From Andrew's Facebook post, August 5, 2023
"I HAVE to out my little sister's pandemic project because it's just too good not to share! Of course we come from the same musical family, although our particular backgrounds and pathways are quite different. I've been around a lot of traditional Appalachian and Celtic music for most of my adult life; to the point where it's hard to imagine that it's not pervasive everywhere else. My daughter Madi's deep dive into Celtic and oldtime fiddling these last couple years just feels like one of the natural and normal pathways a young musician might take living here in Virginia.
But, my sister is the one with the classical training, mad sight-reading skills and all of that. She sang the lead in “Pirates of Penzance” in high school, and currently is one of the flutists for their local Bangor Band (and has a ball doing it).
Over the last couple years she started doing some cool video projects of traditional folk songs with a friend and neighbor in Maine who happens to be a displaced Appalachian fiddler and multi-instrumentalist from east Kentucky. While I know there is a lot of traditional music in northern Maine (hello Quebecois!), I imagine that he's really happy to be able to share some of his repertoire with someone locally. They've done a lot of different kinds of traditional tunes together. And I've been quietly cheering her on because she is NOT one who seeks the spotlight about anything, but she's clearly been having fun and of course, her musicianship shines through in any setting.
I'm mighty glad she gets to play music with Neil Caudill, and they've already made lots of fun - and brilliant - art together. On the first tune Aly plays a penny whistle duet and the flute as well as unleashing that lovely voice, and the second one is a pair of New England dance tunes that are very similar to the oldtime fiddle tunes we play here in our house. OK, she's revved up because she makes her debut playing spoons. Classical training has many uses!
I finally can't contain myself any longer, so at the risk of getting one of THOSE messages, this here's my sis."