Their mother played the violin for about a week in primary school, and they say their dad is tone deaf. So where the Johnson sisters—Fiona, 23, Kirsty, 21, and the twins, Amy and Mairi, 19—got their musical talent is a mystery.
“Well, our aunt, my mother’s sister plays violin and she does concerts as a hobby,” offers Kirsty, who plays accordian and does lead vocals for the Scottish sister act, GiveWay, which will be appearing at the Irish Center, Carpenter and Emlen streets, in West Mt. Airy, on Saturday, March 28.
Don’t let their ages fool you into thinking that they’re new to the music scene. Fiona and Kirsty started the group as a duo more than a decade ago, when Fi was only 13 and Kirsty, 11. But they were already accomplished musicians by then, playing everything from classical tunes to Scottish traditional music, a little rock to a little jazz, all of which you can still hear in their music, although you’re likely to find it filed under “folk.”
“I was four when I got an accordian as a gift from my grandparents,” explains Kirsty. “They thought it was a toy, but my mom and dad got me lessons. Fiona started at five with the violin.”
In 2001 (keep doing the math), the girls played their first professional gig at the Celtic Connections Festival in Glasgow where they won the prestigious “Danny Award,” named for the late Danny Kyle who for years produced the “open stage” competition. Since there may be a hundred or more competitors, winning one of the seven “Dannys” given each year has launched many young musicians onto successful careers. Later the same year, the band placed first in the BBC Radio “Young Folk” awards competition.
Sister Amy, having traded in her accordian for a drum kit, “filtered” into the band along with Mairi, as keyboardist and background singer. GiveWay made more appearances at Celtic Connections, the Cambridge Folk Festival, the Tonder Festival in Denmark, and Celtic Colours in Cape Breton. They were also invited to take part in the BBC 1 “Hogmanay Live” television show, sharing the stage with a host of major artists, including Phil Cunningham and Aly Bain. In 2003 the band signed to Greentrax Recordings and their debut album, “Full Steam Ahead,” was released to great reviews. The Daily Telegraph wrote that the CD was “bursting with evidence of virtuosity, flair and disarming maturity.”
The same could be said of their second CD, “Inspired,” which followed in 2005. A third, “Lost in This Song,” (which Kirsty says has more vocals than the previous two) is being released this spring, though too late for Saturday’s performance. Phil Cunningham, now a solo artist but formerly with the bands Silly Wizard and Relativity, is GiveWay’s producer. Last year, the band also recorded a single, “The Water is Wide,” which was produced by Brian Hurren of Runrig, the popular Scottish folk-rock band.
The Irish Center appearance is the girls’ third stop on an ambitious US tour which will take them to 13 states through the end of April. The only other area appearances will be in Delaware, at St. Andrew’s School in Middleton and the Cooldog Concert series (a house concert) in Dover, in the first week of April. It’s not their first visit to the region. They’ve performed at Bethlehem’s Celtic Classic Festival and at Godfrey Daniels, an intimate music venue on Bethlehem’s south side.
In fact, just this week we received an unsolicited review from someone who caught their performances in Lehigh County. “You’re in
for a treat on Saturday night–Giveway,” a man named George emailed us. “I saw them two summers ago at The Celtic Classic. They’re great musicians and all should have a great time Saturday night.”
Couldn’t have said it better ourselves.
