Roane - Feile Artist Introduction

In this episode, Kevin sits down with Grace Stearns of the band Roane, to spend a few minutes getting to know more about the band and what audiences can expect at this year's Féile. We'll also share a couple of their songs to give you a taste of what's in store.

https://roaneband.com/

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Tiger Dragon, a podcast about all things learn more in Beaver Island. Over the next few weeks, as we're counting down the days to the Emerald Isle, Irish Failure on Beaver Island, we'd like to introduce you to some of the incredible artists who will be taking the stage in September. In this episode, Kevin fits down with Grace Ferns of the Van Ron. We'll also share a couple of their songs to give you a taste of what's in store. You can find more information about the failure and purchase tickets at the Beaver Island Irish Heritage Group website at www.bihg.com. Thanks for listening and enjoy the conversation.

SPEAKER_02 0:54

Hi, my name is Grace Stearns. We are from the Flint area of Michigan. And we play uh Celtic folk rock. Sometimes we uh jokingly call it uh Celtic pop rock uh as a little funny thing for those of you who grew up in the 90s and loved pop rock. And uh we uh write a lot of our own original music and we do a lot of um rearrangements of traditional songs, um traditional Irish and Scottish songs that uh really touch our hearts and we want to bring to new audiences. So uh and I'm very deeply influenced and inspired by the mythology of Ireland and the ancients, the the druids and the uh Tuided Dan and um and the Fey and the other, the Celtic otherworld. So that deeply influences the music that I write. And um, I myself am a uh historian. I went to U of Met Flint for history and music and graduated in 2015 with my bachelor's from there, and uh have deeply immersed myself in uh the music uh and the folklore of uh the Celtic lands, especially Ireland. And um I consider myself to be kind of an amateur folklorist, so that's that's me. Um but uh we started in 2012. Me, um myself and Nora, who's still a band member, uh founding members, uh, were in college together. We were music students at U of M Flint, and we bonded over our shared love of Celtic music and cultures and listening to Clanid and Alton and stuff between classes together, and there was an opportunity to play a uh St. Patrick's Day gig together at a uh local uh Irish guitar. And uh we were like, well, we have to do it. So we got together with another gal who was in the music department with us and uh played the gig, and my then boyfriend now husband played the gig with us and played guitar for us, and we did these you know arrangements of um pretty trad things, you know, like pub songs, things that people know and can sing along with. Um and we loved it and had so much fun. We were like, well, we have to keep doing this, and so as time went on, the third gal, she kind of faded away. She wasn't as interested until one night before a gig. Uh, she was like, I'm not coming. We're like, uh-oh, what are we gonna do? So I said, Mom to my mother, will you please sing with us? Help me bail me out here. Everything I've written and arranged is for three voices. All of our stuff we do is in three-part harmony. And uh she was like, Well, I haven't performed in a long time, and my mom's a rock and roller in the 80s, you know, and uh has this big beautiful voice. And she was like, I think I can do it. And I just taught her the parts, and we were like, Yeah, this is a new thing. You're in, mom. And she was like, I am okay. So uh we started playing together, and it was just magic, and we would just fall into songs and they would be like innate, like coming from our souls, like and we would just be of one voice, and it was so much fun. And my husband, uh, who was then my boyfriend, uh comes from a metal background, and so the way he plays guitar is super percussive and driving, and so this juxtaposition of these beautiful three-part harmonies in this rock and roll guitar was really interesting and fun, and we did that for a very long time. And then um we added a fiddler and we've added a bass player, and it's just grown into this beautiful uh endeavor, and we're now playing mostly um original music, and it's it's so fun. So we've played all over, we've played uh for Renaissance festivals, for um Celtic, Michigan Celtic festivals, Celine Celtic, um going back through all the games we've done. Um the Tall Ships celebration, Tall Ships uh Maritime Festival, and that fans from all over the world made lifelong friends who were also doing traditional music and maritime music. Um and we've just been having a ball. So that's that's who we are. Um we're playing uh Motor City Irish this month for the fourth or fifth year coming up here in a row, and we love Motor City Irish in Detroit. Um we're playing Michigan Celtic this year, and and we're just so excited to be in the in this community with all of these amazing musicians, and we learn so much from the people that we come into contact with in performing and um so many close bonds and and friendships have formed uh with all of the other musicians. It's such a good community.

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Talk a little bit more about that in a community aspect, and particularly when you're at a festival and what goes on behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_02 6:31

Yeah, um at festivals, when you're when you're performing at a festival, especially especially the Celtic ones here in Michigan. I haven't performed a lot outside of Michigan, I'll be honest with you. But the the Michigan ones here, everybody is so kind and excited that you're there and welcoming, and they take such good care of you. And there's always a fun little backstage area where you can get together and just meet the most amazing people. Um, we met uh Shineth, I met Shannon Thale uh a couple years ago at Motor City, and she's so down to earth and so sweet and kind, and um the brothers crow and ironwood, ironwood, Anna, and Mark of Ironwood, and their husband and wife who are they are like my best friends. Like we we babysit each other's children, like we we're very close, and that's just it's like a family, you know? It's like a family, and you get excited to play and do work together, and it's great. Making music with people that you don't know, and that connection that almost spiritual, it is spiritual level connection of music. Even when you don't speak the same language, you can sing together, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_04 8:00

You think you know my enemy?

