 40 years of seeing and doing it all, the man who formed Ireland’s most popular and enduring band will go to any length to keep his shows interesting. And for the sibling pairs of Ciaran, 18, and Fiona MacGillivray, 16, and Jimmy, 18, and Roseanne MacKenzie, 16, that means always being ready for anything, whether it’s stepping through an impromptu dance routine, accommodating a last-minute set change or performing a spur-of-the-moment request from the audience.

'I can tell you that Paddy is definitely teaching every one of the Cottars how to be spontaneous,' Roseanne, the group’s fiddler, said last week during a telephone interview from Fort Worth, Texas, where the band had performed the second show in a 23-city U.S. tour with The Chieftains. 'The way Paddy does things, these guys, these amazing musicians, they’re there to have fun — no other reason. I don’t think they want any kind of stress involved, they just want to have a good time and perform a good show.

'We do practise and it feels really comforting to go onstage when you really know what you’re doing and you can really have fun. With The Chieftains, you’re learning to go onstage not knowing what the next number is, not knowing what’s going to happen, and it becomes a thrill on its own.'

Fortunately, The Cottars are quick studies, a quality that caught the adoring ear of Canadian singer John McDermott (he invited the precocious young musicians to open up for him after meeting them in 2001, then released their first album, Made in Cape Breton, on his Bunnygee Music label), and a trait once clearly on display with their third album, Forerunner.

Co-produced by Gordie Sampson at Sound Emporium in Nashville and Fiona’s folk legend father Allister MacGillivray at Sampson’s Lakewind Sound Studio in Point Aconi, it’s the band’s first album since signing a multi-album deal with major roots label Rounder Records. And not surprisingly, it’s also their most mature effort to date, mixing traditional arrangements like The Honeysuckle Medley and Sliabh Na Mban with more grown-up fare like covers of Georgia Lee — a Tom Waits song about a young girl’s death — and Ron Hynes’ Atlantic Blue, which tells the story of love lost at sea.

The fact that the band is now comfortable tackling such heart-wrenching material further signals their musical evolution, something the Boston Herald referred to in a piece that hailed The Cottars as one of six folk acts poised for a breakthrough in 2006 while noting their transition from 'prepubescent adorable' to 'the verge of teen sexy.'

'We were kind waiting to approach songs like Georgia Lee and we thought maybe we reached the age where that sort of thing is appropriate now,' said Fiona, who teams with her brother on vocals on the track, which crackles with the same emotional energy she brought to Waits’ The Briar and the Rose (their rendition brought down the house at the 2003 East Coast Music Awards in Halifax and landed the group a Gemini nomination for best performance on a variety show.) And Hold On, another Waits song, is also on Forerunner, which was released in Canada last week.

'My father and I are really big Tom Waits fans so these songs have been swimming in our heads for years and to have a chance to finally do it was very exciting,' explained the singer who is even more excited about the band’s upcoming show at Carnegie Hall with The Chieftains on St. Patrick’s Day.

'We used to go to New York, actually, and have our picture taken in front of Carnegie Hall, never thinking that we’d get to play there, that it was some kind of distant dream that would always be in the back of our heads,' she said. 'But finally being able to do it is extremely exciting. We don’t even know how to wrap our minds around it.' Added Roseanne: 'I don’t think that it really has sunk in yet. It’s such a dream. You always think that someday, maybe if I work hard, you’ll end up there, but you never really believe you will. It’s just unbelievable.'

February 4, 2006
The Cottars confident, expressive on Forerunner
By STEPHEN COOKE, Halifax Chronicle Herald

THE THING ABOUT young musical acts is you have to gauge both their current talent, and their potential to blossom into something more extraordinary in the years to come. For example, look at the difference between the work of a young Judy Garland and, say, the oeuvre of Aaron Carter, who recently released a Greatest Hits CD.

Let’s just say the odds of the Aaron Carter career retrospective box set appearing decades from now are slight at best.

With the Cape Breton quartet The Cottars, the bar for their potential was set high from the very beginning, and consistently raised with each release and tour.

How appropriate that the dual duos of brothers and sisters — Jimmy and Roseanne MacKenzie and Ciarán and Fiona MacGillivray — should call their third CD 'Forerunner' (Rounder), after a mystical spirit that sometimes appears in anticipation of life changing events. Although in this case, it’s for the audience that’s bound to spring up in the wake of this CD’s exuberant exploration of folk tradition, with polished contemporary overtones.

