(logo swooshing) (light music) - [Carolyn] I am Carolyn Currie, singer, songwriter, mother, and lover of music.

Join me as I listen to and speak with some of Maine's premier musical artists on Sound Waves.

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(bright music) ♪ Oh the hills were alive with wildflowers and I ♪ ♪ Was as wild, even wilder than they ♪ ♪ For at least I could run, they just died in the sun ♪ ♪ And I refused to just wither in place ♪ ♪ Just a wild mountain rose needing freedom to grow ♪ ♪ So I ran, fearing not where I'd go, oh, oh ♪ ♪ When a flower grows wild, it can always survive ♪ ♪ Wildflowers don't care where they grow ♪ ♪ And the flowers I knew, in the fields where I grew ♪ ♪ Were content to be lost in the crowd ♪ ♪ They were common and close, I had no room for growth ♪ ♪ And I wanted so much to branch out ♪ ♪ So I uprooted myself from my home ground and left ♪ ♪ Took my dreams and I took to the road ♪ ♪ When a flower grows wild, it can always survive ♪ ♪ Wildflowers don't care where they grow ♪ ♪ I grew up fast and wild, and I never felt right ♪ ♪ In a garden so different from me ♪ ♪ I just never belonged, I just longed to be gone ♪ ♪ So the garden one day set me free ♪ ♪ I hitched a ride with the wind, and since he was my friend ♪ ♪ I just let him decide where we'd go ♪ ♪ When a flower grows wild, it can always survive ♪ ♪ Wildflowers don't care where they grow ♪ ♪ Just a wild rambling rose seeking mysteries untold ♪ ♪ No regrets for the path that I chose ♪ ♪ When a flower grows wild, it can always survive ♪ ♪ Wildflowers don't care where they grow ♪ ♪ Wildflowers don't care where they grow ♪ - All right, who the heck starts a music career at age seven?

- I'm not sure.

It wasn't planned.

It just happened.

(laughing) - [Carolyn] How did it happen?

- That's the million dollar question.

I asked to learn how to play the fiddle when I was six.

And that's a mystery as to why I picked that instrument, but it seemed to work out.

So the only musical influence I had in my family was my Pepe.

He was my grandfather on my mom's side, and he played button accordion and harmonica.

So there were really no fiddles around me.

So the only thing I've come to think about is that perhaps it was because we listened to a lot of Ricky Skaggs albums and Bobby Hicks was his fiddle player for a very long time, and he's amazing.

- So your parents were into music?

- Very much so.

- [Carolyn] Okay.

And did you have siblings who played?

- I have three younger brothers and the oldest of the three plays mandolin.

He actually played in my band for a number of years.

- Right.

- Yeah.

- So kind of a musical family.

- Yeah.

Yep, my mom played piano.

She learned how to play piano so she could be back me up.

And my dad took some guitar lessons from Denny (indistinct) for a little while.

- Oh yeah, yeah.

Yes.

So you started early.

What did your parents think?

This little will of the whiz getting up on stage?

- I don't think they know how I did it actually.

I just kind of had no fear, which is amazing.

I look back at videos from when I was little and I really had no fear.

It was amazing.

- But you know what, that's what struck me.

So I was watching the clip about you performing at age 10 in 1994.

Yes, yes.

With Kenny Baker.

- Kenny Baker.

And Josh Graves.

- And you just got up there and on this huge stage with these unbelievable performers and just rocked it.

- I know.

I don't know how I did that.

(laughing) - [Carolyn] You look at it and you just think- - Yeah, I look at 10-year-old me and I was like, wow.

I had no nerves back then.

It was amazing.

I don't know how I did that.

I was just so excited.

You know, I had a lot of amazing opportunities and like I appreciated them.

And you know, as you get older, you appreciate things all the more.

And so I was a very lucky kid.

2, 3, 4.

