Chrissy Crowley

Artist Information

Biography

As a Canadian fiddler with a firm foundation in the traditional music of Cape Breton and the irrepressible curiosity of an artist driven to create and discover, Chrissy Crowley is now bringing her music worldwide. She has performed throughout Canada, the United States, as well as Ireland, Scotland, Cuba, and the Dominican Republic, captivating audiences with a talent that belies her youth. Chrissy's new release, the second recording for the 20-year-old artist, is aptly named "The Departure". Her music is in a new direction; a path of fearless innovation which has earned the fiddler three consecutive Canadian Folk Music Award nominations, a Top 20 Under 20 in Canada award, and numerous East Coast Music Association and Music Nova Scotia nominations and showcases. Chrissy has been described as “…rapidly gaining a fearsome reputation among the cognoscenti of Celtic fiddling. Her playing is fiery and has a distinctly mischievous personality” .(Tim Readman, Penguin Eggs Magazine).”

Her first recording, released in 2007 when she was 17, heralded the emergence of a fascinating new talent. A Sonicbids “Artists Spotlight” honour and various MNS and ECMA showcases including the 2008 “Rising Star” showcase, were acknowledgement of her great potential as was her selection as the CBC Galaxie's Celtic Artist of the Month (May 2009). Her highly anticipated second album, released in 2010, did not disappoint. Many fans expected a recording of the traditional tunes of her repertoire, and were pleasantly surprised to discover that Chrissy had recorded a mixture of new and old. Chrissy’s original compositions and her experimentation with various instruments and contemporary arrangements acoustically expressed her irrepressible free spirit. With a new album to be released this winter, and just back from tours in the United States, Ireland, England, and France this past summer, fans can only expect more.

Now living in Sydney, Chrissy is originally from the beautiful Margaree area of Nova Scotia, Canada, a place known for its cherished musical culture. The music of the ceilidh resonates in the majestic mountains and peaceful valleys incorporating not only the tunes of the Scottish Gaels but also those of the area's Irish and French-Acadians. Chrissy has been inspired by the traditions of artists who have gone before. She has embraced the music of her Celtic roots and made it her own.
(Written by Lisa Butchart, Offshore Gael Music)

What people are saying………..
“ Chrissy Crowley doesn't just set the stage on fire; she sets it ablaze. Crowley has it all as she demonstrated to a full house of wet music lovers at Celtic Colours on Friday night. She has the talent, energy to burn, her own sound, she writes her own powerful tunes, she's beautiful, funny, great with the audience and blows the roof off of every venue she plays. It wouldn't be a leap to say that Ms. Crowley will be the next international superstar of the Cape Breton fiddle, following in the steps of “old-timers” Natalie MacMaster and Ashley MacIsaac.” Rankin MacDonald, Inverness Oran, 2012

"A seriously swinging Cape Breton Fiddler. Some things just seem predetermined, inevitable, unavoidable. And so it is with the chosen vocation of one Chrissy Crowley. Born into a large family steeped in the ways of Celtic music, this unfeasibly young fiddler has taken on the twin mantels of both protecting and promoting the sounds of her native Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, the region where Celtic music prospers thanks to the Scottish, Irish and French-Acadian backgrounds of its residents. It's when she picks up her fiddle that she undertakes the true ambassadorial role, the sound of Cape Breton history emerging with every thrust of her bow. While technically flawless, Chrissy's playing also swings along with a sense of youthful mischief, while her natural curiosity will surely see her expanding the Cape Breton tradition in years to come. For now though, give your ears and heart over to a spellbindingly precocious talent."
Nige Tassell The Guardian (UK) 2012

“ As a fiddler with a firm foundation in the traditional music of Cape Breton and the irrepressible curiosity of an artist driven to create and discover, Chrissy Crowley is now bringing her music to world audiences. "“…rapidly
gaining a fearsome reputation among the cognoscenti of Celtic fiddling. Her playing is fiery and has a distinctly mischievous personality." Tim Readman, Penguin Eggs Magazine, August 2007

