Bandcamp Day (May 1st)!

On March 20, 2020, Bandcamp waived their revenue share in order to help artists and labels impacted by the pandemic. The Bandcamp community showed up in a massive way, spending $4.3 million on music and merch—15x the amount of a normal Friday— helping artists cover rents, mortgages, groceries, medications, and so much more.

But the pandemic and its impact on the music community aren’t over, so on May 1, June 5, and July 3 (the first Friday of each month), Bandcamp is waiving their revenue share again.

Bandcamp has some specific recommendations for artists on how to get the most out of these fundraiser days.

Our Musicians on Bandcamp

We thought we’d put together a list of some of the fantastic musicians who are giving lessons on our site. Please help us support them on Friday May 1 and beyond! We’ll be doing another post with more of our teachers for the Bandcamp fundraisers in June and July.

Kevin Henderson (fiddle)

Kevin Henderson comes from the Shetland Islands, an island with one of the richest fiddle traditions in the world. He plays in some of folk music’s best known bands, Boys of the Lough, Fiddlers’ Bid, Session A9, The Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, Aamos, and recently released a new album with pianist Neil Pearlman."Kevin Henderson’s fiddle playing is all effortless, grace & skill" - BBC Folk and Roots

Conor Hearn (guitar) & Maura Shawn Scanlin (fiddle)

Pumpkin Bread, a folk quintet based in Boston, MA, features the playing of Maura Scanlin, Conor Hearn, Steven Manwaring, Aidan Scrimgeour, and Jackson Clawson. The group plays original acoustic music that blends influences from traditional folk songs and fiddle tunes with modern sensibilities and intricate arrangements. In March 2019, Pumpkin Bread released its second full-length album titled "Dear Starling" with producer Courtney Hartman.

Becky Tracy (fiddle) & Rachel Bell (accordion)

In early March, 2020, Eloise & Co. headed up to Waterville, QC to kick off a tour they had been looking forward to for months. On the first night, they played a fun concert at the Community Center in Waterville. But then the world turned upside down as Covid-19 made its presence known in the U.S. The rest of the tour got cancelled, but Nicholas Williams, longtime friend and host for the weekend, generously offered to record a track for this configuration of the band to help make the travel worthwhile. It was a sweet weekend that will go down in band history, a moment of joy and focus and collective creativity before social isolation. Becky, Bethany, and Rachel hope this brings you some cheer in these challenging times!

Robbie Greig (fiddle)

Robbie Greig is an award-winning fiddle player and sought-after freelancer. Winner of the inaugural Niel Gow Scottish Fiddle Award, Robbie is in high demand as a session musician, soloist and teacher. A full-time member of three busy folk bands (The Paul McKenna Band, Tannara and INYAL).

Tannara, featuring Owen Sinclair, Robbie Greig, Becca Skeoch and Joseph Peach, have established themselves as one of the UK’s most interesting and unique contemporary folk groups. Their debut album “Trig” was released in 2016 and was longlisted for “Album of the Year” at the 2016 Scots Trad Music Awards, the same year in which the band were nominated for “Up and Coming Artist of the Year”. Their second album “Strands” was released at Celtic Connections Festival in 2019. The album was produced by Sinclair and accordionist Joseph Peach, with input and guidance from Lau’s Martin Green, and guest performances from Mattie Foulds on percussion and Josie Duncan on backing vocals.

Jenna Moynihan (fiddle) & Màiri Chaimbeul (harp)

Woven, by Jenna Moynihan

On Jenna's album, Woven, she darts back and forth like the shuttle in a loom, pulling the many strands of the Scottish fiddle tradition into a colorful tapestry that showcases her virtuosic control of her instrument as much as her deep sense of playfulness. To help her create this work, she's brought together some of the best young traditional artists in her hometown of Boston, one of today's hotbeds for new traditional music. The lineup here includes cutting-edge Scottish harpist Mairi Chaimbeul, renowned bluegrass guitarist Courtney Hartman (Della Mae), New England Celtic guitarist Owen Marshall, plus all-star guest fiddlers: Duncan Wickel, Darol Anger, and Alex Hargreaves.

One Two, by Jenna Moynihan and Màiri Chaimbeul

Jenna, from Lakewood, NY, and Màiri, from the Isle of Skye, combine to make contemporary music rooted in the melodies of Scotland and Appalachia. The pair met in 2012 whilst studying at Berklee College of Music and are a product of the thriving and rich Boston music community, and have since toured in US, Scotland, and France. Jenna and Màiri have both been heavily steeped in tradition, but their music breathes new life into old tunes and merges their wide-ranging influences into a sound that is at once grounded and adventurous. To hear Jenna & Màiri is to bear witness to conversation, connection, and expression between two of the most exciting voices in traditional music today. Their debut album, One Two was released in April 2017, and has been a widely-celebrated first release for the duo.

Dear Sienna, by Aerialists

Aerialists, featuring Adam Iredale-Gray (guitar), Elise Boeur (fiddle) & Màiri Chaimbeul (harp), combine prog-trad compositions and re-imaginings of traditional material in a deft balancing act of new and old. The music is ethereal yet precise, technical yet visceral, and every song feels like a new beginning. The group garnered JUNO Award and Canadian Folk Music Award nominations for their 2017 album Group Manoeuvre. Dear Sienna digs deeper into their distinctive neo-folk sound.

