Q&A: Celtic performing partners Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder

Chattanooga Times Free Press music reporter Casey Phillips spoke with Celtic performing partners Jamie Laval and Ashley Broder about how they started playing Celtic music and why their music reflects a natural evolution of the music.

So what in particular drove you to Celtic music and is that where you primary style lies or are you more broadly spread than that?

Jamie Laval: For me, it was kind of in a musical orbit or holding pattern for years not having really found my voice. Being good at classical music, I could make a living at it, but I was experimenting with a lot of different music. I never really felt like I found my voice until I started delving into old Scottish music — not even specifically fiddle music. Right away, it was like, “Oh, this is just an obvious fit.” I think it was just pulling at the right heart strings. Emotionally, it was like realizing that this was where I am as well. The music was expressing the same kind of emotion as I had.

Ashley Broder: I got into it through Jamie.

Jamie: It’s cool in Ashley’s case because, even though she hadn’t been doing Celtic music, it was a close fit because she was well steeped in contest fiddling and Western swing style, which basically came from Celtic music. It wasn’t that far of a distance, it was just taking it down to a sparse approach. I thought it was really fun how she took to it, and now, all we listen to is Celtic music.

Ashley: My introduction to fiddle music was through competition Texas swing fiddle music, which is cool in its own right, but it has competition attached to it. So when I found out that Celtic music didn’t involve these feelings of “I’m the best, and I need to kick that person’s butt,” I found it was just really beautiful music, and community of going to an Irish session is just really democratic. Everyone gets along, and you put in your two cents every now and then. It’s a great community sort of thing, and I didn’t know that was possible.

Obviously, the two of you are creating music that is not strictly traditional. What made you decide to go that route instead of taking a really straight, traditional approach to Celtic music?

Ashley: It’s just the evolution of music in process. We have different influences like classical music, jazz, bluegrass and Texas swing. That stuff wasn’t available to the people in the British Isles way back when, so it couldn’t play into their music, their new tunes or the way they did anything with the music. I think this is just Celtic music in today’s world, and we’re just allowing it to grow as music does.

Jamie: I think some people are particularly interested in preserving something — whatever they see as traditional or the “right” way of doing traditional music. That’s just one snap glimpse of the evolution of the music because their interpretation depends on where during the timeline they take their snap glimpse. The music has changed constantly over 600 years, so there is no one “right” traditional approach to playing the music. Some people, nevertheless, feel they want to preserve something.

My approach is that we want to come out of that in that we want to pay homage and actually play the music with the spirit that was intended and in the manner that is always done, but not necessarily have to adhere to a set of rules. Basically, it’s a treacherous path to walk without deviating to either side, whether overly traditional or overly experimental. I think we’re doing a fairly serviceable job staying in the middle, especially compared to some groups that call themselves progressive. Some of them move so far away from the tradition that they’re doing a disservice to the music and not keeping in the spirit. We really try to constantly refer back to that traditional manner so we can keep the heart and spirit but allow for a new voice.

Even within our own lifetime, the music has changed. If you listen to field recordings of (fiddler) Tommy Potts or even music from 50 years ago, there’s already been a vast change because people can’t help but be influenced. They may think they’re doing something in a traditional manner, but there’s stuff that gets into their heads. They’re hearing other violin players playing in tune, they’re hearing rock and rap and jets flying overhead and all these things that make an impact on one’s ears. That’s going to come out in the instrument.

It’s funny that we get so caught up in traditionalism over here because when I was in Ireland, it seemed like they were even more open to new approaches than we are.

Ashely: Oh yeah. When we went over to Scotland, they just went nuts for it.

Jamie: I was amazed. My first trip to Scotland before I met Ashley, I was invited to play at the Edinburgh Scots Fiddle Festival. At first, I was a little nervous how my new approach was going to go over. Here were literally thousands of Scottish fiddlers from every country. There were even Japanese Scottish fiddlers. But the Scots themselves were among the most progressive. They not only welcomed my work, they themselves were more crazily out there in front of the exploration as anything I’d heard. I think it was just that they really appreciate having their music moved forward.