“…the first fruits of the endeavors of a brilliantly gifted teenager who has been sufficiently impassioned by traditional music to teach herself to play, and sufficiently steeped in it to produce work that has genuine riches of its
own… There’s a great deal to celebrate in the fact that Cape Breton music is being carried on in the hands of young musicians like Chrissy Crowley, manifestly respectful of its heritage, while finding ways to keep it contemporary and fresh.” Ray Templeton, Music

Instrumentation

Ian Hayes - Guitar
Jason Roach - Piano
Darren McMullen - Banjo, mandolin, whistles

Discography

"The Departure" (Offshore Gael Music ~ 2010)

Debut recording "Chrissy Crowley" (Offshore Gael Music ~ 2007)

Celtic Colours International Festival Compilation CD (Odyssey Records ~ 2007)

Chrissy is featured on Pius MacIsaac's recording "The Greatest Gift" (Pius MacIsaac Music ~ 2005)

Official Website

http://www.chrissycrowley.com/

Links

• MySpace
• Facebook
• Twitter

Audio

• The Doppelganger
  Listen  
• Officer McGruff
  Listen  
• Senor MacAulay
  Listen  
• The Departure
  Listen  
• The Jigstrareel
  Listen  

Lyrics

• .

Video

Photo Gallery

Press

• Fiery playing, mischievous personality, fearsome reputation..." [+ Show ]
  

  Chrissy Crowley Offshore Gael Music Here comes the latest young Celtic musician to emerge from...Chrissy Crowley
  
  Offshore Gael Music
  
  Here comes the latest young Celtic musician to emerge from Cape Breton, NS. Chrissy Crowley’s credentials are impeccable, being the granddaughter of Newfoundland fiddler Bill Crowley and Cape Breton fiddler Archie Neil Chisholm. She is actively involved in the music of the island at all sorts of levels: playing, learning, teaching and performing, and is rapidly gaining a fearsome reputation among the cognoscenti of Celtic fiddling. Her playing is fiery and has a distinctly mischievous personality. She has soaked up the influences of her Newfoundland-Scottish heritage and is now pouring out music like there’s no tomorrow. Her accompanying musicians include Gordie Sampson on guitar and Troy MacGillivray on piano. What do they feed them on out there in Margaree, Cape Breton? Whatever it is, I want some!
  
  – By Tim Readman
  
  
  

• Rollo Bay Fiddle Festival 2006 [+ Show ]
  

  Chrissy Crowley from Margaree Cape Breton will be another one to watch as she is very much at home w...Chrissy Crowley from Margaree Cape Breton will be another one to watch as she is very much at home with the likes of Jerry Holland and Raymond Ellis of Inverness, both older and more accomplished fiddlers. And not much wonder they say with the likes of Archie Neil Chisholm and Angus Chisholm in her genes! ---
  Anne McPhee, Sept 2006

• Clan Chisholm quotes [+ Show ]
  

  Juliette and Ben Chisholm-Broomfield: " Wonderful Fiddle Player up there with the best". The Cla...Juliette and Ben Chisholm-Broomfield: " Wonderful Fiddle Player up there with
  the best".
  
  The Clan Chisholm Society:" Brilliant Musican we are looking for more from
  Chrissy"....."Chrissy performed at our International Clan Chisholm Gathering
  in July 2006 in Inverness, Scotland.
  

• fRoots Review April 2008 no. 298 [+ Show ]
  

  Here’s a new name in Cape Breton fiddling. Chrissy comes from the Margaree area, one of the most vi...Here’s a new name in Cape Breton fiddling. Chrissy comes from the Margaree area, one of the most vibrant centres for this wonderful Scots/Irish derived music. She has fiddlers on both sides of her family going back to at least to her great-grandparents. If the expectation would be thtat she would play the fiddle, it would bit might not have been expected that she would play this good--- and this is exciting dance music by any standard. There is no attempt to make this anything other than straightforward traditional music for dancing; strathspeys, reels and jigs all played at appropriate dancing tempo and mainly to that heavily syncopated piano accompaniment that characterises Cape Breton dance music and if some of her repertoire is quite familiar then we can concentrate on the tremendous flair and technique of her playing.
  
