Castlebay, a Maine duo that performs maritime and Celtic music and song

Electronic Press Kits

Our Green Earth
Music of the Maine Coast
Robert Burns Concert

Released in February 2010 Bards & Blarney - Irish songs & stories

Going Home Thanksgiving Music for Harp

Rantin' Rovin' Robin
Songs of Robert Burns Celebrating his 250th Birth Year.

Islands In Time is a live concert recording released in the summer of 2006. There are live performances of some of your old favorite Castlebay songs and stories as well as some new things.

Imram
A Celtic Journey

An Imram in the Celtic tradition is a spiritual journey. This CD is a compilation of the most serene tracks from our Tapestry series, a perfect accompaniment for massage or just relaxing.

Review this site

Many thanks for the very delightful Noonday Concert on Thursday!. The harp, 'fiddle', penny whistle, but especially your voices were so captivating. What a wonderful way to communicate with people. Our audience is especially appreciative when performers talk about the music, about their program - it seems to make a connection that gives more understanding. (I usually like to hear these comments as people leave.)

Thank you so much. We really appreciate your generous contribution to this Noonday Series.

Best Wishes!
Carol Elowe
Interim Director
Portland Conservatory of Music
202 Woodford Street
Portland, Maine

I am writing to tell you that the Burns CD was one of the best you have done. I have played it again and again. Its pieces are all different, but they form a tapestry of music - melancholy, romantic, funny, and that great A Man's a Man and Auld Lang Syne.

It's a natural for a book-and-CD package. I would love to see the words you both sing and then have those words set into Burns' life and works. It could be a great winter project for you.
- Thomas B. Allen, Bethesda, MD

Dear Fred and Julia, For 2 days all I have heard is how wonderful your concert was on May 6th!!!! I have been elated since that evening!!!!
You are so terrific, so talented and such a stage presence (even without a stage!!!)!!!! Everyone here thinks so!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I have listened repeatedly to Islands in Time in my car CD player!!!! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Carole Donovan
Peabody Memorial Library

"Just wanted to pass on...I ordered Fred and Julia's CD Imram - A Celtic Journey from CDBaby. As Fred posted, this is one of the CD's that contributes to Katrina relief. It is a compilation of pieces from their Tapestry CDs (which are ALL on my Christmas list!) I have had it playing since I got home from work and found it in the mail. This is a beautiful CD, both in it's content and it's execution. Just what I needed after a stressful day in the operating room! Thanks, Fred and Julia, for such a lovely CD, and for generously donating to Katrina relief."
-- Ginger McDevitt

Castlebay has been musically weaving together the heritage of New England and the Celtic lands since 1987. Members Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee have loved and researched traditional music for most of their lives and blend history, legend and experience into their personable performance style. Their concerts feature poignant ballads sung in Lane's ethereal soprano and Gosbee's rich baritone interspersed with joyous dance tunes played on Celtic harp, guitar, fiddle and tin whistle. Castlebay treats the audience to a musical journey through time and across the Atlantic. The duo also presents special theme concerts on various aspects of Celtic lore, nautical life or Colonial America.

"What captivated [the audience] were Julia and Fred's musicianship, the apparent casualness with which they weave their listeners into magical worlds of storytelling, song, and harp, and their down-to-earth (and sea) Maine coast and Celtic tunes, tales, and salty humor".

Castlebay has toured the Eastern U.S., Ireland, England and Scotland playing at festivals and arts centers, as well as on radio and television. The duo maintains a commitment to cultural education, exchanging music and lore with colleagues. They provide folklore and music programs for schools, museums, libraries and Elderhostels exploring Celtic lore and tradition throughout the eastern US and the British Isles. The duo has released 27 recordings including both original and traditional songs, Christmas harp recordings, and the "Tapestry" collection, a 6-part instrumental series.

None of this would be possible without the help and support of many friends. Our thanks to you all.

Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee are members of American Federation of Musicians Local 1000.

Why Tradition?
The people who inhabit a region resonate to their environment, working with it to survive and even to enrich their lives. Work habits and social behaviors arise according to their relationships with seasons, weather and the condition of the land. From these come belief systems, folklore, art and music. Immigrants carry the ancient traditions of their race as well as internalizing the influences of the new place.

In the drive for "progress and success" awareness of connections and responsibility for each other and our environment has been obscured. One of our biggest needs is to understand and appreciate community and resources, both environmental and spiritual. The knowledge of these relationships is paramount in Celtic tradition and has relevance in modern society.

The music and lore of both the Celtic lands and New England is alive with imagery associated with our relationships to each other and the natural world. The stories and songs are a vehicle for explaining them and attempting to transform, or be transformed by them. Hearing and understanding ancient stories and music inspired by elemental experience can help us refill our own wells of creativity and reweave the web of connection. They are timeless, and provide revelation, and even healing, for both the bard and the audience.

Castlebay is eligible for funding support from NEST Roster - New England Foundation for the Arts and is listed in the Maine Arts Commission Artist Directory

Electronic Press Kits

Released in June! John Earthy's Tavern