Còig is one of Atlantic Canada’s most exciting Celtic traditional groups made up of accomplished multi-instrumentalists, Chrissy Crowley, Rachel Davis and Darren McMullen. With the fiery Celtic high-energy style as its musical core, Còig easily shifts between century-old tunes of past generations to original and upbeat compositions, featuring the band’s range of over a dozen instruments (vocals, fiddles, piano, guitars, banjo, mandolin, viola, bouzouki, whistles, and more). With driving tunes, haunting songs and infectious energy, Còig is an unparalleled music force.
Còig’s music is a unique combination of influences that could only come from these players. “We all come from sort of a traditional background, but then we have different influences that we’re interested in,” explains fiddler and singer Rachel Davis. “Chrissy (Crowley, fiddler) likes to dive into a lot of world music, Darren (mandolin, guitar, banjo, etc.) comes from a kind of Irish theme from playing around a lot. More of the traditional Cape Breton stuff is really what I love, plus all the folk songs, so it’s an interesting mix.”
The Cape Breton quartet have earned rave reviews from audiences around the world and an impressive list of credits for their recordings. The group’s debut Five, released in June, 2014, earned them a 2014 Canadian Folk Music Award, Music Nova Scotia Award and the 2015 East Coast Music Award for Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year. That was followed by 2015’s Carols, already a yearly holiday favourite. This was followed the album Rove, which won the group a 2018 East Coast Music Award, as well as was recognised with a JUNO Award and Canadian Folk Music Award nomination. With a combined total of over 30 group and solo awards and nominations, the four members of the band are well respected players in the Celtic world.
When the creative juices are flowing, there’s no holding back the talented quartet that makes up the Celtic supergroup Còig. Hot on the heels of the group’s award-winning 2017 album Rove comes their latest release, Ashlar. Brimming with new ideas, and lots of energy built up from their hundreds of international performances, the band figured, “Why wait?” They packed themselves into producer Dave Gunning’s Wee House Of Music studio in Nova Scotia during a brief break in touring, and everything fell into place perfectly.
Còig’s music is a unique combination of influences that could only come from these four players. It’s traditional for sure, but it’s performed in a lot of non-traditional ways. “We all come from sort of a traditional background, but then we have different influences that we’re interested in,” explains fiddler and singer Rachel Davis. “Chrissy likes to dive into a lot of world music, Darren comes from a kind of Irish theme from playing around. More of the traditional Cape Breton music is really what I love, plus all the folk songs, so it’s an interesting mix.”