  And here’s a big cultural difference...From the cover photo, we can see clearly that here is a very young musician, yet nowhere in the booklet or on her website is there a reference to her age. It took a trawl through reviews on Canadian newspaper websites to reveal the fact that she is only seventeen. Imagine the hype in Britain that would surround a musician of this age producing an album of this quality! Somehow in Cape Breton it’s “Well she’s the granddaughter of Bill Crowley on one side and of Archie Neil Chisholm on the other side; so of course she is good!”
  
  Vic Smith
  

• Fiddling is in Chrissy Crowley's genes [+ Show ]
  

  February 17, 2007: Archie Neil Chisholm’s granddaughter looking to impress at ECMAs By Laura Jean...February 17, 2007:
  Archie Neil Chisholm’s granddaughter looking to impress at ECMAs
  By Laura Jean Grant, the Cape Breton Post
  
  HALIFAX — Chrissy Crowley is aiming to impress the East Coast Music Awards crowd this weekend. And the 17-year-old fiddler from Margaree will have lots of opportunities to do just that with several scheduled performances including a coveted spot on the Roots Room showcase stage, Friday night at Casino Nova Scotia in Halifax.
  
  “I really want to impress people,” she said, before taking the stage for a sound check.
  
  Crowley’s manager, Lisa Butchart, founder of Offshore Gael Music, an independent production, artist development and promotion company based in Ontario, said it’s appropriate that Crowley is getting her first big break at the ECMAs this weekend.
  
  Butchart explained that while in Sydney for the 2005 ECMAs she suggested Crowley as a fill-in when another fiddler she was helping was unable to do a spot at the 72-Hour Jam.
  
  “That was actually the first time I ever saw Chrissy perform was at the 72-Hour Jam. I think it was eight in the morning on a Saturday,” she recalled. “But I was really impressed with her poise and her ability and right then and there decided to help her with a demo.”
  
  The granddaughter of one of Cape Breton’s most legendary fiddlers, Archie Neil Chisholm, Crowley actually didn’t pick up the fiddle until she was 12 years old after hearing a performance by New Brunswick fiddler Mike Hall.
  
  “I just fell in love with it and I started playing the next day and I played for hours and hours every day,” said the Grade 11 student at Cape Breton Highlands Academy, noting she taught herself how to play.
  
  Crowley recently released her self-titled debut album which features some of the region’s biggest names in the music industry.
  
  “I have the best musicians on it.I have Gordie Sampson, Ryan MacNeil, Troy MacGillivray, Timothy Chaisson, Patty Gillis, Pius MacIsaac, and Brian Doyle,” she said.
  
  As for the future, Crowley said she’s taking her career in the music industry one day at a time. She said she’s not necessarily looking to be the next Natalie MacMaster adding with a laugh “but that would be nice.”
  
  “I want to have fun with it, that’s for sure,” she said.
  
  Crowley will perform during the 72-Hour Jam this afternoon and at The Old Triangle Pub tonight as part of Inverness County at the ECMAs, presented by the Strathspey Place.
  
  
  

• Chrissy Crowley CD review [+ Show ]
  

  Chrissy Crowley After several years spent visiting the Canadian Maritimes and soaking up the rich...Chrissy Crowley
  
  After several years spent visiting the Canadian Maritimes and soaking up the rich fiddle tradition there, you come to know the names of power that summon an immediate impression of musical excellence. Look for MacMaster, MacIsaac, Fraser, MacDonald, Chisholm, MacGillivray, Rankin and -- well, the list does go on a bit. I'm pleased to add a new one to the list: Crowley.
  
