THE BAND:
Colin Cotter – vocals, guitar
MAC; A Thousand Years at Sea; Joe Craven & Frisky!; Adrianna Ciccone; Old Growth Graveyard; Ryan McKasson
Sumaia Jackson – 5-string fiddle, harmony vocals
Jayme Stone’s Folklife; Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards; Real Vocal String Quartet; Joe Craven & Frisky!
Tristan Clarridge – cello, harmony vocals
5-time Grand National Fiddle Champion; Crooked Still; The Bee Eaters; Darol Anger’s The Republic of Strings; Mike Marshall; Bruce Molsky; Natalie MacMaster; Hanneke Cassel
Anna Colliton – bodhrán
Cherish the Ladies; Eileen Ivers; Comas; the Paul McKenna Band; Come From Away (Broadway)
There’s a certain feeling musicians get when they leap into the unknown together. A thrill found in navigating a sea of endless possibilities, fellowship in embracing the unpredictable, intimacy in moving one another through artistic expression, and joy in creating something unique to that group of musicians in that moment…once you develop a taste for it, there’s nothing quite like leaving space for who knows what to breathe a little fire into a performance. “Cotter + Jackson + Clarridge + Colliton” is a collaborative pickup band of sorts, featuring four such thrill seekers – four artful musicians at the top of their game, eager to make some magic together again for the first time since their debut performances in 2024. The band isn’t completely without a foundation, as Colin Cotter (vox / guitar) and Sumaia Jackson (5-string fiddle) gig together as a duo, performing Sumaia’s original tunes, Colin’s original songs, and music from the Celtic & American folk traditions. Joining them are Tristan Clarridge (cello) and Anna Colliton (bodhrán), two of the finest musicians one could hope to encounter whose creative instincts and powerful groove are an undeniable force. This band will take you on quite a journey as they shift from blazing fiddle tunes one moment to beautiful ballads with silky 3-part vocal harmony the next, pull off tightly arranged, technical pieces and let loose with improvised solos and spontaneously crafted arrangements. This is “California Celtic” at its best – appreciative of and unmistakably tied to old traditions with deep roots, but not afraid to get weird with it while sharing the joy of organic interplay between musicians openly expressing in the moment.
Colin Cotter:
Colin Cotter is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, recording artist, and creative-at-large from the San Francisco Bay Area. He has played gigs from coast to coast in the USA, toured internationally in Canada, Ireland, and Spain, and teaches regularly at some of the top folk music camps in the country. The main musical endeavors in Colin’s life at the moment include an edgy, electro-acoustic adventure with fiddler / violist Ryan McKasson that the two are calling Old Growth Graveyard; an intergenerational acoustic groove, energized trio called Joe Craven & Frisky! with Joe Craven and Sumaia Jackson; and duos with fiddlers Sumaia Jackson and Adrianna Ciccone. He has released several albums with the bands he co-founded, MAC (Perfectly Manufactured Reality, 2018) and A Thousand Years at Sea (4 releases between 2009-2014) and has multiple new releases in the works with his current projects. In addition to being a fine fiddler and singer, Colin is an accomplished self-taught guitarist, having taken to the instrument both for the practical purpose of accompanying himself singing and out of a deep affinity for sitting in the rhythmic belly of the beast when playing with fiddlers. Over the years, he has crafted a unique approach to expressing on the instrument that he couples with an effort to artfully indulge spontaneity and seek adventure as much as possible in the music he makes.
With driving groove and a smooth, open sound, fiddler and tunestress Sumaia Jackson is a quintessential modern West Coast fiddle, weaving together tunes and songs both original and found with an easy virtuosity and electric interplay. Born and raised in Santa Cruz, Jackson was awarded a full scholarship to get her Bachelor’s degree from Berklee College of Music in the American Roots Music department. Jackson has toured all over the world with Jayme Stone’s Folklife and Laura Cortese & the Dance Cards—playing places such as the Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Celtic Connections, Planet Bluegrass, and the Edmonton Folk Festival. She has also been a member of the Real Vocal String Quartet (who composed and recorded music for a world music Culture Kin project) and released her debut fiddle record—Möbius Trip—on May 1st, 2019, featuring Colin as a guitarist on several tracks.
Multi-instrumentalist, 5-time Grand National Fiddle Champion, and pioneering cellist, Tristan Clarridge creatively synthesizes traditional folk influences with rhythmic vocabulary from jazz, rock and pop music, and is leading a revolution among adventurous young cellists throughout the USA and beyond. He has toured the world as the cellist with folk-grass sensation Crooked Still, chambergrass trio The Bee Eaters, and Darol Anger’s seminal group The Republic of Strings, and performed with Mike Marshall, Bruce Molsky, Cape Breton fiddle star Natalie MacMaster, and Oregon’s own Hanneke Cassel. Raised in a tipi in the mountains of northern California, music was always an important part of Tristan’s life.
Anna Colliton’s lively, inventive playing has made her one of America’s leading exponents of the bodhrán. She has shared the stage with Cherish the Ladies, Eileen Ivers, Comas, the Paul McKenna Band, and many more. Following her 2013-2017 Walt Disney World residency where she performed daily, she was a sub for the bodhrán chair with the original company of the Broadway hit “Come From Away” in New York City. She performs and teaches at top festivals like Catskills Irish Arts Week, Swannanoa Gathering Celtic Week, O’Flaherty Irish Music Retreat, CCE MAD Week, and Augusta Celtic Week. Anna is dedicated to advancing the bodhrán tradition, masterfully incorporating both “the old” and “the new” into her expression on the instrument.
WEBSITES:
- Colin’s website: https://colincotter.com
- Sumaia’s website: https://www.sumaiajacksonmusic.com
- Tristan’s website: http://beeeaters.com
- Anna’s website: https://annacollitonmusic.com/
