Fiddle and guitar will blend with fine vocals tonight.
On-tour from eastern Canada, Kelli Trottier and Greg Simm weave traditional Celtic with contemporary country folk, bluegrass, western swing and jazz at 7 tonight at SAGA Public Art Gallery.
Step-dancing since she was four and fiddling from the age of nine, Trottier comes from a family of musicians, from her grandparents, her father who plays fiddle and her mother who plays piano.
Any family gathering in the Ottawa Valley home where she grew up featured the sounds of fiddles and the piano.
And the music was taken outside the home too as Trottier, her parents and her two sisters performed at many community events.
“It gave us a taste of giving to the community and sharing,” Trottier says, noting she attended university, where she earned a teacher’s degree.
Not wanting to give up her music for a total commitment to the classroom, the 46-year-old fiddler was a supply teacher for six years.
“I played music as a hobby,” she laughs. “I got really busy with the music – it happened in spite of myself.”
Simm is a Dartmouth, NS-based freelance musician, producer, composer, arranger, and music educator.
Trottier has high praise for her touring partner, describing his guitar playing as incredible.
The two met through a mutual friend and musician and liked the way their music blended.
While their show features a potpourri of genres, nothing is cast in a formal program.
“We do a little bit Celtic, some country, whatever strikes our fancy, rather than pigeonhole ourselves” she says. “We want to enjoy our shows as much as anybody.”
Tickets for tonight’s show are $15 at the door.