  Christine Crowley is a young Margaree fiddler who, until now, has escaped my notice. Where have you been hiding, Chrissy? She certainly has the fiddling gene that is typically passed down through generations of Maritimes natives; in this case, from her Cape Breton grandfather Archie Neil Chisholm and her Newfoundland grandfather Bill Crowley. Astonishingly enough, this 17-year-old fiddler is largely self-taught, observing local fiddlers and listening to home recordings of her formidable ancestors at play before availing herself of the ample opportunities for instruction throughout Cape Breton.
  
  This self-titled CD is a shining example of the heart and backbone of the East Coast tradition. That means the tune sets are drawn primarily from Scottish and Irish sources, with local compositions standing proudly among them. The arrangements feature Chrissy's deft hand on fiddle, with support from the standard backing duo of piano and guitar. And, if it's possible to judge a musician by the people who surround and support her, Chrissy has a long and rich career ahead of her; produced by local music legend Fred Lavery, the recording boasts the musical talents of Troy MacGillivray and Ryan MacNeil on piano and Patrick Gillis, Tim Chaisson, Gordie Sampson, Brian Doyle and Pius MacIsaac on guitar. It's a "Who's Who" of grand Cape Breton proportions.
  
  The nine instrumental tracks are expertly played, without the bells and whistles dominating so many young performers' music these days. As such, it's an immensely satisfying package.
  
  I'll be back in Cape Breton in the not-too-distant future. Perhaps I should spend a bit more time in Margaree.
  
  by Tom Knapp
  Rambles.NET
  9 June 200
  
  

• Music Reviews- Chrissy Crowley [+ Show ]
  

  The Chisholm family of Margaree Forks, Inverness County is legendary in Cape Breton music circles. ... The Chisholm family of Margaree Forks, Inverness County is legendary in Cape Breton music circles. Angus Chisholm was one of the most influencial fiddlers of his generation. His brother Archie Neil was a wealth of Cape Breton history and storytelling and a well-known dance fiddler who changed from left-hand to right-hand playing after damaging the finger on his left hand. In the next generation, Maybelle Chisholm has been an innovative and sought after piano player. Cameron Chisholm, although reclusive, is revereed in Inverness County fiddling circles, as is his sister Margaret, who put on the most memorable display of Cape Breton fiddling that I've ever witnessed at Glendale in 1977. Maybelle's son Brian Doyle is one of Cape Breton's finest guitar players. Into this storied genealogy comes Chrissy Crowley, granddaughter of Archie Neil Chisholm and Newfoundland/Irish fiddler Billy Crowley.
  On her self-titled debut recording this Margaree teenager has lived up to her lineage. She presents a selection of fiddle medleys that touch on the Cape Breton and Irish traditions and she includes some of her compositions as well as tunes by John Morris Rankin, Brenda Stubbert and Gordon Duncan. Her playing is strong and melodic and although I may be committing Cape Breton heresy, I believe leans a touch more to the Irish side than to the sound of the Chisholm family. I must say I don't find anything wrong with that.
  This talented young player is joined on her debut effort by Ryan MacNeil and Troy MacGillivray on piano and Gordie Sampson, Patrick Gillis, Timothy Chaisson, Brian Doyle, and Pius MacIsaac on guitar. The CD was produced by Fred Lavery in Lakewind Sound. Chrissy Crowley has already performed in Scotland and the United States, and should enjoy success as one of the phalanx of young musicians emerging from the Cape Breton scene.
  -John Ferguson May 2007

• Catherine L. Tully review [+ Show ]
  

  by Catherine L. Tully Artist: Chrissy Crowley Album: "Chrissy Crowley" Year produced: 2007 I...by Catherine L. Tully
  
  Artist: Chrissy Crowley
  Album: "Chrissy Crowley"
  Year produced: 2007
  
  If you love a terrific fiddle and are looking for a fresh face, check out this self-titled debut album by the talented Canadian musician Chrissy Crowley. At 9 tracks, it almost seems too short, but she manages to pack each song full of sound, so it does leave one fairly satisfied, if a bit hungry for more.
  
