Castlebay
Who is Castlebay?
Since 1986 Castlebay has been weaving together Maine's nautical and British Isles legacies transporting their audience through time and across the Atlantic. Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee have loved and researched traditional music for most of their lives and blend history, legend and experience into their personable performances. Finely crafted ballads with evocative imagery and beautiful melodies depict Maine characters, history, and life close to the elemental beauty of the sea and shore. Their renditions of traditional and original songs are supported with Celtic harp, 12-string guitar, fiddle & woodwinds
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Julia Lane, singer, songwriter, and folklorist, has been playing the Celtic harp since 1989. Self-taught, she rapidly became a skilled and exciting player, winning the Senior Professional division at the New Hampshire Scottish Games Harp Competition in 1990 and 1991 and the International Folk Harp Competition at Stonehill College in 1992. Julia has done extensive research in folksong archives throughout New England and is currently transcribing songs from the Flanders Collection at Middleburg College, Vermont. This audio archive has over 3000 songs, 900 collected in Maine.
Fred Gosbee, singer, songwriter, and storyteller, plays classic and 12-string guitar, violin, viola and Irish flute. He learned many traditional songs from his family, who worked as lumbermen in the forests of New Brunswick and Maine. His original songs have been sung and recorded by other artists.Fred has engineered most of Castlebay's recordings and has also built Julia’s harps and many other instruments.
Experience
Castlebay has toured the Eastern US and Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, and Kosovo performing at festivals, museums, schools and folk clubs. They have released over three dozen recordings which receive international airplay. Notable festival experience includes five International Festivals of the Sea in the UK, the Mystic Festival, the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival, the Golden Link Festival, and the Somerset Folk Harp Festival.
Since 2003 they have annually toured the east coast in the late winter from thie home in coastal Maine to Florida, performing in libraries, concert series, folk clubs, retirement communities, and house concerts.
Major Works
In 1994 they composed, arranged, and performed the Skye Suite, a multi-media concert piece inspired by their first trip to the Isle of Skye. This was performed several times in New England and Scotland. In 1999 they were commissioned by the Galloway & Dumfries Arts Association to compose instrumental music for Sang O’ the Solway, a two-hour concert piece celebrating southwestern Scotland. This was performed several times in Scotland in 2000, 2001 and in 2002 at the Celtic Connections festival in Glasgow.
In 2006 Julia wrote the book and score for The Grand Design, an historical play with music based on a 1740 shipwreck of Scot-Irish immigrants on Grand Manan Island in the Bay of Fundy. This has been performed several times in Maine, New Brunswick, and South Carolina.
Most Unusual Gig
In 1996 they performed on live television for a cooking demonstration by Her Royal Majesty’s Commando Chef Team as they flame broiled plaice at the first International Festival of the Sea in Bristol, England. We still have their cookbook.
Newsletter and concert summary
About the Newsletter...
Concerts in Brief
Beltane Concert - Spring is here!
Merrimack Public Library, 470 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, NH
In Northern Europe, the first of May has been, since ancient times, a time for revelry and celebration. The world is finally released from Winter’s grasp and Spring enlivens every living thing. A wealth of lore and music is associated with this time and on May 2 the folk duo Castlebay will present joyous songs and stories in a traditional May Garland.
The evidence left us by the early inhabitants of the British Isles indicates that they viewed the calendar year as a circle or wheel with fixed points determined by solar and lunar activity. In addition to the well-known solstices and equinoxes, the ancients marked the cross quarter days or halfway points between with appropriate celebration. Beltane, also called May Day, is one of these "cross-quarter" days, and is celebrated on May 1st, the midpoint between the vernal equinox and the summer solstice.
The music and lore of the British Isles is alive with imagery associated with the turning points of the year and our relationship to the natural world. In many areas, these traditions are still carried on. The "Queen of May" and her consort the "Green Man" preside over Beltane.The denizens of the Fairy realm travel between the worlds. New life is celebrated in symbolic activities assuring the fertility of animals and crops for the rest of the year. The great fruitfulness of the earth and the exuberance of Spring are honored, beginning the night before, with a carefree sense of playful abandon. Rising to greet the dawn, celebrants sing, gather flowers, and dance around the May Pole.
In olden times a garland was not only a woven chain of flowers, but also a collection of songs and music. In this year's May Garland, traditional musicians Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee (known as Castlebay) of Round Pond, Maine, will join voices and instruments to weave together songs and tunes celebrating the coming of May. These fine singers support their vocals with a variety of instruments including Celtic harps, 14 string guitars, fiddles, and woodwinds. The music will be interspersed with humor and historic anecdotes. Come and join Castlebay to cast off winter's cloak as the music of Spring fills the air.
The 2024 Connecticut Sea Music Festival will take place in Essex, CT on June 7-10th. We’re a traditional maritime folk festival, partnering with the town as well as with individual venues to bring you the music. The daytime events are free, with donations accepted. Evening Concerts are ticketed.