'A rare level of grace, vivacity, and emotional depth' - The Boston Herald A California native, Laura Risk began playing Scottish fiddle music as a teenager. Her love of traditional fiddling has led her into a rich journey of performing and teaching the beautiful and diverse repertoires of Scotland, Cape Breton and, most recently, Québec, where she now lives. As evidenced in several highly-praised albums, her playing is extremely expressive and versatile, ranging from elegant music composed for 18th-century Scottish drawing rooms to driving strathspeys and reels suitable for a Cape Breton dance floor. Laura's new solo recording, 2000 Miles, finds her teaming up with some of Quebec's hottest musicians: Eric Beaudry (La Bottine Souriante) on guitar, Rachel Aucoin (Domino) on piano, Eric Breton (Perdu l'Nord) on percussion, and Michel Donato (Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson) on bass. The repertoire, however, is pure Scottish: driving Highland reels, melancholy Gaelic airs, and passionate Northeast strathspeys. Laura has performed with many notable names in Celtic and American traditional music, including Ensemble Galilei, The John Whelan Band, Darol Anger's 'World of Fiddles', Helicon, Scottish fiddler Alasdair Fraser, and Cordelia's Dad. She has appeared at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow and at many of North America's most prestigious acoustic music festivals, including Celtic Colours (Cape Breton), City Stages (Birmingham, Alabama), the Summer Solstice Festival (Los Angeles), Memoires et Racines (Quebec), and the Newport, Winnipeg, and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. Laura Risk's fiddle is a revelation and achingly beautiful. Ken Burns, Grammy-winning filmmaker Brilliant... Risk's fiddle dances through the music like a live thing, and you can't help but wonder if her nimble fingers have ever missed a note. Her playing is emotional, sincere, gorgeous. Rambles Magazine.
1) North Highland Reels #18 and #21 / Nine Pint Coggie / Sandy King
2) Fairly Shot of Her / the Lost Hat / Snug in a Blanket
3) The Miser / Miss Gordon of Glastirum's Reel
4) Mr. Abel Banks
5) The Bonnie House of Airly
6) Dubh An Tomaidh (The Dark Night of Tomie)
7) Tha Buaidh Air An Uisge-Bheath (The Efficacy of Whisky)
8) Master Francis Sitwell/ Lady Ann Wharton Duff's/ the Big Meeti
9) Skye Air / Another St. Kilda Song and Dance / the Dram Shell
10) My Kindly Sweetheart / the Glen Where the Dear Is / Pipe Slang
11) Duncan Lamont
12) Tha Tairm Ann Sa Ghleann (The Sound of War from the Glen)
13) Mr. Martin's Compliments / Mrs. Gordon of Knockespoch
14) Tha M'aigne Fo Ghruaim (This Gloom Upon My Soul)