Natalie MacMaster, one of the most important music exports of the maritime provinces and a superstar of the Celtic music world, has built a career in electrifying playing and innovative recording that has expanded the worldwide music genre to contemporary commercial acceptance, selling over 300,000 albums. It's hard to imagine Natalie doing anything other than music with too many nominations, honorary doctorates and multiple hall-of-fame induction. But she somehow managed to raise a family of seven children who, together with her husband and fiddler colleague Donnell Leahy, have excited people's imagination as a duo and group act in recent years. But after 8 years without releasing a solo album, the time had come for Natalie to return to the studio to record a new solo album. Sketches are the result - a fiery collection of traditional melodies and medleys, mixed with new compositions full of retrospection and legacy as she looks back on the journey of life and career that led her to the present. Natalie says: "I have something to say through my violin. It will be a moment of joyful appreciation, inspired by years of parenthood, marriage, life, friendships and music. It is a moment in my 47th year, my 37th year of playing the violin, my 16th year of marriage, my 13th year of parenthood. I have chosen one of my favourite musicians, Tim Edey, an absolute jewel of a player and a person.
