Acclaimed for her expressive playing, fiddler and banjo player Maura Shawn Scanlin’s songwriting and musical style hint at her North Carolina and Appalachian regional influences; she’s a native of Boone, but also has deep Classical training. Further north, guitarist Conor Hearn grew up steeped in the venerated Washington, D.C. Irish music scene and developed a keen interest in literature and poetry. His setting of James Joyce’s poetry on the title track as well as “Lightly Come or Lightly Go” epitomizes the duo’s approach: the dexterous alchemy of the old and the new into something wholly Rakish. The friends’ deep musical connection and unbridled love for pushing traditional sounds forward is something we treasure here at WNCW.
Monday 9/30: Rakish – Now, O Now
