Hanneke Cassel Band with Tristan Claridge and Keith Murphy

Modern Acoustic Scottish-American Fiddle Music!

Always a fan favorite, the Hanneke Cassel Band is returning to Seattle Folklore, featuring Tristan Clarridge on cello/vocals and Keith Murphy on guitar/vocals.

With a career spanning over two decades, Hanneke Cassel has helped redefine what it means to be a modern fiddler. A driving force in the ever-changing landscape of acoustic music, Hanneke blends originality and innovation with the spirit of Scottish traditional fiddle. Beyond the strings of her fiddle, it is Hanneke’s hugely generous presence and passion that round out her magnetism as a performer on the world stage of fiddle music.

A native of Port Orford, Oregon, Hanneke found her start in Texas-Fiddling competitions. A two-time Junior Scottish Fiddling Champion between 1992 and 1994, Hanneke went on to win the 1997 U.S National Scottish Fiddle Championship. An original alumna of Fraser’s Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School, Hanneke instructs regularly at Alasdair’s music camps as well as at the Mike Block String Camp (run by her husband, acclaimed cellist Mike Block), Harald Haugaard’s International Fiddle School, West Denmark Fiddle School, and Live Oak Fiddle Camp. Hanneke received her Bachelor’s of Music in Violin Performance from Berklee College of Music, where she has since returned to serve as a guest instructor in the American Roots department.

Gracing stages across North America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, India and East Asia, Hanneke has established herself as a prolific composer and versatile musician. Fusing musical roots from the Isle of Skye and Cape Breton Island with Americana stylings, Hanneke’s playing has been described by the Boston Globe as “exuberant and rhythmic, somehow wild and innocent, delivered with captivating melodic clarity and an irresistible playfulness.”

Multi-instrumentalist, 5 -time Grand National Fiddle Champion, and pioneering cellist, Tristan Clarridge creatively synthesizes traditional folk influences with rhythmic vocabulary from jazz, rock and pop music, and is leading a revolution among adventurous young cellists throughout the USA and beyond. He has toured the world with bluegrass/nu-folk sensation Crooked Still and Darol Anger’s Republic of Strings, as well as Mike Marshall, Bruce Molsky and Cape Breton fiddle phenomenon Natalie MacMaster.

Newfoundland-born guitarist Keith Murphy is a rhythmic powerhouse on guitar and a traditional singer of rare finesse. A native of Newfoundland, he has lived in New England for many years where he has been an influential presence in the traditional music scene through his work with many respected bands, as a tune writer and as director of the Northern Roots Festival in Brattleboro, VT. He has four solo recordings of traditional songs, the most recent being Bright As Amber (2023).

Together, the Hanneke Cassel Band creates a cutting-edge acoustic sound that retains the integrity and spirit of the Scottish tradition.

Get your tickets early for this popular band!