(bright cheerful music) ♪ Tired of these old city streets ♪ ♪ Want to hear dirt under my feet ♪ ♪ Hitting me like sun in my face ♪ ♪ Want to get away ♪ Head down some old country road ♪ ♪ They get lost, I don't know ♪ If you want to come with me, let's just go ♪ ♪ Know we'll be okay ♪ It's a simple life most of the time ♪ ♪ I ain't got much money, but I've got time ♪ ♪ Spent with you ♪ If I can ♪ I'll take it any time, hmm (bright cheerful music continues) ♪ Harvest moon in the sky, can't get to sleep how I try ♪ ♪ Let's go somewhere we can just take our time ♪ ♪ See the sunset so much grow ♪ You and me, and then we'll know ♪ ♪ We're right at where we're supposed to be ♪ ♪ By each other's side ♪ It's a simple life most of the time ♪ ♪ I ain't got much money, but I've got time ♪ ♪ Spent with you ♪ If I can ♪ I'll take it any time, hmm (bright cheerful music continues) ♪ Seems good luck has jumped the fence ♪ ♪ Let's go somewhere that makes sense ♪ ♪ Maybe we're in the right place at the wrong time ♪ ♪ You take me where I've never been ♪ ♪ With my heart and in my head ♪ And know that we just need some time ♪ ♪ Let it all past by ♪ It's a simple life most of the time ♪ ♪ I ain't got much money, but I've got time ♪ ♪ Spent with you ♪ If I can ♪ I'll take it any time, hmm (bright cheerful music continues) - Did you study a lot with people?

I mean who have been your teachers?

Who has guided your career?

- So I started taking lessons when I was six.

And I started with the Suzuki method, as most kids do, which is a classical method.

And a couple years into that, so I was eight at the time, I expressed interest in learning Franco American Music, which is the music on my heritage, on my mom's side.

And so we got in touch with Don Roy and my mom called him and explained that she has an 8-year-old daughter that's very interested in learning how to play Franco American music.

And he had never had a student before, nor did he really want one.

(Carolyn laughing) But my mom convinced him because I was really begging.

And so he agreed to set up one lesson and see how it went.

And we went to his house and we were there for at least two hours.

He didn't think we'd show up.

And then when we did, he was like, "Well, since I don't really want a student, how am I gonna get rid of her?"

So he tried to teach me a really difficult fiddle tune and I just, I was patient and I learned it and he was like, "Okay, I think this is gonna work."

- So we have spoken to him and he teaches a ton now.

- He does!

- So you broke him in.

- I guess I did, yeah.

I'll take credit for that.

- You got him started and it sounds like it's really a successful road for him as well.

- Yeah.

So when I was nine, he invited me to join his, it was like a friends and family band called the Maine French Fiddlers And so I joined that band, and that's how I met his Uncle Lucian.

And you know, it was just like, that opened up a whole new world to me.

And I think that's a big reason why I do what I do now, is like I got that performance bug at a really young age- - And recording.

You started recording with them too?

How old were you?

- I was 10.

- 10.

Okay, great.

Great.

So you're pretty comfortable in the recording studio?

- Yeah, I am.

- To the studio you've brought a prop.

Tell me about it.

- Oh yeah.

So speaking of Don's Uncle Lucian, so this is a fiddle that was gifted to me by his uncle Lucian about 22 years ago now.

And so my Pepe died when I was seven.

So Lucian kind of took me under his wing as his little adopted granddaughter.

Everybody actually thought we were related, we were that close.

And so he's the one that introduced me to bluegrass music actually.

He invited my family and I to go to a bluegrass festival for the first time.

And from then on I was of course hooked.

So I was looking for a new instrument at the time and we were at a bluegrass festival together and he came up to our campsite and said, "I have this fiddle, you gotta come check it out.

It's amazing."

So I was like, "Okay."

So later that day I went to his campsite and he showed me this beautiful fiddle, which has quite a little story to it.

I wish I knew more of the story actually.

But it was built in Detroit, Michigan.

And the fiddle maker, was his 100th fiddle that he made.

