Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder

Musical Kinship Leads to Personal, Professional Union for Laval and Broder

Jamie Laval stops just short of calling his relationship with personal and professional partner Ashley Broder a "fairy tale."

But even the pragmatic Laval admits that there's something magical between the two that compliments their lives both on and off stage.

"It's tempting to call it a fairy tale, because this kind of thing does not come around very often," Laval told The Daily Times this week. "A person could live five lifetimes and never have a match like this, because it really is kind of an extraordinary combination of things that work so well."

It began when Laval, a revered solo fiddler who plays a Celtic style of roots music, dedicated himself to touring as a musician after winning the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship in 2002. In roots music circles, he was embraced as a master craftsman, but he had trouble finding musicians with whom he connected professionally.

"I had a trio when I first started out, but it just wasn't a sound I was totally happy with," Laval said. "For part of 2004 and 2005, I was just picking up whomever I could when I was out on tour, and that just never worked very well. And for almost a year, I toured with no backup at all.

"My music is kind of specialized — it's in the Celtic tradition, but it has a very distinctive approach, so it's difficult to get a general backup player, which is why I ended up doing a lot of whole concerts on solo violin."

It was in Weiser, Idaho, at the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest that Laval's life would change. After performing on stage, Laval mingled with the parking lot pickers on the festival grounds. That's when he noticed the young lady who was admiring him play.

Ashley Broder had driven up to Idaho from her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., because of her own love for music. She had won the Western Open Picking Championship in 2003 and 2004 and was a collaborator of acclaimed mandolin player Mike Marshall as well as a member of several bands in the Los Angeles area.

The two started talking that night, and they haven't stopped ever since.

"We ended up talking all night, and we just enjoyed each other's company enormously," Laval said. "She invited me to do a concert at her house down in California, so I drove all the way down to Santa Barbara from Seattle and did a little concert in her living room. There, I said, 'Let's do something together.' Ashley pulled out her mandolin and, poof — off we went. That's where it all began to click both personally and professionally, in that little house concert."

Musically, Laval had found a partner with the same passion for arrangement that he had, as well as a girl whose playful spirit and desire to infuse ancient tones with modern energy complimented what he was doing.

"We love to take 200- and 300-year-old melodies and craft them into some new, exciting adventure," Laval said. "Her playfulness is very intermeshed with her personality. She has this quality of coyness and playfulness and a sort of one-upsmanship but in a fun way, which is kind of like how it is for us in everyday life. We respond to each other and challenge each other and laugh at and with each other.

"The music is really a statement of our personalities. Before, I had no personal connection with my musical partners; it was all about, 'Oh, let's get together and make this serious music and try to make it sound good. It's very difficult to separate the personal from the professional now, because right from the get-go, we were talking about the music and had a barrel of laughs. Three months later, we started to play and challenge each other musically, and at the same time we became increasingly fascinated with each other personally. So the personal and the professional were very interwoven."

Not only has Broder's presence in Laval's life added a sense of freshness to his style of Celtic fiddling, it's also opened up his eyes to other styles that he's anxious to master.

"I think that the challenging thing when you do this kind of traditional music, this fiddle music, is that it's like classical music — you want to exactly and accurately represent what the original creator had in mind," Laval said. "Very often, it can get difficult to infuse your own personality into that. As a singer-songwriter, there are very few guidelines as to what's appropriate in a certain style, so you emote automatically and pour yourself into the lyrics and music.

"That's not so easy with Celtic music. But with this new partnership, since there is that personal development between us, it's sort of like giving a fresh excitement and life into a very old style."
- Steve Wildsmith, The Daily Times Staff

You were both so incredible!!!  Our friends agreed this was, without question, the best Living Traditions show this year!!! We are so happy for you that you can be doing what you love, and we can be the beneficiaries of it!!! - Morland and Hildy Fischer, Anaheim CA

The two are a delight; they’ve got it all: talent, humor, choreography. - Sonnie Brown, San Luis Obisbo, CA

Subtle and energetic at the same time...One can only gasp in admiration. - R Wier

Evocative...Bracingly original and warmly familiar.
- The Stockton Record

I saw you this spring at Blackstone River Theater in little Rhode Island, and I thought you guys were absolutely fantastic; your fiddle-cello stuff is exquisite in particular. Bought Shades of Green straightaway and raved about it for weeks on end, too, and I'm eagerly awaiting Zephyr. - A Fan in Rhode Island

“I was not prepared for the extraordinary performance Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder delivered. Amazing instrumental interplay, impeccable musicianship, a thoughtful, varied program, and a warm, comfortable interaction with their audience added up to one of the top shows in our 10 years of presenting acoustic music at Barking Legs Theater. The appeal of this duo should extend well beyond fans of Celtic music to the wider audience for virtuosic acoustic music. We’ve already booked their return engagement!”

