Portland—Workshop with the Gawler Family Band

Join Mayo Street Arts for a master class with the Gawler Family Band—a fun-loving, folk-singing, fiddle-playing family from the heart of Maine!

Bring an instrument, and have some solid time working on music the Gawlers adore. If you are a beginner or advanced, or anywhere in between, join in and the Gawlers will be able to accommodate all levels.

Ellen Gawler & Molly Gawler will be on Fiddle, John Gawler & Edith Gawler on banjo, Elsie Gawler on cello, and Bennett Konesni & Ethan Tischler on guitar.

About the Gawler Family Band

Inspired by years of playing for dances in the old Grange halls, the Gawlers may be best known for their rollicking renditions of dance tunes in ‘the Downeast style’ with its origins in the Scots-Irish and French Canadian traditions. Their repertoire also includes a wide variety of old and new sounds, with highly spirited delivery of selections that may include a gutsy shanty or work song, a heart-wrenching ballad, a poignant a cappella number featuring the sisters, or an amusing ode to everyday life. With a particular focus on sentiments that reflect life in rural Maine, their unique arrangements are especially engaging and often go along with anecdotes of historical or humorous content.