But he passed away before he put it all together.

So all the pieces lived in a box for a while.

- That's how intricate it is.

God, that's gorgeous.

- And somehow that box ended up in Westbrook, Maine, in the hands of Lucian's son, Louie, who then put it all together.

And our friend Dicky Pelletier put in the Mathieu crest on the back and this was gonna be a family fiddle.

And so I ended up playing it the entire weekend that Lucian showed it to me.

And so at the end of the weekend he said, "Wow, you really like that fiddle, don't you?"

And I said, "I really do."

So he said, "Well, I'll tell you what, why don't you bring it home?

You can play it, and when I need it back, I'll just let you know."

I thought that was pretty fair.

So I agreed to that.

And so that was in May.

So December comes around and it's Christmas.

And so we were at Lucian and Marie's house and every time we're there, we always played tunes in the kitchen together.

So we did.

And then he starts handing out gifts to the family, that might get emotional, and he handed me a Christmas card.

- [Carolyn] Yeah, good.

- [Erica] Phew!

Gimme a minute.

- [Carolyn] It's the best.

(chuckles) - Yeah.

I'll come back, I promise.

I get choked up every time I tell this story.

So he handed me a Christmas card and in the Christmas card it said, "We love you, we're very proud of you, and we want you to have the Mathieu fiddle forever."

So that was my Christmas gift.

- You know what, you're clearly the right recipient.

- Thanks.

- [Carolyn] Because- - I love this fiddle a lot.

- You know, it can reduce you to tears... Actually, I don't like that "reduce."

It can elevate you to tears all these years later- - It does.

- [Carolyn] I think that that's really amazing.

That's incredible.

- [Erica] It's a special story.

I do adore this fiddle a lot.

One, two, three.

(bright playful music) ♪ My name is Cassidy from Blaney town ♪ ♪ And my story I'd like to tell ♪ ♪ About some hard work done long ago ♪ ♪ While building the C&O ♪ Moving lumber, dry goods and logs ♪ ♪ Hogshead barrels treacle and rum ♪ ♪ Can't go by wagon the road's to slow ♪ ♪ So we're building the C&O ♪ We worked them all from Horsebeef to Dundee ♪ ♪ From Gambo up to Harden's and the Cotton Factory ♪ ♪ My boys and I we were tighter than the treenails ♪ ♪ We worked harder than the day is long ♪ ♪ The agents would never know ♪ We were working on the C&O ♪ We built the locks, boys, we blasted rock ♪ ♪ Picks and shovels barrows and carts ♪ ♪ Worked in the rain and sleet and snow ♪ ♪ While we're building the C&O ♪ 34 by 18 wide ♪ Digging lock pits and setting sides ♪ ♪ Moving earth and ballast stone ♪ ♪ While we're building the C&O ♪ Those canal boats Champion, Flipjack ♪ ♪ Pulled by Mules and horses on the old tow path ♪ ♪ From the coast all the way up to Songo ♪ ♪ Tom and Abe pulled with all they had ♪ ♪ 30 ton cargo, they were working on the C&O ♪ ♪ Tom Mahoney, he met his end ♪ While working on lock number 10 ♪ ♪ The hitch weight failed and the block came down ♪ ♪ Had to dig him half out of the ground ♪ ♪ I tell ya boys, it's a tough way to go ♪ ♪ For $2 a day's the pay and a shanty town's your home ♪ ♪ The work is hard and the pay is low ♪ ♪ So fare thee well, boys ♪ I hear there's work on the new railroad ♪ ♪ I ain't workin' on the C&O no more ♪ ♪ Ain't workin' on the C&O - You've been playing with with Matt Shipman for a while.

- I have.

- And who was he?

- So Matt Shipman is my husband.

- Okay.

When did you guys meet?

- Oh gosh, it was probably early 2000s.

Yep.

- And how did you meet?

- We were teaching at the same community music center together.

So we met through music.

- I'm looking over at him.