In many ways, 'Forerunner' revisits what has worked for The Cottars in the past — traditional Cape Breton tunes, modern folk songs and a dash of Tom Waits — but the results are that much more confident and expressive, and it’s not impressive just because their ages hover somewhere between 16 and 19.

Listening to Fiona and Ciarán duet on Waits’ heartbreaking 'Georgia Lee', which starkly questions the heavens about the death of an abandoned street youth, you hear the pathos in the lyrics without having them rendered over-dramatically. And while we’re on the topic of Waits — after all, Tom Waits for no man — even the beatnik bard himself couldn’t have foreseen his Mule Variations ballad 'Hold On' transformed into a buoyant celebration of life. It’s a great way for The Cottars to cap the album and build expectations for their next studio venture.

Some relatively new singer-songwriters benefit from the quartet’s treatment, like Scotland’s Karine Polwart, whose Waterlily opens the disc. The song was inspired by the story of writer Colin MacKay, whose wife was killed in Bosnia while he was in the process of obtaining her visa to Scotland. The tune is elegiac, but not mournful, and the group’s harmonies lift an already beautiful number to new heights.

The group hasn’t abandoned pure traditional playing either, although a song like 'Byker Hill' has an almost rock edge in its hard chords, and you can hear a pop lilt underlying instrumental sets of polkas and dances. It doesn’t detract from the quartet’s playing however, it just adds to the sense of drive and enthusiasm.

The Cottars have been working hard to establish an international reputation with exuberant performances, Forerunner will solidify it.

March 6, 2006
God bless The Chieftains
By KELLY-JANE COTTER, Gannett New Jersey

Upon hearing that his interviewer makes sure to see The Chieftains in concert every March, band leader Paddy Maloney interjects, 'Ah, for your penance, then. God bless you.'

Don't be fooled by such quick-witted blarney. Maloney, who for more than four decades has been at the helm of the world's most popular Irish band, is well aware of The Chieftains' enduring appeal. He takes the band's innumerable awards seriously — during the course of an interview, he brings up The Chieftains' latest Grammy nomination as well as a Juno award — and he reads reviews after concerts, noting a recent headline in a Texas paper: 'The Chieftains still chiefs in Celtic music.'

You'd think he could rest on his laurels after all this time, but no. Maloney and the other core members — Sean Keane, Kevin Conneff and Matt Molloy — maintain a rigorous touring schedule and continue to challenge themselves with collaborations and with different forms of world folk music. In recent years, there has been an added emphasis on dance.

Jean Butler, who went on to fame in 'Riverdance,' toured with The Chieftains as an Irish step dancer. Her younger sister, Cara ('We call her 'Legs,' ' Maloney says), succeeded her.

'We like to bring in the local dancers, too,' Maloney says. The Chieftains give stage time to local troupes, allowing students to share the stage with professional dancers.

On this year's tour, The Chieftains welcome The Cottars to the stage. The Cottars — two pairs of teenage siblings from Cape Breton in Nova Scotia — perform traditional Celtic music as well as covers of songs by Tom Waits and Sinead Lohan. The group takes its name from the term given to the Scottish immigrants who brought Celtic music to Cape Breton. They were laborers who lived in cottages, hence 'Cottars.' (Their Irish equivalents were known as 'Cotters.').

Fiona and Ciaran MacGillivray joined forces with Roseanne and Jimmy MacKenzie after meeting at a festival. The Chieftains took note during a visit to Canada.

Ciaran MacGillivray had 'an out-of-body experience' when he first heard Maloney introduce him from the stage. 'I'd listened to The Chieftains since forever,' he said, 'so to be on stage with them was the most unbelievable thing.'

'Celtic music is dying out a bit, even though we're an incubator for it here in Cape Breton, where we're so cut off,' Fiona MacGillivray says, 'so we feel it's our responsibility to bring younger people to it. It comes from such an ancient culture; I think people anywhere can identify with it and appreciate it.'

The Chieftains and The Cottars perform at 8 p.m. Thursday at the State Theatre, 15 Livingston Ave., New Brunswick. Tickets are $55, $45, $35 and $25, available by calling (732) 246-7469 or at www.statetheatrenj.org.

Because of the area's large Irish-American population, the tour also hits virtually every other big theater in the region.

The Chieftains play at 8 p.m. March 10 at McCarter Theatre, 91 University Place, Princeton. That show is sold out. For info, call (609) 258-2787 or go to www.mccarter.org.

