The Peru Gazette

Trio Offers Celtic, Quebecois & Appalachian Fiddle Tunes & Folk Music

Friends Union, the professional traditional music ensemble that formed among friends in Plattsburgh 43 years ago and returned to the performance stage in 2006, will present a concert of classic Celtic, French-Canadian, and Appalachian fiddle tunes and folk classics on June 19 at 7:30 p.m. in the U.S. Oval Gazebo, the third concert of the Curbside At Harborside season.

Featuring Steve Iachetta on fiddle, Norman Rodham on guitar, and Rod Driscoll on hammered dulcimer, lap dulcimer, banjo, bouzouki, and seemingly everything else imaginable with strings, Friends Union offers masterful performances of everything from jigs, reels, and hornpipes guaranteed to get the audience’s toes tapping to gentle ballads that tell timeless tales.

Combining a reverence for music’s heritage with the contemporary freshness of their improvisations, the band is well-known for performances that are equal parts energetic, emotional, and educational, with plenty of audience participation at every show.

Iachetta, nicknamed “Shaker Fiddle,” met Rod Driscoll during their college years at SUNY Plattsburgh, bonding quickly over their passion for traditional music and leading the two men to start a locally based band. Friends Union quickly became a sought-after ensemble throughout the North Country and far beyond, gaining a following that encompassed contradances, concert halls, historical gatherings, and traditional music festivals.

After a while, the bandmates took a hiatus to raise their families and pursue careers outside of music while continuing to play with other groups. Then, in 2006, Iachetta called Driscoll out of the blue and asked whether Driscoll would like to sit in with him that night for a gig at the Keeseville Grange. After only a half an hour of rehearsing together, the two men recognized that they still possessed a remarkable musical connection and decided that they needed to return to playing together on a regular basis.

That night, Friends Union was reborn. In 2011, Iachetta met Rodham when both artists were playing at the Victorian Stroll in Troy and realized that Rodham’s traditional guitar playing — honed while living for 21 years in Great Britain — would be a perfect addition to Friends Union. The trio has been together ever since, critically acclaimed for their performances of traditional classics that range from the stirring Scotland the Brave to the lively Wind That Shakes the Barley to the infectiously catchy June Apple to the heart-wrenching Ashokan Farewell.

Gates open at 6:30 p.m. for this concert, with tickets available at the gate and seating provided on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets are only $10 per person, with 100% of all proceeds going to the artists.

All attendees are seated with the members of their party in a socially distant manner and are not required to wear masks while they are seated and remaining socially distant from other parties at the concert. Any attendee who is not fully vaccinated is respectfully requested to wear a mask for the duration of the concert.

This concert is generously sponsored by Jeffords Steel & Engineering and Adirondack Plastic Surgery Center, whose kind financial contributions have allowed this program to take place as an affordable live music offering in the North Country.

For more information, please contact Benjamin Pomerance at pomerance.benjamin58@gmail.com.

About The Artists

Steve “Shaker Fiddle” Iachetta is well-known for his unique playing style blending Celtic, Old Time and Appalachian folk fiddling along with the occasional mandolin, frailing banjo, or tenor guitar tune.

 

He performs on his collection of vintage instruments: a 1722 fiddle, an 1886 Poleman vintage frailing banjo, a 1922 vintage Gibson “Model A” mandolin, and a 1956 Gibson tenor guitar.  In addition to his work with Friends Union and many other freelance gigs, Steve performs in the acoustic duo Shelving Rock.

Steve has a bustling luthier business, Shaker Violin Repair & Performance, which he now runs from his home. He repairs and restores violins, violas, cellos, and stringed basses for schools as well as professional, and student musicians. Since he opened the business last year, his services have been in high demand.

Steve is also past President of the Shaker Heritage Society and serves as Trustee of the Board overseeing the National Shaker Historic Site — Amerca’s First Shaker Settlement in Colonie, N.Y., adjacent to Albany Airport.

 

Rod Driscoll performs on the hammered and lap dulcimers, guitar (6 & 12 string), banjo, bouzouki and bodhran. Rod sings lead vocals on his wide repertoire of songs. He has been active as a performer and promoter of folk music in the Adirondacks of New York for the last 45 years.

Rod has performed with the Too Tall, Old Mountain and Friends Union String Bands as well as many solo appearances over the years. As a promoter of music in the North Country, he helped start the Plattsburgh Concerts in the Park series, started the Peru Coffeehouse series, and organized many other benefit concerts over the years such as the concert to aid victims of the great North Country ice storm of 1998. Rod builds the dulcimers he plays at his workshop “O’Driscoll Folk Instruments” located at his home in Peru, NY.

 

Rod just retired from his position as elementary school principal for the Whiting Sudbury Learning Academy in Central Vermont. He previously retired from AuSable Valley High School in 2016, after 32 years of teaching. He is the former president of the AuSable Valley Teachers Association and is the retired, long time president of the Peru Central School Board of Education.

Rod’s numerous op eds on education, politics, and economics have appeared in The New York Times, the Burlington Free Press, the Plattsburgh Press-Republican, and the Albany Times Union.

 

Norman Rodham is a master of the DADGAD guitar tuning who has a wealth of experience in the folk music world. He performs frequently in a duo named Stepping Stone with his wife, Robin, who is an accomplished fiddle player. They are very popular in contradance circles for their enormous repertoire of traditional dance tunes.  Norman also plays the Irish bodhran and the bones.
By day, Norman works as a special educator for a charter school. He plays with Friends Union when visiting the Adirondacks from his home in sunny Florida.