This week’s Album of the Week is Off the Floor from Wendy MacIsaac

Wendy MacIsaac is a fiddler/piano player/stepdancer from Creignish, Cape Breton, Canada. Wendy has been touring all over the world for the last ten years with Mary Jane Lamond, Ashley MacIsaac, Beolach and as a solo performer.

She has performed in Italy, Brazil, the UK, Ireland, Iceland, Eastern Europe and all over North America. Wendy’s recordings include ‘The Reel Thing’ (1994), ‘That’s What You Get’ (1996) and her latest album ‘Timeline’ (2003). Beolach has recorded a self-titled album (2001), and Wendy is featured prominently on the recordings of Mary Jane Lamond.

Wendy began performing at age 5 as a stepdancer. At age 12, she began fiddle lessons with Stan Chapman. By age fifteen, Wendy was playing dances all over Cape Breton island and forming the sound that makes her so recognizable today. She soon began travelling further, to Boston, Detroit, and Toronto, to play for the popular Cape Breton dances in those areas.

At this time, Wendy also developed a strong reputation as a piano player and has accompanied just about all of the Cape Breton fiddlers of her generation.

In 1995 she began touring with the Cape Breton Summertime Revue and has made the road her second home ever since. Wendy has performed with the Chieftains, Capercaillie and Buddy MacMaster, to name a few. Her skills as a teacher are also in high demand at festivals worldwide, whether for fiddle, piano, or stepdancing; she is always happy to share her music and experience with others.

As manager and member of the five piece instrumental group Beolach, Wendy is able to take the traditional music of Cape Breton to the rest of the world with a larger format and a youthful energy. While Wendy MacIsaac may draw inspiration from her past; her future looks brighter than ever.