  Evidently the fact that Chrissy became a fiddler was not much of a shock to her family, as she had grandparents that created recordings of their playing which both inspired and instructed the young lady in the finer points of this musical instrument. When you listen to her you'd be pretty shocked to find out that she is a member of the "under 20" set, as she has studied hard and become quite good in a short amount of time; and she is primarily self-taught too.
  
  The fiddle is the star of the show here and other instruments are only around to support Crowley's play--which is a good way to go. Tracks such as "Dodging Potholes" show off this lady's skill as she executes some pretty difficult moves with her bow; a pleasure to hear her soar through. Should be interesting to see what is next for her--good to begin with--she can only get better from here! There's nothing like new talent on the horizon...
  
  

• Emerging Cape Breton Young Fiddler [+ Show ]
  

  Chrissy Crowley, is a young celtic fiddler from Margaree, Cape Breton, emerging on the music scene....Chrissy Crowley, is a young celtic fiddler from Margaree, Cape Breton, emerging on the music scene. She is a traditional fiddler and recording artist who has recently released her self-titled debut album in February 2007. Chrissy is one of the new generation of fiddlers, those who are inspired by the traditions of artists who have gone before. She has embraced the music of her celtic roots and has made it her own. She is the grandaughter of fiddlers Bill Browley and Archie Neil Chisolm and her large extnded family has always greatly valued the traditions of of their Scottish forebears and their Newfoundland/Irish ancestors.
  
  As a young girl, her desire was to become a fiddler and listened intently to her family's home recordings of the vibrant sessions in which legendary musicians participated, including her great uncle, Angus Chisholm and cousins Cameron Chisholm and Margaret (Chisholm) MacDonald. Chrissy remains a largely self-taught artist, absorbing the rich musical culture of the Margaree area of Nova Scotia in which she lives by listening to the local players and learning by observation.
  
  As Chrissy emerged on the music scene, she was honoured as a young musician, to receive an outstanding piano student award in Cape Breton. As a result, she extended her scholarship opportunities and took advanced fiddle instructionfrom master artists of Cape Breton, Ireland and Scotland. She remains in demand at the various traditional music venues throughout Nova Scotia. She performed at various festivals such as in Cape Cod, Ontario and PEI. She played for a command performance at the Clan Gathering for the Chisholm Clan Chief in Scotland.
  
  Her music is heard on radio in Atlantic Canada and performed on a CBC TV special. Chrissy won a showcase at ECMA 2007 in Halifax and performed in several events during the week-end event in Febuary. Her 2007 performing schedule is now filling up, including The Cape Cod Celtic Festival in June and the Crowley Clan Gathering in Cloankilty, Ireland in Sept. 2007. Rave reviews have been received from various media outlets for Chrissy's outstanding fiddle playing and she is definitely a star in the making. For more information regarding Chrissy and her music, refer to her website, address posted above.
  
  
  Profile By: John Gavin
  
  
  

Setlist

Sets consist of traditional tunes of the pan-celtic repertoire (i.e Cape Breton, Scotland, Ireland) and original compositions.


Chrissy Crowley ?Stage Plot & Technical Rider 2010

Monitors

? 4 wedges on 4 separate mixes

Microphones and DIs
- 1 Shure SM-58 and stand?- 1 Shure SM-57 and stand?- 3 Active DIs?
Stage req.
• AC stage left for keyboard. Keyboard provided by venue. Must be ROLAND 700NX or ROLAND 700GX
• ?Input List

1 Mandolin (DI)
2 Acoustic guitar (DI)
3 Banjo (SM- 57)
4 Fiddle (XLR)
5 Keyboard (DI)
6 Vox (SM-58) Chrissy

Basic Requirements

PDF Rider

Stage Plot/ Rider

Calendar