Mary Beth Carty - Driftwood Trail

Mary Beth planted her piano bench in the bush next to the autographed carcass of an old family relic, grandpa MacDonald’s truck. The light speckled between the trees like golden bits of hash brown. The Tow Truck tune trotted up from the cowboy boots to the tiny keys of Mary Beth’s accordion. Tiny bits of folk delight up on a family hill in Antigonish County where Miss Carty grew up in Nova Scotia. Cats, smiles, a dancing sister and a chili bowl later, we left the little hill house with a fragrant bouquet of freshly picked mint from her garden, a generous one. It was a generous afternoon.

From classical piano to bass to self-taught guitar, to a harmonizing trio with Becky Siamon and Annie Clifford (The Johnston Sisters) in Halifax, she discovered and taught herself the accordion, learning “Celtic, Klezmer and Blue tunes on the box.” She then moved to Quebec city where she played the mandolin, accompanied fiddlers on the guitar and piano at Pub Nelligan and taught traditional piano and dance at a youth music school. She formed the duo Bette & Wallet with Gabriel Ouellette and the duo recorded two albums as well as performed all over the country at major Canadian Folk Festivals. Her first solo album, Les Biens-Nommés, 2017, was nominated for an East Coast Music Award. Back in Nova Scotia since 2010, Mary Beth is currently working on her second solo album, to be released in 2020.

“Mary Beth Carty is a one-woman-band from Antigonish County, Nova Scotia, who performs homemade sing-alongs and instrumental dance music in the roots genre.”

“Tow Truck Song”, Mary Beth Carty

June 29, 2020
Antigonish, Nova Scotia

Related categories: • Celtic

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