It’s been said that Madeline MacNeil’s audiences hold their collective breath as the last notes of her songs drift into the tableau of stages large and small. Since 1972, when she began performing in Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park, Madeline’s goal has always been to bring listeners into the song. Her interest in stories first brought the mountain and hammered dulcimers to her attention, for they are part of this country’s musical history and the heritage of other countries before they arrived here. This is part of Madeline’s treasure as a performer: she sings and tells the stories with her beautiful voice and exceptional dulcimer skills.

Madeline’s New England family (she’s a first-generation Virginian) arrived in the fishing and mariner towns of Rockport and Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1635, while her Canadian family members came to Cape Breton from Edinburgh in the mid-1800s. She ties everything together: Scotland’s countryside, the lives of families separated and brought together by the sea, and the resilience and art of those who settled in the Appalachian Mountains.

It doesn’t stop there, though. With merriment in her eyes, Madeline recalls the day a friend asked her what kind of music she’d like to add to her repertoire “down the road.” When Madeline answered, without hesitation, that she’d love to sing jazz songs in the style of Shirley Horne and Ella Fitzgerald when she turns 75 or so, her friend replied: “Why don’t you start right now!” To this day people ask other fans of Madeline’s, “Were you there that evening when she brought the folk concert audience to their feet with her heart-stopping rendition of ‘Saint Louis Woman’?” (This reminds one of the question, “Were you at Woodstock?”)

Her recording career began in 1983 and now includes more than a dozen independent releases, including tributes to her heritage on Songs Of Earth and Sea and her love of jazz on As Time Goes By. Heart’s Ease (classical and Celtic music featuring the hammered dulcimer) won an Indie for string music from NAIRD while Christmas Comes Anew was a finalist for this coveted award. Her recording of “Shenandoah” has been used extensively in Public Television productions as well as part of the Apple Tour in the Winchester, Virginia area.