Fiddle Playing

You play the fiddle then. Yup, I started playing fiddle when I was 7 years old. I maintain a busy schedule as a freelance fiddle player on the Dublin music scene, recording and performing with a great number of traditional, roots and bluegrass bands and as a hired gun for musicals and functions. Well-known artists with whom I have performed include the Manic Street Preachers, Mary Coughlan, Don Baker, Bill Whelan, Eleanor McEvoy and Ronan Hardiman (Lord of the Dance). TV and radio appearances include The Late Late Show, The Works, The View, The Apprentice, Arena and TG4’s ‘Roisin’.

One of the bands that keeps me busiest as a fiddle player is a roots outfit called The Whole Hog. Each weekend we perform our unique blend of country, trad & alt rock in hotels, pubs and barns (seriously) the length and breadth of Ireland.

The Whole Hog – Fiddle in the Band

I also play with The Lazy Band, The Enda Reilly Band, Clara Rose, The Sugarmoon Boys, The Cabin Crew (Cabin Sessions house band) and whoever else will hire me. I do a lot of recording with other songwriters as a fiddle player and can create bespoke string arrangements (see below). Happy to do this for almost any song as long as it’s not in G flat 🙂

Check out my current EP, Letters to Loved Ones, to hear some of my recent string arrangements.

Do you teach violin? Yes, at Waltons New School of Music, Dublin 2. I also work for the Waltons Irish Music for Visitors Programme and their Outreach project.

What’s somebody with a degree in classical music doing playing country and folk fiddle? I’m a bit of a mongrel stylistically; I have classical training – and I was even a first violinist with the Dublin Symphony Orchestra for several years – but when I discovered trad, country and bluegrass I felt like I’d found my spiritual home. So I just immersed myself in country music, went to sessions and picked up every scrap of musical vocabulary I could from recordings The good thing about being a half-breed is that I’m comfortable reading, improvising or playing by ear- which comes in very handy on recording sessions, playing for musicals or jamming along with songwriters I’ve just met! For recording rates please contact cathymcevoymusic@gmail.com