While attending college in Boston, fiddler Maura Shawn Scanlin and guitarist Conor Hearn found themselves sharing the stage as members of the folk band Pumpkin Bread. But after bonding over their shared love of Celtic music, they began performing as a duo as well. Dubbing themselves Rakish, after the traditional Irish melody, “Rakish Paddy,” they began exploring and expanding on the traditions they started absorbing as children — Scanlin in the Blue Ridge Mountain town of Boone, N.C., right on the path of the Appalachian Trail; Hearn in the Celtic enclaves of Washington, D.C. and Baltimore.
Soon, their popularity spread well beyond Boston, where Scanlin collected music degrees from the New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music, and Hearn earned a degree in English literature and music at Tufts University. In 2018, they released their debut EP, followed by their 2022 album, Counting Down the Hours, produced by Seamus Egan of Solas. Today, they’re announcing the upcoming release of their follow-up, Now, O Now. Distributed by Free Dirt Records, it’s set to arrive on Oct. 11 — right along with New England’s autumn splendor. The album’s first track, “Lonely Hotel Room,” premieres today on the Americana Highways website. (Listen here.) The midtempo folk-pop ballad features Scanlin’s sweet vocals, as well as her fiddle and banjo work, alongside Hearn’s acoustic and electric guitar playing, augmented by guest Dylan Mckinstry’s drums and electric bass.
The album’s title comes from one of two James Joyce poems the pair set to music (the other is “Lightly Come or Lightly Go”). In so honoring Ireland’s beloved novelist, they’re also carrying on a folk tradition that recalls Woody Guthrie and the Mermaid Avenue albums Billy Bragg and Wilco recorded in the 1990s. But Rakish also loves to blend tradition with innovation; on “765,” the lone Now, O Now track not produced by the duo (Jamie Oshima did the honors) they include elements of what they call Celtic electronica.
Surprises abound throughout, but for now, fans can enjoy the first track — and catch Rakish on tour at the following venues.
Tour dates
Sept. 13 – Tompkins Corner Cultural Center, Tompkins, N.Y.
Sept. 20 – Next Stage Arts, Putney, Vt.
Sept. 21 – Harmony on the Green, Hancock United Church of Christ, Lexington Mass.
Oct. 10 – The Violin Shop, Nashville, Tenn.
Oct. 11 – Converse University, Spartanburg, S.C.
Oct. 12 – College of Charleston, Charleston, S.C.
Oct. 13-17 – Celtic Colours International Festival, Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, Canada
Oct. 18 – Sycamore Center, Steubenville, Ohio
Oct. 19 – Hamlin Street Diner, Washington, D.C.
Oct. 20 – Stoltz Listening Room, Easton, Md.
Nov. 1 – The Lyceum, Alexandria, Va.
Nov. 3 – Celtic Junction Arts Center, St. Paul, Minn.
Nov. 5 – Café Paradiso, Fairfield, Iowa
Nov. 6 – The Bur Oak, Madison, Wis.
Nov. 8 – Northfield Mandolins, Marshall, Mich.
Nov. 9 – Chief O'Neill's Pub & Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.
Nov. 10 – Riverdog, Oberlin, Ohio
Nov. 13 – Lovin' Cup, Rochester, N.Y.
Nov. 23 – Cheboygan Opera House, Cheboygan, Mich.
Jan. 22 – Club Passim, Cambridge, Mass.
Jan. 23 – The Word Barn, Exeter, N.H.
Jan. 24 – Caffè Lena, Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
Jan. 27 – Groton School, Groton, Mass.
More information: rakishmusic.com, freedirt.net