SPEAKER_03 8:05

I'm thinking of wild things, all my being, don't bite me, don't I stop, let it die, let it die, die, let it die, die, die, die, die, let it die, let it die, die letzted, die die What is the the s story of the name Roan?

SPEAKER_02 11:08

So Rhone um is the Irish word R-O-O with a fada with an N. It looks like Ron to Americans, but it's pronounced roan, and uh it's the Irish word for seal. And I was deeply moved by the legends and the stories of selkie women, and I found them very powerful and compelling, and I was like, that's what I want to I want my band, my music to be about. So even from the beginning, we've always been Rones, we've always been Selkies at heart.

SPEAKER_01 11:47

So you have uh particular go-to song in your repertoire that seems to always grab the crowd.

SPEAKER_02 11:56

Oh yeah, we always start I just sang a little bit of it too. We always start our sets with uh She Moved Through the Fair, and it's kind of like a calling-in song, and it's in three-part harmony uh with me, my mother Marilyn, and my best friend Nora. And we play that and we sing that, and it's just over the drone, and the whole crowd gets quiet, and they're all really listening, and then boom, we go into a tune, and it's usually um the Marta set from uh Lunissa. Our fiddler Nelly is absolutely powerful, amazing fiddler. Um, and she just knocks the socks off of them with that one. So it's really that's really fun. That's my favorite one to start with, for sure.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

You had a uh new album release or EP release this year. When did that come out? Tell me about that.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

So we released our EP um The Call of six tracks on May 9th. And uh it is all except two tracks are original. Um so it is Away with the fairies, which is an original song by me. Um, and then the call, uh, which I wrote in The Call is all about uh the human a human wandering through you know the wood at night, and you hear the Twitter Dan and the Faye, the good folk coming together, and they're luring the human into the other world to join the wild hunt. I hated the car. I hated the car. And it's very spooky and fun. Um and then we did a cover of Lorna McKennett's song Mummer's Dance, which is all about Bealtina and the fire festival of summer the first day of summer in the Celtic calendar, um, which is super fun, and I love that song. And uh my mother wrote a song called Talking to Mermaids, uh, which is also on the EP, and it's based off of Arthur O'Shaughnessy's uh poem ode. We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of dreams, wandering by lone seabreakers. She I read the poem to her and I was like, this would be such a good song, and she was like, and she just started writing, and it it's loosely based on it, but the feeling of it, and it's very much about um empowering women, and uh a lot of our music is very women-centric and about bringing people together and uh celebrating the womanhood and the Celtic womanhood and and who we are and who we were meant to be with. So, you know, it's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Well, you know, with outside of your mom, I'm sorry.

SPEAKER_02 21:44

Sure, sure. Um, you know, we had a fiddler who played with us back um in twenty fifteen, sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, nineteen and he unfortunately passed away. Um he had kids. Cancer and he was a very beautiful, wonderful man, a dear, dear friend, Bruce McCartney. We met him through um Bay City has a amazing traditional music community, and they hold a session to this day every Tuesday night um in town and it's open. Anybody can come and join. And that man just he was just sparkled and shone when he would play the fiddle and he would sing and just roar out these sea shanties and these old songs, and it was he just had a magic about him. And he passed away in 2019, and our hearts were pretty broken, but he was like, you know, I really want you to continue. I really want you to move on because your music is our music is beautiful and worth sharing. And um, sorry, I'm trying not to cry because it's a little um but uh he said I know this is a wonderful fiddler. Um her name is Nellie Trans. And uh she would fit in with you girls and Luke so so well. And we had already been talking about um you know the possibility of adding more musicians anyway, and we reached out to Nellie and she was like, Yes, I'm in, and she's been playing with us ever since. And we reached out to another uh mutual friend who played in a band called Equinox for many years. Um they were a Celtic band that we knew from the Saginaw area, and um Bobby plays bass with us and uh um Highland Pipe, and he is a fabulous musician and a wealth of knowledge uh of traditional music and stuff as well. So we're so happy and tickled to have them. But then, you know, as we all know, in 2020 the pandemic hit, and me and Nellie both had babies in 2020. Um our babies are uh six and five, they're three months apart right now. Um my son is turning six on Friday, and her little girl is turning uh six in September. And um, so that really slowed us down, and you know, we kind of had to say, okay, you know, gotta kind of focus on babies for a little bit, but now they're getting big and they're affordable, and uh they are so much fun, and um my son will be coming with us to be for island, so I'm very excited about that. But the trajectory kind of change. Um I was hoping, you know, to be playing uh a lot of um Irish festivals, you know, around the country and stuff and touring, you know, but when you have little children, you know, they come first. Um so that wasn't in the cards anymore, so I decided to bloom where I was planted, right here at home, and uh pour ourselves into writing music and putting it out there, and uh it's been a real joy and a gift, and now some things are opening up for us, and opportunities like Beaver Island are are coming in and the doors are opening a little bit more, and it's exciting and humbling, and I can't wait to see what's in it.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Share with us all of your website socials anyway that people can follow you.

SPEAKER_02 25:36

Um so we are on all the socials. We're on uh Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, um as Ron Band, R-O-A-N-E Band. Um we are on Spotify now. Um and you can look us up and you can find us, and we have a website, roanband.com, which has all of our merchandise, our t-shirt CDs and stickers, and all of our upcoming shows and things where you can find us.

SPEAKER_03 27:21

Come to another beauty We all see us away, come away to go to the soul, double way, come on.