East coast treasure, fiddler Natalie MacMaster, takes to the Vanier Hall stage with a full band Saturday night.
She's left four of the five young'uns at home with fiddler hubby Donnell Leahy for this part of the tour to perform her multi-award winning music in Prince George.
"I play traditional stuff but we don't present it traditionally all the time," said MacMaster. "I've got a band with me, bass, drums, piano, pipes so that dictates the sound. It's very lively, up-tempo show for sure."
MacMaster has performed for more than 30 years and has earned multiple gold albums, two Grammy nods, a Juno award for best instrumental album for In My Hands, eight Canadian Country Music awards and 10 East Coast Music Awards.
With a 2010 book release the musician authored, co-wrote and published a 161-page coffee table book called Natalie MacMaster's Cape Breton Aire, received a East Coast Music Award for her 2011 CD, Cape Breton Girl, and she's got more going on, too.
"My husband and I are going to be recording, for the first time ever, in the next three months or so," said MacMaster. "We've been talking about this for ten years. We've been married for ten years and it's awful that we haven't done something before now."
Because five home-schooled children can mean a very busy household MacMaster has what some might call a unique perspective on touring and performing.
"I always joke with the crowd and tell them being on stage now is like a day at the spa," she laughed. "That's my selfish me time and for the simple fact that playing and performing is something I savour."
There was a lady at one show that made a point of approaching MacMaster after her performance.
"This lady was about 80 years old and she told me that she hated fiddle music before she came to the show," MacMaster said. "Now I tell everyone to come see the show, even if they hate fiddle music because they just might end up liking it."
Tickets are at all ticketmaster outlets.
