Jean Hewson & Christina Smith

The folk traditions of Newfoundland are preserved through the music of Jean Hewson and Christina Smith. Using a repertoire which includes many traditional music gathered by Hewson’s hubby, Bill, and music that Smith discovered from folksingers Frank Maher and John Joe Pigeon, the duo provides garnered acclaim in the folk community. Their debut record, Like Ducks, was nominated for the NAIRD (Country wide Association of Separate Record Vendors) prize and received a silver medal from Crossroads mag as Best Root base/Traditional Record of 1998. Regarding to Dirty Linen, “there is no better couple of music artists to possess around if you need a lively group of music and traditional music.” Playing jointly since 1985, Hewson and Smith produced their collaboration formal a year afterwards. At that time, both had set up their popularity as virtuoso music artists. A indigenous of St. John’s, Smith was classically educated being a cellist and discovered the intricacies of Newfoundland’s fiddle custom. A summertime job using the folklore section of Memorial School enabled her to invest period with Newfoundland’s leading traditional music artists, including the past due fiddler Emile Benoit. As well as Jim Payne, she performed in the Canadian Pavilion at Expo ’92 in Seville, Spain. She released a single record, Fiddle Me This, co-produced and followed by Hewson, in 1995. A classically educated pianist, tempo guitarist, and vocalist, Hewson previously performed with middle-’80s folk groupings Barkin Kettle, Tuckmore, Sub-Sisters, and Strings Attached and was an associate of Nice Absalone, a normal music group that she distributed to Smith, Fergus O’Byrne, and Jim Payne. She reached out to additional musical genres having a nation music group, Saddle Sorority, and a rock and roll group, This Part Up. She created her method of rhythm acoustic guitar as an accompanist for such Newfoundlandian fiddlers as Benoit and Rufus Guinchard. Hewson released a single album, PLANTING SEASON, in 1992. Both Hewson and Smith are qualified teachers from the Suzuki approach to music training. Smith has carried out workshops in Newfoundland’s instrumental music in the Audio Symposium as well as the Sidmouth Folk Event in Britain. She acts as director from the Stage Fiddlers, a 25-piece band of music artists aged six to 19. Their debut recording, Galing for any Storm, premiered in 2000. Hewson and Smith performed at a Canadian display in the Folk Alliance Meeting in Memphis in Feb 1997. They toured the East Coastline of america two years later on. During the summer time of 1999, the duo became a member of with previous Figgy Duff accordion participant Frank Maher to execute at folk celebrations in Vancouver, Calgary, and Winnipeg.