(Bruce Kaplan, concert presenter, Chattanooga, TN) - Bruce Kaplan, Barking Legs Theatre

“Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder performed for our concert series on March 31, 2007. WOW! Their music is sublime. They are truly world class musicians. They reach the audience on an intimate level, with an inventive, surprising, and beautiful variety of material. This delightful duo is a ‘must hear, and must see’.”

(Tim Day, San Diego Folk Heritage, Vice Chairman / Booking) - Tim Day, SDFH

Musical Kinship Leads to Personal, Professional Union for Laval and Broder

Jamie Laval stops just short of calling his relationship with personal and professional partner Ashley Broder a "fairy tale."

But even the pragmatic Laval admits that there's something magical between the two that compliments their lives both on and off stage.

"It's tempting to call it a fairy tale, because this kind of thing does not come around very often," Laval told The Daily Times this week. "A person could live five lifetimes and never have a match like this, because it really is kind of an extraordinary combination of things that work so well."

It began when Laval, a revered solo fiddler who plays a Celtic style of roots music, dedicated himself to touring as a musician after winning the U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Championship in 2002. In roots music circles, he was embraced as a master craftsman, but he had trouble finding musicians with whom he connected professionally.

"I had a trio when I first started out, but it just wasn't a sound I was totally happy with," Laval said. "For part of 2004 and 2005, I was just picking up whomever I could when I was out on tour, and that just never worked very well. And for almost a year, I toured with no backup at all.

"My music is kind of specialized — it's in the Celtic tradition, but it has a very distinctive approach, so it's difficult to get a general backup player, which is why I ended up doing a lot of whole concerts on solo violin."

It was in Weiser, Idaho, at the National Oldtime Fiddlers' Contest that Laval's life would change. After performing on stage, Laval mingled with the parking lot pickers on the festival grounds. That's when he noticed the young lady who was admiring him play.

Ashley Broder had driven up to Idaho from her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., because of her own love for music. She had won the Western Open Picking Championship in 2003 and 2004 and was a collaborator of acclaimed mandolin player Mike Marshall as well as a member of several bands in the Los Angeles area.

The two started talking that night, and they haven't stopped ever since.

"We ended up talking all night, and we just enjoyed each other's company enormously," Laval said. "She invited me to do a concert at her house down in California, so I drove all the way down to Santa Barbara from Seattle and did a little concert in her living room. There, I said, 'Let's do something together.' Ashley pulled out her mandolin and, poof — off we went. That's where it all began to click both personally and professionally, in that little house concert."

Musically, Laval had found a partner with the same passion for arrangement that he had, as well as a girl whose playful spirit and desire to infuse ancient tones with modern energy complimented what he was doing.

"We love to take 200- and 300-year-old melodies and craft them into some new, exciting adventure," Laval said. "Her playfulness is very intermeshed with her personality. She has this quality of coyness and playfulness and a sort of one-upsmanship but in a fun way, which is kind of like how it is for us in everyday life. We respond to each other and challenge each other and laugh at and with each other.

"The music is really a statement of our personalities. Before, I had no personal connection with my musical partners; it was all about, 'Oh, let's get together and make this serious music and try to make it sound good. It's very difficult to separate the personal from the professional now, because right from the get-go, we were talking about the music and had a barrel of laughs. Three months later, we started to play and challenge each other musically, and at the same time we became increasingly fascinated with each other personally. So the personal and the professional were very interwoven."

Not only has Broder's presence in Laval's life added a sense of freshness to his style of Celtic fiddling, it's also opened up his eyes to other styles that he's anxious to master.

"I think that the challenging thing when you do this kind of traditional music, this fiddle music, is that it's like classical music — you want to exactly and accurately represent what the original creator had in mind," Laval said. "Very often, it can get difficult to infuse your own personality into that. As a singer-songwriter, there are very few guidelines as to what's appropriate in a certain style, so you emote automatically and pour yourself into the lyrics and music.

"That's not so easy with Celtic music. But with this new partnership, since there is that personal development between us, it's sort of like giving a fresh excitement and life into a very old style."
- Steve Wildsmith, The Daily Times Staff

Jamie Laval is a classically trained violinist who studied at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in British Columbia and decided to further explore his Irish/Scottish roots. Armed with superb technique, fluid dexterity, and exquisite tone, his foray into Celtic music earned him the 2002 US National Scottish Fiddle Championship.

Shades of Green is a tour de force showcase for hs strong and subtle bowing techniques, his passionate attack on dance tunes from Brittany ("Danse Rustique") and the the fiery Irish reels as found on the set "A Long Journey Home." Even on such a well-worn classic as "The Butterfly" he brings a purity of tone that is unparalleled. He is backed by a top-notch ensemble of musicians including Hans York and Stanley Greenthal on guitars and Jon Hamar on bass. Toward the middle of the album, Laval demonstrates a flair for composition on the stirring slow air "Just Before Daybreak," which makes one long for more Laval originals. - Lahri Bond