Rakish → Jayme Stone

Rakish

Rooted in tradition with an ear to the future, Rakish brings an infectious playfulness to their musical explorations. The two friends share an unbridled love for both traditional Celtic and American music and their near- telepathic ensemble playing springs from years of touring and collaboration. Strings Magazine says: “Explorative and versatile, the duo draws evident inspiration from not just the deep and wide history of Scottish and Irish Celtic composition, but also the precision-focused structures of classical chamber music and a whole array of improvisational styles.”

Known for her toneful and award-winning fiddle playing in the Celtic music world, Maura Shawn Scanlin grew up in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina. Scanlin is a two-time U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion and winner of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Competition in Scotland. Her clawhammer banjo playing and songwriting hold the regional music of her homeland close.

Raised in the Washington, D.C. Irish music community, acclaimed guitarist Conor Hearn developed a keen interest in literature and poetry, an inexhaustible wellspring of ideas he continues to tap. His settings of modernist poems — like James Joyce’s “Chamber Music” — epitomize the duo’s approach: alchemizing old and new into something wholly Rakish. A keenly sought-after collaborative guitarist, Conor has performed with Celtic luminaries like Seamus Egan and Maeve Gilchrist.

Rakish, embracing the unconventional connotation of their namesake, make music with freewheeling verve. Performance highlights include the Library of Congress, Celtic Colours International Music Festival, Prince Edward Island’s Festival of Small Halls, the Corvallis Celtic Festival, and an Official Folk Alliance Showcase. They have taught at esteemed fiddle camps across the country including Alasdair Fraser’s Sierra Fiddle Camp, Folk College, Katie McNally’s Boston States Fiddle Camp, and Hanneke Cassel’s Pure Dead Brilliant Fiddle Weekend.

On Now, O Now, the duo’s sophomore release, it is clear Rakish cannot be pigeonholed into one genre and is most comfortable occupying the in- between. Together they journey through Celtic and Americana styles, deftly showcasing how to bring forth something new from the deep well of tradition. Book Now

Videos

Live Show Trailer

Lightly Come or Lightly Go

Time Check

Road to Perelandra / Torn Jacket / Lad O'Beirne's

Counting Down the Hours

Bilateral Craziness

Press

“Experts in Irish, Scottish, and American folk.”

The Bluegrass Situation

“Hits the emotional bulls-eye.”

Americana Highways

“Explorative and versatile, the duo draws evident inspiration from not just the deep and wide history of Scottish and Irish Celtic composition, but also the precision-focused structures of classical chamber music and a whole array of improvisational styles.”

Strings Magazine

“Guitar and fiddle lock in together like puzzle pieces.”

WBUR

“Lush arrangements that deliver an intimate but bold sound.”

Irish Echo

Photos

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Press Photo

by Sasha Pedro

Logo (Black)

Logo (White)

Resources

Bio

Stage Plot

Workshops

Links

Performance Highlights

Festivals

Greyfox Bluegrass Festival, Oak Hill, NY Celtic Colours Festival, Sydney, NS Christmas Celtic Sojourn, Rockport, MA Boston Celtic Music Festival, Boston, MA Rockport Celtic Festival, Rockport, MA Boonerang Festival, Boone, NC Corvallis Celtic Festival, Corvallis, OR Bethabara Highland Games, Winston-Salem, NC Festival of Small Halls, PEI Steelstacks Irish Fest, Bethlehem, PA Irish Fest in the Barn, Madison, WI Celtic Festival, Bellingham, WA New Hampshire Highland Games, Lincoln, NH

Northeast

City Winery, Philadelphia, PA Somerville Theatre, Somerville, MA Groton Hill Music Center, Groton, MA Next Stage Arts Project, Putney, VT Parish Center for the Arts, Westford MA World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, PA The Linda, Albany, NY CranFest in the Courtyard, Harwich, MA Blackstone River Theatre, Cumberland, RI Princeton Folk Music Society, Princeton, NJ The Word Barn, Exeter, NH Caffe Lena, Saratoga Springs, NY Guitartown, Hamden, CT Lexington on the Green Concerts, Lexington MA Tompkins Corners Arts Center, Putnam Valley, NY Blasty Trad Concert Series, Concord NH Park Theater, Glens Falls NY Acoustic Brew Concert Series, Lemont PA Huntingdon Co Arts Council, Huntingdon PA Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Yarmouth MA Camden Opera House, Camden ME The Parlor Room, Northampton, MA The Dance Hall, Kittery ME ARTxNYC, New York City, NY Peaks Island Concert Series, Peaks Island, ME Fire In The Kitchen, Weston, CT The Dance Hall, Kittery, ME Blue, Portland, ME Club Passim, Cambridge, MA Roxbury Arts Group, Roxbury, NY

Southeast

Library of Congress, Washington, DC The Grey Eagle, Asheville, NC Cleveland Cultural Center, Cleveland, TN Music in the Valle, Valle Crucis, NC Historic Lyceum, Alexandria, VA The Violin Shop, Nashville, TN College of Charleston Irish Series, Charleston, SC Avalon Theater Easton, MD St John’s Summer Concert Series, Valle Crucis, NC Oracle Books, Wytheville VA Charlotte Folk Society, Charlotte NC White Horse, Black Mountain, NC Greater Washington Folklore Society, Washington, DC Hill Center, Washington DC Bethabara Highland Games, Winston-Salem, NC Converse College, Spartanburg, SC Purple Fiddle, Thomas, WV

Midwest

Cheboygan Opera House, Cheboygan, MI Celtic Junction Arts, St. Paul, MN The Bur Oak, Madison, WI Leaky Lake, Milwaukee, WI Northfield Instruments, Marshall, MI Riverdog Concerts, Oberlin, OH The Harmonium Project, Steubenville, OH Irish Fest, Madison, WI

West Coast

St. Mary’s By The Sea, Pacific Grove, CA KVMR Celtic Festival, Grass Valley, CA Littlefield Celtic Center, Mount Vernon, WA Frontier Home, Seattle, WA The Hayloft, Salem, OR Corvallis Celtic Festival, Corvallis, OR Strum Guitars, Portland, OR Jefferson Center for the Arts, Mt Shasta, CA The Backroom, Berkeley, CA Sierra Fiddle Camp, Nevada City, CA