(both laughing) And you've been together for a long time.

- We have.

Yep.

- Nice, but how is it?

So I can't imagine, I am a musician, married to a scientist, and I think it would be so amazing to have a partner who's also on stage with me, as opposed to running my soundboard reluctantly.

- [Erica] Right.

(laughing) - [Carolyn] But how is that?

- It's great.

You know, it's like we're a team where we always get each other's back.

If one of us is tired, the other one knows and kind of sweeps in and helps the other one through it.

Yeah.

It just really fun.

You know, you get to share all these amazing experiences.

You get to travel a lot of places and meet a lot of amazing people and experience some really cool things.

And then you get to do it together and it's pretty great.

- That's great.

And do you guys write together?

- We do.

Yep.

We have.

Yep.

- And when you're not on, because you really do this for work, when you're not on, do you like hanging in your kitchen and humming and singing and playing and- - Yeah, we do.

We do play a lot of music together, that's for sure.

But we also just like to go for walks and hikes and paddles.

- You play in Darlin' Corey with Matt?

- [Erica] Yep.

- And then you also have the Blue Bluegrass Connection?

- Yes.

- Tell me about that.

- Yeah.

So Darlin' Corey started as a duo with just Matt and I. And it was sort of just like a side project that we weren't sure how far it would go or what it would turn into.

But now we have Chris Day on board with us, so we're a trio and that's been really, really fun.

It's been great having him with us.

And then the Bluegrass Connection is actually celebrating its 25th birthday this year.

- Seriously!

- Yeah.

So it's been around for a long time.

Yep.

Members have come and gone and that's the fun part of music is finding just the right combination of people and the right material and just really making it fit together like a puzzle.

And when it happens, it's a really special thing.

- Well, you make it look like fun.

- It sure is.

- Well, you know, that's why I always say, you're playing, right?

When you say I gotta go play.

- Right.

- You don't go, "I have to go work."

- Yes, it's true.

I always like to say, I'm pretty sure the worst day of this job is better than the best day of any other jobs.

- That's probably true.

- I'm pretty sure.

I've never had another job.

I've always done music, so I'm not sure if I can judge that, but- - And so what are you gonna do now?

If you visualize where you're gonna be in the next 10 years, where you wanna go, what is your trajectory gonna look like?

- Well, I would be perfectly happy doing exactly what I'm doing now.

- Well, that sounds good.

- Yeah.

I feel like, you know, I'm pretty lucky being able to tour from home and get to play with amazing musicians and it's just, yeah, I'm just very lucky.

So if I can just be in this place 10 years from now, I will count my lucky stars.

(gentle cheerful music) ♪ There's a young man that I know, his age is 21 ♪ ♪ Comes from down in southern Colorado ♪ ♪ Just out of the service and he's looking for his fun ♪ ♪ And someday soon, I'm going with him someday soon ♪ ♪ My parents cannot stand him 'cause he rides the rodeo ♪ ♪ My father says that he will leave me cryin' ♪ ♪ But I would follow him right down the roughest road I know ♪ ♪ And someday soon, I'm going with him someday soon ♪ ♪ And when he comes to call ♪ My pa, he ain't got a good word to say ♪ ♪ I guess it's 'cause he's just as wild in his younger days ♪ ♪ So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me ♪ ♪ He's driving in tonight from California ♪ ♪ He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me ♪ ♪ And someday soon, I'm going with him someday soon ♪ (gentle cheerful music continues) (gentle cheerful music continues) ♪ But when he comes to call ♪ My pa, he ain't got a word to say ♪ ♪ I guess it's 'cause he was just as wild ♪ ♪ In his younger days ♪ So blow, you old blue northern, blow my love to me ♪ ♪ He's driving in tonight from California ♪ ♪ He loves his damned old rodeo as much as he loves me ♪ ♪ And someday soon, I'm going with him someday soon ♪ ♪ Someday soon, I'm going with him ♪ ♪ Someday soon (logo swooshing)