Ashley Macisaac - ProfilesArchive

About Me

Ashley MacIsaac is, in a sense, the musical representative of the pre-millenial generation of Eastern Canada. An ardent traditionalist with a penchant, nevertheless, for experimentation, this 29-year-old Nova Scotian native has been taught to play the fiddle the working-class, pub-stomp Cape Breton way: fast, furious and with phenomenal precision................................................... ...............................Alternately considered a rebel, taking the old fiddling conventions in newfangled directions they were never meant to go, or a champion, reforging and recreating Celtic music with an updated, mass-appeal quality, MacIsaac has unarguably put his own spin on the sounds he was brought up with. This headstrong approach has led to MacIsaac working with an impressive array of talent: David Byrne, the Chieftans, Mary Jane Lamond, and others. Already considered something of a local legend and prodigy by the time of his impressive 1992 debut Close To The Floor, MacIsaac was not really introduced to Canadian audiences at large until he released the genre-bending Hi!, How Are You Today? in 1995. Along with nation-wide radio play for the first single, "Sleepy Maggie," featuring the dream-like Gaelic vocals of Mary Jane Lamond, and a regular slot on Canadian video channel MuchMusic, MacIsaac was soon recognized coast-to-coast as something of a minor national icon........................................................ .............................................His ability to cross the boundaries of folk, punk, garage rock, and metal, all bound together by his astonishing fiddle-playing, branded him as an eccentric, an upstart, and in many cases, a pioneer. Additionally, his refusal to conform to a quick and easy "studio image" earned him a solid fanbase. In 1998, MacIsaac released his follow-up to Hi!, How Are You Today?, a more traditional return to form entitled Fine!, Thank You Very Much. In 1999, he again pushed the boundaries of stylistic conformity with the electronic- and ambient-tinged Helter's Celtic. Following a departure from A&M later that year, the fiddler recorded the independently released Fiddle Music 101, an album of traditional instrumentals made with Halifax fiddler David MacIsaac, and he re-released his 1993 album, A Cape Breton Christmas. A move to Decca Records eventually produced 2003's accurately titled Ashley MacIsaac.................................................... ...........................................................I n April 2004 Ashley signed to Linus Entertainment, who have repackaged and released special edition versions of all the albums except Helters Celtic and the Decca album, and are releasing his brand new studio album, PRIDE, on September 27th, 2005. Produced by Ron Lopata and John JK Kanakis, the album is a bold step in a new direction - for the first time Ashley has abandoned his fiddle in the studio and has delivered a remarkable album, emerging as a singer-songwriter with a pop rock edge........................................................ ....................................................... found this plain layout at HOT FreeLayouts.com

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Member Since: 13/05/2007
Band Website: www.ashleymacisaac.net
Sounds Like: Hi How Are You Today? 1995 Including: The Devil in the Kitchen, Beaton' Delight Strathspey, Sad Wedding Day, and more ............................................................ .................................... Pride 2006 Including: Revolution, Because You Love Me, Love 'Em, and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - eMusic - J & R Music and Computer World - all 11 stores Â» ............................................................ .......................................... Ashley MacIsaac 2003 - 2 reviews Including: Save Me from Tomorrow, Fairy Dance, The Wedding Funeral, and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - Napster Music Service - Tower Records - all 9 stores Â» ............................................................ .................................................... Close to the Floor 1992 Including: Livingstone Pond/Long Point/Campion, Miss Lyall's/Miss Lyall's/Sandy Cameron's/Carigoim Broach, Lament for Prophet/Moxham Castle/Children's Reel/Dublin Reel, and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - eMusic - ARTISTdirect - all 8 stores Â» ............................................................ ..................... Fine Thank You Very Much 1998 Including: Jerry's Beaver Hat/Catherine MacIsaac Wedding Day/Long Point, Tam Bain's Lum/The Ladie's Hornpipe, The Braes of Elchies/Miss Anderson/The New Yorr/Rothiemurchus ..., and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - Rhapsody - Tower Records - all 9 stores Â».......................................................... .................................................... Live at the Savoy 2003 Including: Constitution Breakdown: The Old Man and the Old Woman (Le Vieux ...), The Spin and Glow & The Squirrel in the Tree Jig Set, Memories of Willie D Chisholm, and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - Napster Music Service - ARTISTdirect - all 10 stores Â» ............................................................ ................................................. A Cape Breton Christmas [Special Edition] 2005 Including: God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Fiddle Medley: the March of the Cameron Men/The Glencoe March/The ..., Ciuin an Oidhach (Silent Night), and more... ............................................................ ............................ Helter's Celtic 1999 Including: Johnny Cope, Oh Yes I Yes I Am, Fairy (Including Tullochgorum), and more........................................................ ................................................... Fiddle Music 101 2000 Including: Reels [Square Set], Tunes in F, Jigs 2 [Square Set], and more... Buy album: iTunes Music Store - Napster Music Service - ARTISTdirect - all 7 stores Â» ............................................................ ........................................................ Fine Thank You Very Much [Special Edition] 2004 Including: The Devil in the Kitchen [CD-ROM Track], Wilfred's Fiddle /The Harbourview [Jig[, Tam Bain's Lum /The Ladie's Hornpipe, and more... ........................................ ............................................................ ....................................................(Ashley Macisaac Book" Fiddling With Disaster: Clearing the Past".....................................There is nothing disasterous about this novel. Ashley MacIsaac was raw, edgy and above all truthful when re-telling his life. A book that is the best autobiography I have ever read. If you know who Ashley MacIsaac is, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Fiddler, gay, crack addict, and East Coast. Chances are you thought of all four. Mr. MacIsaac does not dispute any of these and at long last was able to have his say on his life. A poignant look at his life, his way. His thoughts on fame by 18, being the first to break the East Coast music mold, MacLeans crashed and burned his 'high' by plastering across the country he was gay. He discusses in depth how this made him and how he dealt with it.......................................................... .............................................. His book is very prolific and tells everything about him in a realstic yet controversial in some ways, too. He admits to disliking to do most shows he does but that he relished every show he did pre-fame with hi how are you today....................................................... ........................................................... Many people will read this and probably still think he is a nutcase but I still beleive he is an incredible musician. No one can ever dispute that. He put East Coast Music on the map and made it 'cool' and he has fused the fiddle and rave music together . . . something no one has ever done before, and probably never will. The drugs made Ashley destitute but it was the music that lifted him above it, and put him back on track. Want to know the real Ashley MacIsaac, the one outside the media? Read this book, it may just change your mind.
Record Label: unsigned
Type of Label: Indie

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