Kyle Carey to present 'Gaelic Americana' in concert
Skidmore alumna Kyle Carey '08 will present a concert titled "Gaelic Americana" at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, in the Arthur Zankel Music Center, Ladd Concert Hall. Admission is free and open to the public.
Carey developed a love of music early in her life and this love - of making and sharing
music - followed throughout her Skidmore years. After she graduated, music remained
a focal point for Carey, as she traveled to Cape Bretton, Canada, under the auspices
of the Fulbright program to study Scottish Gaelic language and song.
On Sept. 12 she returns to campus to perform. Carey's songs take us from the hills
of Appalachia, to the shores of Cape Breton, to the Highlands of Scotland. Her musical
journey began while working as a waitress at Caff Lena, America's most prestigious
folk venue, where she was able to listen, every weekend, to the best in folk, and
culminated this past year in western Ireland, where she recorded her debut album.
Her earliest musical memories come from the Alaskan Bush, where she was immersed in the Yupik language and its songs. By college, she had already started molding her songwriting and performing skills, traveling afterwards to Cape Breton on a Fulbright Fellowship to study traditional Gaelic and Cape Breton fiddle styles. She struck up a friendship with fiddler Jerry Holland, and wrote songs such as The Star Above Rankin's Point, based on a short story by Cape Breton author Alistair MacLeod. The language and culture fostered by the music of both Cape Breton and the Appalachians led Carey to the Isle of Skye in Scotland, where she deepened her study of Gaelic song and achieved fluency in the language. Under the tutelage of songstress Christine Primrose - a native of the Isle of Lewis, and one of Scotland's respected traditional singers - she learned the secrets of pronunciation, tone, and delivery displayed in the traditional Scottish waulking song, Gaolaise Gaol I.
Skillfully produced by the legendary Irish guitarist Donogh Hennessy (Lunasa) in his
West Kerry studio, Carey's debut album Monongah features Athelone-based guitarist Neil Fitzgibbon, Pauline Scanlon (Lumiere) and
Aoife Clancy (Cherish the Ladies) on harmony vocals, Cape Breton fiddler Rosie MacKenzie
(The Cottars), Brendan O' Sullivan (Groda), old-time fiddler Cleek Schrey, Appalachian
expert John Kirk (Quickstep) on mandolin and banjo, and Trevor Hutchinson (The Waterboys)
on double bass.
Click here to visit Carey's web site.
Click here to read how Creative Thought Matters to Carey.