On March 12, The Chieftains play Verizon Hall at the Kimmel Center, 260 S. Broad St. at the Avenue of the Arts in Philadelphia. The matinee show begins at 3 p.m. Tickets are $79, $69, $59, $49 and $39. For info, call (215) 893-1999 or go to www.kimmelcenter.org.

As usual, The Chieftains will spend St. Patrick's Day in New York, with a March 17 concert at Carnegie Hall's Isaac Stern Auditorium, 57th Street and Seventh Avenue. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $75, available through (212) 247-7800 or www.carnegiehall.org.

On March 18, The Chieftains wrap up the season at Prudential Hall at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, 1 Center St., Newark. Show time is 8 p.m. Tickets range from $22 to $66, available through (888) 466-5722 or www.njpac.org.

March 10, 2006
Keeping the music alive
BY BILL CRAIG, Richmond Times Dispatch

It's been a pretty good year for Jimmy MacKenzie, Roseanne MacKenzie, Ciaran MacGillivray and Fiona MacGillivray, the two Canadian brother-sister pairs who make up The Cottars.

Not only did the Boston Globe describe the group as 'one of the hottest acts in the folk world today,' but journalists are falling all over themselves to heap praise on The Cottars' 2006 release, 'Forerunner'.

And The Cottars are currently opening shows for the legendary Chieftains on a tour that will bring them to Richmond on Wednesday before concluding with a St. Patrick's Day concert at Carnegie Hall.

Oh, by the way, many of us have socks older than the oldest Cottar. Jimmy and Ciaran are 18, while the females in the group are both 16.

The Cottars' sound is a stunning blend of traditional Celtic/Scottish music and contemporary folk delivered by guitar, piano, whistle, banjo, accordion, bodhran and flawless vocals.

Residents of the music-rich island of Cape Breton, The Cottars (the name derives from a Scottish term for peasant or laborer) are committed to keeping the sounds of their native Nova Scotia alive and well.

'That's part of the reason we started,' Fiona MacGillivray explained by phone from a Washington hotel room.

'Celtic music is really starting to die out, even in places like Cape Breton, which is unusual because Cape Breton is so isolated and cut off from the rest of the world that it's been kept relatively pure.

'Even there, it's starting to evaporate a little bit. We're just trying to make sure that it doesn't become extinct completely. We're hoping we're spreading the gospel.'

The quartet has discovered that there's an upside and a downside to being a band of teenagers attempting to spread the gospel of traditional music.

'It's kind of a strike against us and kind of a plus,' Fiona said. 'It's so hard to be taken seriously as essentially a kids' band. Before people have seen us or talked to us, they judge us by the fact that we're kids. We really want to be taken seriously, and that's the reason we strive so much to progress musically and advance our showmanship.'

Compelling examples of The Cottars' musical progress can be found on the 12 fabulous cuts of 'Forerunner,' highlighted by Irish-based numbers such as 'Miss Casey Medley' and 'Pat Works on the Railway', the Cape Breton sound of 'The Honeysuckle Medley' and a well-chosen pair of Tom Waits tunes.

'We felt like that was a natural progression for the band,' Fiona said. 'We're still very strongly rooted in traditional Cape Breton music, but including those contemporary songs is an important step for us to take.'

It's appropriate that The Cottars' breakthrough tour is with The Chieftains. That group's music has been part of Fiona's life since the beginning. Literally.

'When I was being born, the doctor told my folks they could play any music they wanted in the background. They picked the Chieftains-Van Morrison album they had in their collection.'

So how do you balance the demands of building a promising career in music with the demands of being a high school student?

'We go to public school, but we miss a lot of time,' Fiona said.

'We keep our marks up. We take our work with us and take tests when we get home. I just finished writing exams before I went on this tour. We just take a lot of sick days.'

March 10, 2006
Moloney proves timeless Chieftain
By Daniel Gewertz, Boston Herald

The musical St. Patrick’s Day invasion of Boston is under way and that means the Chieftains are here for their annual Symphony Hall concert tomorrow.

Don’t go expecting a stage full of elderly musicians playing all-Irish fare. The guests are frequent nowadays, and the musicians explore divergent Celtic styles. And youth is key, with opening act the Cottars, a riveting band of Cape Breton teenagers.

'I have no real fears anyone will take our thunder,' said the always merry Paddy Moloney, chief Chieftain for the past 44 years. 'We’re still the anchor of the show.

