Press

Libération: “Ian McCamy has a sting to his playing. When he cries it’s with the naive lyrism of an Irish ballad, and his jigs have the gay spirit of time when the blue note hadn’t yet invaded the universe, old Europe unrolls in America, excited by the illusions of space and when it crosses with the mixed southern culture it takes on all that is joyfull”

Dirty Linen Magazine: “McCamy is an excellent fiddler! The entire CD makes you move, whether it’s a jig or waltz. It’s a joyous collection McCamy has assembled”

Celtics Magazine: “This New York fiddler delivers on this album a superb example of a deliciously retro style of playing... We are swept away to follow this fiddlin butterfly through ravaging interpretations, pure good traditional celtic music”

Presto!: “What is presented here is garanteed to be 100% real stuff.. the fiddle which this young fellow uses with dexterity serves at one moment the secular tradition and at the same time your legitimate desire to be stampeded to the ground. The jigs , reels and polkas here meet ragtime without ever losing freshness or authenticity. An excellent investment”

Trad Magazine: “Jigs, reels, waltzes and also jazzy / country escapades with strong songs. The fiddle is brilliant, the accordion furious, the whole band has a diabolic energy. It is wickedly good”

From Feeling to Swing

Fiddler before everything, Ian McCamy is originally from New york City of Scottish/ American origins. He   arrived in France in 1992 where he met fellow musicians during numerous sessions and parties throughout Paris and nearby Ireland, musicians who inspired him to settled definitively in France. Far from the Capital, in the medieval village of Sauve in the south, he started his first band in 1998. Today at 34 years old Ian McCamy, with his love for goodtimes and a passion for "fiddling that swings" continues with his "Celtic Reelers"   to heat up the dance floors of pubs and festivals for our greatest pleasure...

Ian, can you tell us about your influences?

From the age of six when I started playing music my mother played for me recordings of Shetland fiddling, I really liked the feeling that was in it. After that I listened to scottish music, I was very impressed by the "Strathspeys" and the famous bow stroke (already, laugh ...) After a post-teenage punk-rock period playing the guitar, I suddenly woke up after listening to the "bothy band", it was such a shock, especially after hearing Tommy Peoples, which no words can describe the power, a style so personal and unique; I went back to the fiddle when I was about 19. After that there were a lot of exchanges and meetings with other musicians while playing at sessions in the States, Ireland, Scotland, and then in France where a sort of style began to install itself. In the States they call it the "celtic cross over", more of an open spirit than a purist approach which is what makes me move forward today rather than the reproduction or copy of any particlular style.

Playing with a group how do you find it? tell us about the Celtic Reelers-

Ah! It all first started in 1998 with guitarist Rob Fuke who I played with in Paris, and continued when I moved to Sauve. We started as a trio,but because we got some dates in festivals during the summer of 1999 Pascal Segard (multi instrumentalist who toured and recorded with Paddy Keenan on the "Celtic Soundscape" project) and Olivier Chambonniere, swing drummer from France, where glad to join in for the adventure and we recorded our first album that fall "Sleep sound in the Morning". Things went on for two years before Angus Aird, out of a thick Scottish fog came and added the warmth of his native Kilbarchen voice.

How did you conceive your last Album?

After four years of concerts and touring we wanted to try something new, something more laid back than the first CD. We wanted more songs and sets with a Scottish tone to them and also some of our new compositions. And we wanted to add each an individual touch somewhere, in turned out to be a live recording where everything, almost, was recorded live together except for certain things that needed to be overdubbed for technical reasons (like the voice). It was a great experience that brought the group even closer together.

Could talk about the cover Artist, the legendary Robert Crumb?

My wife Agathe and I have known Aline and Robert Crumb since we came to Sauve. I   played a lot of music with Robert at informal gatherings for the fun of it. He open a lot of doors I didn't know about, he is somebody very discret and humble who has an enormous musical knowledge, especially for old music from the 20's and 30's. He has given me lots of support, both musical and as a   friend. There is no other person I would prefer to draw our cover and I was very honored that he accepted to do it.

And are there   future projects?-

Yes, for myself I would like to explore more American mountain music and string music from the prewar days and bring some of these influences to the group. There is so much to discover in the musical treasure chests of American and Canadian fiddlers of this time period... I would like to re-live some of this spirit in the future.

What he Plays:

Ian McCamy plays on to two fiddles, one is a J.B. Bastien Mirecourt 1930 found in the garbage of New York City and rebuilt by himself . The other is an American fiddle made in New York in 1890.

"I use tonica strings these days because they last a long time and hold their tone well. For acoustic playing I found the best authentic sound comes from playing with Spiro-corde by Thomastik. I use a L.R. Baggs Bridge pick-up with the Para DI Box which has a great sound for its size and practicality."

Review of the recent CD "The Drunken Landlady"

The Drunken Landlady, 2nd album by Ian McCamy and His Celtic Reelers, demonstrates to us once again that simplicite is not synomonus   to boring and uninteresting. Because far from the pseudo-reserchers in quest for esoteric celtic melodies, Ian McCamy and his friends offer, as they have already so well done on their last CD ("Sleep sound in the Morning") an authentic   and original metissage of Brittany, Scottish, Irish, and north American music. But this time around without an accordeon and with more songs, the general ambiance is calmer and laidback. The warmth of Angus Airds voice, the richness of the playing of multi-instrumenatlist Pascal Segard, the sticks and brushes of drummer Olivier Chambonniere and to top it off the passion of Ian's fiddling opens you to a universe where reels, jigs, waltzes and traditionel gavottes sit side by side with jazz swing from the 1920's and the original compositions of Ian and Pascal. Ian McCamy's interest in oldtime and swing rag playing without forgeting dancing and singing, bring to this album a great diversity without losing sight of cohesion. And where a lot of CD's fail, the jacket cover is superbly drawn by the talented Robert Crumb and a little story illustrates each track in the booklet. So for all these good reasons I highly recommand this CD... -Patrick Plouchard, Trad Magazine 2004

Ian McCamy is on Arhoolie Records USA and on Frémeaux & Associés in France.

Official press photos