Band bios
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Contact: info@mistcoveredmountains.com
or call 413-658-4276 (Donna) or 413-335-6632 (Katherine)
Donna Hébert
is a 2008 Massachusetts Artists’ Fellow in the Folk Arts. One of the state’s most prestigious art awards, the Artist’s Fellowship was given by the Massachusetts Cultural Council to recognize Donna’s Franco-American fiddling. Cited for “outstanding artistic achievement,” by Governor Deval Patrick in January 2009, Donna was also named a Creative Teaching Partner by the Mass. Cultural Council, allowing Donna to bring her Fiddling Demystified for Strings program to classrooms around the state. Says string guru Darol Anger in his introduction to Fiddling Demystified Vol. I, “Donna gets it all right!”
With more than twelve fiddle recordings and books to her credit including her latest French-Canadian fiddling CD, “In Full Bloom,” Donna also directs summer camps for children and adults at Old Songs Community Center in Voorheesville NY. She performs in Franco-American groups Chanterelle and The Beaudoin Legacy and in Old-Time band Groovemama with Max Cohen. Donna is pleased in Mist Covered Mountains to return to the Irish and Scottish music she’s played for many years in sessions and as a contradance fiddler and is especially happy to be performing with her daughter, Molly Hebert-Wilson.
Katherine First
Katherine First
comes to this music via the violin and classical training, growing up north of New York City. Playing in symphonies and quartets, she later settled in Northampton MA and she was a mainstay with the Pioneer Valley Symphony. In 1996 she heard fiddler Craig Eastman perform, said goodbye to the symphony, joined all the local Celtic sessions and began studying the tradition. In 1999 the music brought her to Ireland. She has since studied with Liz Carroll, Seamus Connolly, Tommy Peoples and Matt Cranitch.
Says Valley Free Radio, “Katherine First’s ‘Sweet Spot” CD delivers traditional tunes with finesse and firepower.” A reading specialist in Western MA schools, Katherine also has a fiddle teaching studio in Northampton. Long a member of the Celtic rock band Dicey Riley, she holds court (and rocks the house!) at Elevens in Northampton. When not on the road, she leads the Session at The Basement in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Max Cohen
Max Cohen
is long respected in the New England folk music scene as a guitarist’s guitarist. Max continues to astound listeners with his fingerstyle artistry. In addition to playing in duos and the new trio with Donna and Katherine, Max also performs with Donna in The Beaudoin Legacy and performs and teaches with her in Groovemama. He also tours and records with folk legend Priscilla Herdman. Dar Williams used him on her debut album and says, “I love Max!”, a sentiment clearly echoed by everyone he plays with.
Max is moving deeper into traditional music, composing tunes and playing at local sessions, where fiddlers find his guitar playing groovy, supportive and generally wonderful. Max teaches guitar at summer camps for adults and children at Old Songs near Albany NY and coaches youth performances at Old Songs, Philadelphia Folk and Champlain Valley Folk Festivals.
Max and Donna perform in a duo and with other bands. For more information, see Donna’s calendar.
Molly Hebert-Wilson
Molly Hebert-Wilson
is a junior in Irish Studies and Musical Theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Bringing a decade of theater and singing experience to Mist Covered Mountains, Molly’s songs in Irish Gaelic and English are a highlight of the group’s performances. A member of the NYU Irish Folk Group, she is studying at Trinity College in Ireland in summer 2009. Featured at the Old Songs Festival’s ‘Tree of Life’ Concerts from 2005-2008, Molly has been a favorite of theater and folk audiences since she began performing at age nine.
© 2009 Mist Covered Mountains - all rights reserved. Sound samples © Katherine First, Donna Hébert, Max Cohen, Molly Hebert-Wilson.