'If there’s any way we can help out younger musicians and introduce them to our audiences, we will,' he said from a New York hotel room. 'Natalie MacMaster almost became another Chieftain at one stage. The dancer Michael Flatley started out with us.'

Those wild and crazy Canadian brothers, Nathan and Jon Pilatzke, will astonish the crowd again tomorrow with their loose-jointed, near-berserk brand of step dancing.

'We’ve stuck with good, traditional Irish music,' Moloney said. 'Now, you might say, ‘Oh, come on! What about recording with the Rolling Stones and Sting?’ But the guests come to our party and give their interpretation of our music. Once you get hooked on this music, there’s no turning back. We’ll go down with our boots on.'

BEYOND THE CHIEFTAINS: Niamh Parsons may not be the most famous Irish balladeer, but many feel she’s the best. This rare singer is both emotionally haunting and tonally as clear as crystal. She celebrates the release of her sublime new album, 'The Old Simplicity,' with her great guitarist Graham Dunne, tomorrow at 8 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Church, 630 Massachusetts Ave., Arlington. Call 781-862-7837.

April 5, 2006
The Cottars - 'Forerunner' Rounder Records
by Fred Kuhr, IN Newsweekly:

And now for the flip side of the Cape Breton coin, we have The Cottars, the band that The Boston Herald called one of the six folk acts poised for a breakthrough this year. That's high praise for two teen brother-sister pairs that just released their U.S. debut on a local indie label, Cambridge, Mass.-based Rounder Records. But as far as mixing traditional Celtic sounds with folk and soft rock, this foursome hits all the right notes.

The Cottars are lead vocalist Fiona MacGillivray, 16, multi-instrumentalist and arranger Ciaré¡n MacGillivray, 18, guitarist Jimmy MacKenzie, 18, and fiddler Roseanne MacKenzie, 16. And they successfully blend traditional Irish jigs, like 'Honeysuckle Medley' and 'Pat Works On The Railway,' with sweet ballads beautifully sung by young Fiona, including disc opener 'Waterlily' and 'Send Me A River.' Then there's the pop sensibility of disc closer 'Hold On,' one of two tracks co-written by tunesmith Tom Waits. And you just gotta love a track that is simply titled, 'Some Polkas.'

Their experience and connections belie their young age. They were discovered by singer John McDermott while he was in Cape Breton filming the PBS special 'A Time To Remember.' And after they released their 2002 Canadian debut, 'Made In Cape Breton,' they preformed at Rhode Island's Newport Folk Festival. And executive producer Gordie Sampson, a fellow Nova Scotian and a singer-songwriter in his own right who is quickly becoming a Nashville staple, knows exactly how to bring out the best in this young group.

Unfortunately, you probably missed seeing The Cottars in person when they performed last month at Boston's Symphony Hall. But if you are a fan of bands like Great Big Sea, the Corrs and Leahy, and artists like Natalie MacMaster and, yes, Ashley MacIsaac, The Cottars will fiddle their way right into your heart.

Spring 2006
TAYLOR GUITARS Wood & Steel Magazine hails Forerunner's 'Excellent guitar work...'

TAYLOR USED:
614ce, 610ce, 314ce

You might not know a jig from a gigabyte, but you’ll feel like dancing when you hear the Cottars barreling through one of their infectious fiddle-and-pennywhistle-driven medleys. Forerunner, the group’s third album and their debut on the legendary Rounder label, abounds with instrumental virtuosity and outstanding sibling vocal harmonies. Topping the cake are the sweet lead vocals of Fiona MacGillivray, whose voice and delivery are easily comparable to those of Alison Krauss, despite the fact that she is only 16 years old (all of the group members are still in their teens).

These young multi-instrumentalists — two brother-and-sister pairs — are from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, a relatively isolated part of Canada that has remained a stronghold of Scottish culture since the 18th Century. The Cottars draw heavily on the music of their heritage for inspiration, but one of the things that makes them so enjoyable is their ability to infuse contemporary songs with traditional stylistic elements.

A good example is their version of the achingly sad Tom Waits ballad, 'Georgia Lee'. Fiona and her brother Ciarán sing this song with wonderful depth of feeling, and the band’s dynamic arrangement sensitively underscores the story of a young girl who died too soon. Like several other modern tunes on the CD, 'Georgia Lee' nestles comfortably between the folk songs, blending with them effortlessly, and thus, extending the form.

