Album Notes

I'm a fiddler from Maine whose music reflects the Scots-Irish and French Canadian elements of the local traditional country music I have absorbed over the years, plus the rock and classical chamber music I can't help loving. Once convinced by the playing of Fairport convention's Dave Swarbrick to lay aside my electric guitar for the fiddle, I delved into the Maine traditional fiddling scene, drawing particular strength from the personalities and music of Simon St. Pierre, Otto Soper, Leo Murphy and Ben Guillemette. My first solo CD, Century Reel, pays particular tribute to these influences, containing many traditional fiddle tunes, as well as some recent tunes by friends, including Smokey McKeen and Dudley Laufman.

On Divine Waltz I explore many of these and more influences in my own compositions, written between 1998 and 2003. From solo fiddle pieces to a seven piece band many instrumental textures and styles are presented, from the very Irish sound of First Day of School and Back From the Brink, to the Cajun waltz L'Acadienne, to the slavic touches of Jerusalem Breakdown and Warsaw Mazurka, to the decidedly American country touch of the title cut.

Praise for Century Reel:

"The fiddling is first-rate, as is the accompaniment." Fiddler Magazine

"Boardman makes good use of his lilting, driving bow work, putting lift into every tune."
Dirty Linen