Fiddling Fingers Join Together in Brattleboro's 19th Annual Northern Roots Festival

The 19th annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival — a favorite New England music staple — returns to the Brattleboro Music Center (BMC) on the weekend of Jan. 24 and 25. According to publicity materials, the weekend festival, directed by acclaimed musician Keith Murphy, explores the traditions which have contributed to our region's rich musical heritage: Irish, English, Scottish, French Canadian, Scandinavian and New England, all of which will share the spotlight at this annual celebration. This year's program includes: Saturday workshops from noon to 5:30 p.m. at the BMC which highlight Swedish, Irish and French-Canadian tunes, as well as a full day of traditional song. Pub Sessions are on Sunday, Jan. 25, from 1 to 5:30 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, 32 Linden St., Brattleboro. Musicians and audience members are welcome to attend. On Saturday, Jan. 24, the BMC hosts the beloved Northern Roots Festival 2026 Gala Concert, which includes a tribute to the late John Roberts, who was well known in traditional music circles and also for his work with the great Tony Barrand. The tribute will be performed by "Traddleboro" (a pun on the town's name) a group of local players who don't usually get to play together. They include: Andy Davis, Fred Breunig, Arthur Davis, Amanda Witman and Keith Murphy. The Keene Sentinel caught up with Keith Murphy to talk about this year's festival and what he's most excited about. Here's an excerpt of their conversation: Victoria Chertok: Hi Keith! Firstly, how did this festival come about? Keith Murphy: It started when Becky (Tracy) and I were early in our relationship with the BMC and we were starting our weekly classes there. The festival was inspired by the fact that Brattleboro has an incredible concentration of great traditional music players, many of whom tour far and wide. The goal was to create a local event that could be an opportunity for the local community to gather, to come enjoy each other's company and also have their music showcased. Our focus was always on the social community connection. A big part of the festival is also the teaching aspect; it's a chance for up and coming players to connect in small settings with players of the highest caliber in traditional music. V.C.: What are you most excited about this year? K.M.: We always have musicians of the highest caliber in the realm of traditional music and I'm always excited about these folks. One of the things about this particular lineup is that they're all great players, and they're all incredibly knowledgeable in the background of traditional music. Several of them are scholars of traditional music. That's certainly the case for Laura Risk, who performs and teaches Québécois and Scottish fiddling internationally and has over a dozen albums to her credit. She's done some very profound research on aspects of French-Canadian fiddling in particular. Liz Knowles and Kieran O'Hare are top notch players, are very articulate, have been very thoughtful about the music they perform and have a wealth of knowledge. We will give them an opportunity to kind of delve into that side of the music in the workshops. V.C.: Speaking of delving in… You grew up in Newfoundland and started with Scottish dancing because your mother was from Scotland? K.M.: Yeah, Newfoundland has a very strong traditional song history. So I grew up with a lot of traditional singing. My mother Noreen MacLennan, who was Scottish, moved to Newfoundland in the 1960s, and she was less of a musician, but a very avid dancer, and taught Scottish dancing. Scottish music was also a very important part of my upbringing and I did a lot of Scottish dancing myself. Later on, I moved to Ontario, and that's when I really fell in love with both Irish music and French Canadian music. V.C.: And then what happened? K.M.: Then I started making trips to New England for Scottish dancing, because there was a very strong Scottish dance scene based in Boston. I came across contra dancing and contra dance music, and I became enamored with that. I started playing with people in Vermont and eventually met the woman who became my wife (renown fiddle player Becky Tracy). And that led to my move to Vermont more than 30 years ago. V.C.: Interesting. Is contra dance music a part of traditional music? K.M.: The contra dance scene is kind of a melting pot of a lot of different traditional styles of Irish and Scottish music and French-Canadian music. It all gets swirled together, which is one of the beautiful aspects of contra dancing. Part of what I wanted to do with the festival was to have an event where we went back to the roots of that music, where we showcased people who are very committed to each of those styles, so that people could get a chance to appreciate the specificity of those styles. V.C.: Lastly, why is Traditional music relevant today? K.M.: One aspect is that it's a very communal kind of music. It's the kind of music that people play together. We enjoy the opportunity to hear great players in these traditions, but it's a music that has a rich and thriving history of all people being able to sit down and play. Whether they're playing fiddle tunes in a bar or they're singing at the pub, they are making music together. It's a kind of music that connects people in a way that is unusual in the arts today. IF YOU GO: WHAT: The 19th Annual Northern Roots Traditional Music Festival WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 24 and Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026 WHERE: Brattleboro Music Center, 72 Blanche Moyse Way, Brattleboro, and American Legion Hall, 32 Linden St., Brattleboro TICKETS: Workshop tickets are $40 for adults, $15 for youth (14 and under). Combination tickets for workshops and the Saturday evening concert are $55 for adults, $20 for Youth and admission to Sunday pub sessions is by donation. MORE INFO: Visit www.bmcvt.org/northern-roots-festival/ Call the BMC at 802-257-4523 or email info@bmcvt.org