Ashley MacIsaac

Born in Creignish, Inverness County, Nova Scotia, Ashley MacIsaac belongs to the Cape Breton fiddle tradition while opening it up to more contemporary forms, sitting between Celtic folk, rock and touches of hip-hop. Active since the early 1990s, he first released Close to the Floor in 1992 and A Cape Breton Christmas in 1993, before gaining wide attention with Hi™ How Are You Today? in 1995, notably through “Sleepy Maggie,” featuring Mary Jane Lamond’s Scottish Gaelic vocals. His fiddle playing is energetic and percussive, grounded in traditional music codes while incorporating pop structures and a more frontal stage intensity. His subsequent releases include Fine, Thank You Very Much (1996), Helter’s Celtic (1999), Ashley MacIsaac (2003), Pride (2006), Crossover (2011) and FDLER (2016) with Jay “Sticks” Andrews. Ashley MacIsaac has also crossed into other scenes, touring with The Chieftains and collaborating with BKS, Bruce Hornsby, Howie MacDonald and Dave MacIsaac. Three Juno Awards mark this trajectory, which remains tied to a personal and often hybrid reinterpretation of the Canadian Celtic repertoire.