Katie McNally (fiddle), Neil Pearlman (piano)

“The new face of Scottish Fiddling in the USA" (The Living Tradition), Katie McNally has made waves in both the American folk music scene and abroad since the release of her debut album, Flourish, in 2013. Her latest project, The Boston States, synthesizes her elegant and powerful fiddle playing with the talents of genre-crossing pianist Neil Pearlman and bluegrass phenom Shauncey Ali on viola.

Fàrsan, featuring Màiri Britton (vocals, step dancing), Katie McNally (fiddle, vocals), Neil Pearlman (piano, accordion, step dancing, vocals) and Elias Alexander (border and highland pipes, whistle, percussion, vocals, foot percussion) released their debut album in 2018. Powered by four of the brightest voices in a new generation of traditional folk music, Fàrsan unites song, dance and instrumental music from the Gaelic traditions of Scotland and Cape Breton.

Jeri Foreman (fiddle)

Jeri Foreman is a highly respected name in Australian folk music. A fiddle player from Adelaide (South Australia), Jeri’s debut in the Australian folk scene was winning back-to-back Young Traditionalist’s Awards at the Victor Harbour Folk Festival, age 11 and 12. Her self-titled album, Jeri Foreman, was released in December, 2016, followed a year later by The Blue Album, which features Rachel Johnston on cello, Paddy Montgomery on guitar and bouzouki, and Gage Stead on double bass.

Lauren Rioux (fiddle)

All the Brighter is Lauren Rioux's debut solo album, a moving collection of melodies rooted in the folk tradition, some old and some new, interpreted by Lauren and her artistic collaborators. This project is homemade in the truest sense, captured in Lauren's house where she teaches music, put together by a group of friends who believe wholeheartedly in her musical passion and vision. Featuring Lauren on five-string violin and voice, with Brittany Haas (producer), Darol Anger, Mike Block, Joe Walsh, Scott Law, and Lincoln Meyers.

Róisín Ward Morrow (fiddle)

Róisín Ward Morrow is a fiddle player from Co. Louth, Ireland. She has worked with leading conductors including Gearoid Grant, David Brophy, Eimear Noone and Greg Beardsell and has studied under the tuition of Noreen McManus, Catherine Dooley and the Vanbrugh Quartet. Now with her debut album, By the Light of the Moon, Róisín is breathing new life into ancient melodies and developing her own haunting compositions. This unique album of traditional slow airs is a work of strong ambition and deft beauty, crafted through original interpretations by Ward Morrow and arrangements by Breifne Holohan.

Tim Hill (uilleann pipes)

Tim Hill, an uilleann piper based in San Francisco, released this album of traditional Irish tunes on October 20, 2019. Tim teaches Irish traditional music on uilleann pipes, tin whistle, and bodhran.

Ethan Setiawan (mandolin)

Ethan is a Boston-based mandolin player who’s won the National Mandolin Championship and the RockyGrass Mandolin Championship. His path has encompassed traditional bluegrass, Bach partitas, and free jazz. His debut album contains friends and bandmates, carefully crafted tunes, and the freshest grooves in bluegrass.

Louise Bichan (fiddle) & Ethan Setiawan (mandolin)

Louise Bichan (fiddle), Ethan Setiawan (Mandolin), and Casey Murray (cello)

In Corner House, spirited songwriting, dynamic oldtime groove, and award-winning instrumentalists combine to create a raw new sound. In September 2017 Corner House debuted at FreshGrass (North Adams, MA) and in 2018 released an EP and toured Scotland, UK. Corner House is Ethan Setiawan on mandolin and mandola, Louise Bichan on fiddle, Ethan Hawkins on guitar, and Casey Murray on cello.

Michael Roddy (pipes)

Arise & Go is an exciting Celtic trio noted for their “precision and energy”. From intimate house concerts to festival stages, the band blends traditional melodies and instruments into fresh new arrangements that are sure to excite any audience.

Lissa Schneckenburger (fiddle, voice)

Thunder in my Arms, Schneckenburger’s first release of all original music, is a song cycle about attachment and trauma. After decades as a traditional fiddler and ballad singer, her personal experience as a foster parent ignited her drive to write stories of family attachment and loss. The music can be at times brazen, resilient and triumphant, softly confessional, or warm and comforting. "Labor On" is a new single from Schneckenburger, originally inspired by the peaceful protests at the Merrimack Generating Station in Bow NH (the last large coal plant in New England without a shut-down date).

Cecilia Vacanti (fiddle)

Cecilia Vacanti is a violin multi-stylist who has experience in a wide range of music including old time, celtic, bluegrass, jazz, rock and world music. She has performed in orchestras, string quartets and a number of bands, as well as for contra dances. Cecilia recently graduated from Berklee College of Music in Boston with a bachelors in violin performance and a minor in American Roots music.

April Verch (fiddle, voice)

On April 12, 2019, Verch released her twelfth album entitled Once A Day via Slabtown Records. On this newest recording, Verch pays a heartfelt homage to 1950s and 60s classic country—a sound that may be surprising to some fans, but is integral to her musicality. Verch herself handpicked the record’s fifteen tracks, breathing life back into some of the most treasured tunes in traditional North Americana.

Jacob Warren (bass)

Westbound Situation blends the precision of classical chamber music, the rhythmic drive of bluegrass, and the colorful expression of jazz into a new style of chamber music—chambergrass. The quartet—comprised of Grant Flick on violin, Matt Davis on banjo, Zach Brown on cello, and Jacob Warren on bass—mixes composition and improvisation seamlessly into their entirely memorized arrangements.

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You can get a lesson from any of these fabulous people at ministryoffolk.com/lessons

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