Excellent guitar work by the two boys lends sparkle and rhythmic drive to nearly every song on the CD. I think of Nickel Creek when I listen to the Cottars. Although their styles are quite different, both groups evoke a similar sense of wonder that such young musicians can render performances this intense, passionate, yet precise. In addition to lead vocals, Fiona also contributes whistle, bodhran, and step dancing. Ciarán plays guitar, piano, and he also step dances. Roseanne MacKenzie provides some terrific fiddling, whistle, harmony vocals, and step dance, and brother Jimmy MacKenzie plays guitar, banjo and some rollicking bodhran.

The Cottars are currently touring with Irish music stars, the Chieftains, a move that should help them rise to the level of prominence they truly deserve. They already have been touted by the Boston Globe as 'one of the hottest acts in the folk world today.' Forerunner might just be their ticket to a wider audience.

— Andy Robinson

May 12, 2006
Respected UK Journalist Pete Fyfe praises Forerunner for its 'brooding intensity'

Having (in some cases) spectacularly cast off the sickly sweet image they had in their earlier stages Canada’s The Cottars have really come of age with this, their third recording.

Comfortably filling the shoes once worn by The Rankin Family, Ciaran & Fiona MacGillivray and Roseanne & Jimmy MacKenzie have smoothed any rough edges that were evident on their first two albums. Right from track one, ‘Waterlily’ the listener is left in no doubt that the group as a whole have matured with a brooding intensity I haven’t heard since the days of Deanta. For a sixteen year old you’d be forgiven for thinking that Fiona was a lot older than her years such is the choice of her repertoire. As well as the Karine Polwart opening track, there are songs by Tom Waits, Kathleen Brennan and Sinead Lohan each weighty songwriters but stamped by The Cottars crystalline harmonies you can see the group as a thinking man’s Corrs. The country music feel that is evident throughout the recording sees the Cottars firmly getting to grips with the commercial aspect of their careers and although I can see it alienating some of their original following I personally think they’ve made a wise decision. Having said that, they haven’t forsaken the tradition just yet with some wonderfully dextrous instrumentals performed on whistle, fiddle, piano and guitar and with songs such as ‘Byker Hill’ and ‘Pat Works On The Railway’ there’s plenty here for the serious folk enthusiast. This album could well prove a turning point in the quartet’s rise to greater rewards – I certainly hope so!

May 15, 2006
The Cottars: Celtic With a Twist
by Kerry Dexter

Forested mountains and windswept shoreline, isolation and warm welcome, silence and music: Cape Breton holds all these contrasts gracefully from its position at the far northeastern part of the province of Nova Scotia in Atlantic Canada. These, and one other: For all that, it is a modern-day island with the benefit of Internet connections and the trials of a resource-based economy in the age of electronics. It is also a place where heritage, the history of family, the history of Cape Breton, and the history of those who traveled from Scotland and Ireland are living and well-loved parts of daily life -- in the traditions, in the stories, and in the music.

Fiona MacGillivray, Ciaran MacGillivray, Roseanne (Rosie) MacKenzie, and Jimmy MacKenzie, who have joined together to form the band called the Cottars, know that music well, and that landscape, and those silences and family welcomes, and the contrasts. Although none of them has as yet reached 25 years of age, a few moments' conversation with any of the four reveals an accomplished, thoughtful, and mature musician with a good sense of humor about being still in the stage between being taken seriously for what they have to say musically and being regarded as a kids' band. Get them playing together and there's no doubt that these are confident artists, full of fire and joy, respect and love for their heritage, a willingness to put their own stamp on that knowledge, and an eagerness to see what's next on their musical paths.

They formed the band about six years ago. 'Cape Breton's a pretty small place,' Jimmy said, 'and everybody runs into everybody. So we were both playing, me and my sister, and the other two, as duos. We met at this festival and kinda hit things off, got along great, and things rolled along from there.'

The four musicians have strong backgrounds in the Scots history of Cape Breton music. They chose their band name, for example, from an old Scots term for workers or small farmers, many of whom came to Cape Breton to settle during the Highland clearances in 17th-century Scotland. The band's recorded work and its live shows reach out from that powerful base, though. There are songs from many parts of Ireland, as well as covers of such contemporary writers as Tom Waits, Dougie MacLean, and Karine Polwart. Without bending or breaking any of these traditions, to each song the Cottars give their own stamp.

'Contemporary with a Celtic twist, I like to say,' Ciaran said.

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