Kathy Buys, aka fiddlemuse - Artist Page
Kathy Buys, aka fiddlemuse
Discography  ·  Booking Agency  ·  Similar Music
Biography:
 

Kathy Buys started playing the violin 34 years ago as a wee tot in Mountain View, California. She was trained classically and was section leader and concertmaster with the Palo Alto Junior Chamber Orchestra before joining the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra. She attended the University of the Pacific Conservatory of Music and was concertmaster of the UOP Symphony and played professionally in the Stockton Symphony as well as an actively gigging string quartet. She won the American String Teachers' Association competition in 1987 and then something weird happened.

She got to play with the UOP Jazz band and decided that it was really fun. Her love of rock music and improv could finally be expressed! So although she continued to play classically, she started to use her "axe" for other types of music including pop, rock and folk. She went on to play with a rock band called SandPit who frontlined at The Hotel Utah as well as a bunch of San Francisco dives and The Brainwash laundromat and cafe. She also played with Alicia Champion, winner of several songwriting awards.

In 1999, Kathy attended a conference about music and Psyche. As a music therapist and counselor, this seemed like a normal thing to do. "I didn't know that it would change my life," she says, "but it did. I got the Celtic bug!" She has Martin Hayes to thank for that.

Seven years, several coaching sessions from Irish pros, lots of listening, and 6 Lark Camps later, Kathy still loves Irish music. "The best thing about this music is that it's storytelling music. It connects us to times gone by, helps us tell our own stories and inspires us to dance."

In 2003, Kathy recorded her first solo album entitled, Mapless Journey. This CD has gotten some rave reviews including one from Expose Magazine, Fall 2005. It captures the tradition but pushes it in some new directions for instance by the addition of French Horn and didjeridu.

Kathy currently is looking for bandmates to form a Celtic band with influences such as L?nasa, Martin Hayes, Kevin Burke, Dan? and Altan. She plays with The Druid Sisters Tea Party, an Afro/Celt/Funk band as well as in a Celtic duo with Gabe Duffin. She still works as a psychotherapist in California.

Official Web Site: www.dragonsdance.net

Discography:
 

Mapless Journey (2003)

Live in Elk (The Druid Sisters Tea Party)

Night of the Poet (by Anthony Nestor)

Songs From The Pink Carpet (SandPit)
Booking:
 
booking@dragonsdance.net
Similar Music:
 
Fiddle, Violin, Vocals