Maritime fiddler releases Christmas album with local stars

Fiddler Ashley MacIsaac released his first Christmas album when he was 16; decades later he’s putting out another one with a who’s-who of Maritime singers and performers.

“I've been around a lot of different artists and musicians over the years,” MacIsaac told CTV News Atlantic’s Katie Kelly. “And I thought this is a good place for me to do some Christmas singing.”

“Christmas Across the Atlantic” features classic holiday tunes by MacIsaac and fellow artists like Jud Gunning, Cassie and Maggie, Andre Petitpas and J.D. Fortune.

“There's some classic Christmas songs that everyone will know,” MacIsaac said. “Of course, there's some stomp and fiddle tunes on there as well. It wouldn't be an Ashley MacIsaac Christmas record without that.”

The album also features an original track called “Christmas in Burnside.”

“Christmas is all about joy and happiness, but not everybody gets to feel that,” MacIsaac said. “I met somebody here recently who's going through the struggle a lot of Nova Scotians have gone through with the opiate crisis. I wrote a song about that, about having this guy spend Christmas in Burnside.”

MacIsaac said the generous nature of Christmas inspired him to put the album together.

“We all get in the mood for celebrating and having our family around and again, helping less fortunate, so just that spirit of giving is there,” he said. “As a musician, you want to give back always to an audience and what a better time than Christmas?”

“Christmas Across the Atlantic” is available for streaming. It will also be accompanied by a special that will be released in early December.