Samples, In the News & Album Review...

NOW AVAILABLE!  This toe-tappin' collection of Celtic & Canadian tunes celebrates  Ottawa Valley stepdance music and is for all you fiddle fans out there!  The crowd pleasing clog-jig-reel is the standard Ottawa Valley dance set, and these are some of Chad's favourite tunes he's picked up over the years while fiddlin' and steppin' along his own yellow brick road. 

This ambitious album contains 20 tracks, 60 tunes, & over 1 hour of music!

Click the video link for a fun little sample of the music, including an English lesson about: CLOGS & JIGS & REELS ...OH MY!

For full track samples visit: www.chadwolfe.bandcamp.com/releases 

 "Chad Wolfe's new album is a modern twist on the Old Time Canadian Fiddle style. With a clean virtuosic performance, the arrangements are sophisticated and smooth. A brilliant album by one of Canada's finest and kindest fiddlers and stepdancers."
- Celina Marie DiCecca (creator of the Great Canadian Fiddle Show and Toronto Fiddle Collective)

"A wonderful collection of traditional and contemporary tunes, all played with such great feel and danceability, which is increasingly rare to hear in new recordings being released. The tunes are tastefully arranged into medleys that are innovative while still maintaining their deep roots in the Ottawa Valley. My favourite part of the album is the ongoing interplay between fiddle and piano—a signature sound of the Canadian tradition, executed masterfully by Chad Wolfe and Mark Allen."
- Kyle Burghout, North American Irish Fiddle Champion   

Chad's new recording, "Clogs & Jigs & Reels ...Oh My!" is designed to guide stepdancers of all levels down their own yellow brick roads. It contains 60 tunes, including exciting new pieces, and breathes new life into some old favourites. The tracks are organized for dancers to easily navigate through the variety of tempos of clogs, jigs, reels, and medleys. In addition, each of the 28 tracks also have up to 6 digitally rendered tempos that are on an accompanying Flash Drive (194 tracks tracks in all to practice or perform with)! 

   The slower tempos are also perfect for fiddlers to learn these great tunes! 

   Both the CD/Flash Drive and Digital Versions are now available.

 Click on the video link for a sample of the music. 

CHAD WOLFE

Clogs & Jigs & Reels ... Oh My!

Sometimes we lrish forget that our people before us who emigrated to

‘foreign parts’, not least Canada and the United States, brought with them

their feet as well. And the feet of their descendants do today the same

things that we see here in Ireland - the old-style dancing that is now so

widely regarded and sometimes referred to as sean-nos dancing. And it's

often forgotten that other Western Europeans who emigrated over the

centuries to North America had feet as well and did the same sort of thing

what is called in Newfoundland “doin a few scuffs”.

I must say that I am impressed with this new CD of Chad Wolfe's, Clogs

& Jigs & Reels... Oh My! It's really exciting to see this new young

generation of dancers doing what the people did before them in the music

and the dancing. Indeed, where Chad is from in Ontario the tradition in

music, song and dance is stronger than ever. In the 60s, I remember

renowned fiddle players like Graham Townsend playing for the maestro

himself, Donnie Gilchrist, a major influence in the field of Canadian folk

dance. Donnie was a key figure in the promotion of Ottawa Valley step

dancing and its recognition as a unique style.

Chad's CD is organized for dancers to easily navigate through the

variety of tempos of clogs, jigs, reels, and medleys. I agree with Kyle

Burghout, North American Irish Fiddle Champion, when he says, “My

favourite part of the album is the ongoing interplay between fiddle and

piano a signature sound of the Canadian tradition, executed masterfully

by Chad Wolfe (fiddle) and Mark Allen (piano).”

Other accompanists are guitarists, Corey Thomas, Ted Chase and on

cello is Emma Grant-Zypchen. Xavier Leahy, newest member of the

famous Canadian Celtic band, Leahy, contributes both his guitar and

accordion skills. I had the pleasure of seeing his family perform in the late

1960s when I was singing in Peterborough, Ontario.

Adding to the delightful performance, dozens of tunes in the various

medleys are given intriguing titles like, Toto and Your Little Wolfe Too, The

Hearty Tin Man of Ballymote, Munchkin Maids of Castlebar, The Higher

Level Scarecrow, and The Reel Twister (the hand of a wizard is at work

here). Did I say I was impressed with this CD? I am and I think you will

be, too. Also, this fiddler and teacher of dance is a pretty good hand with

his feet and worth checking out online.

Aidan O'Hara - Irish Music Magazine