"What's Castlebay all about?
Seafaring, the darkness and lightness of the coast of Maine, the rhythm of the tides"
-- Peter Spectre, marine author

"Some music just washes over you, and other music demands attention. The songs that Gosbee and Lane unearth belong to the latter catagory. The songs they've gathered for Looking Home tie into the idea that all people are searching for the place they belong, whether in an ancestral sense or as part of a new enclave they've helped create themselves..."Looking Home is an artistic triumph!"
-- FACE MAGAZINE

Castlebay Duo
Castlebay

Castlebay hails from Round Pond, Maine in the US. Julia Lane and Fred Gosbee are founding members of Castlebay, formed as a quartette in 1987, to perform and promote the music of Maine and the Celtic lands of Scotland and Ireland. Castlebay became a duo in 1993. Julia and Fred have since honed their performances as a duo. classCastlebay regularly tours throughout the eastern US performing at arts centers, festivals, folk clubs, schools, and libraries. They have toured the United Kingdom annually since 1993. They have collaborated with performers there on several CDs and also composed music for a major work presented at the Celtic Connections Festival, Glasgow, Scotland, in 2001.




Julia Lane at Cairn Holy, 2005
Julia Lane

Julia Lane decided in favour of music and singing after studying early childhood development. She studied classical and flamenco guitar at Phillips Exeter academy and used the guitar to accompany her singing until 1989 when she discovered the Celtic harp. Self-taught, she rapidly became a skilled and exciting player, winning the Senior Professional division at the New Hampshire Scottish Games Harp Competition in 1990 and 1991 and the International Folk Harp Competition at Stonehill College in 1992. She is in demand as a teacher of performance workshops for the harp throughout the east coast of the US.







Fred Gosbee in Portsmouth,England
Fred Gosbee

Fred Gosbee left a career as a shipbuilder and engineer to make music a full-time pursuit in 1988. He has played classic and 12-string guitar for over 35 years, began playing violin and viola and Irish flute about 1995, and has been playing tin-whistle far too long to remember when he started. He is self taught on guitar, whistle and flute, studied violin with Dean Stein and many years ago studied tuba and string bass. He learned many traditional songs from his family, who worked as lumbermen in the forests of New Brunswick and Maine. His original songs have been sung and recorded by other artists.





Castlebay's repertoire includes traditional songs and music from Scotland, Ireland and England as well as of the Maine coast. Because they are so steeped in tradition their original work often "passes" as traditional.

Castlebay has recorded over 25 albums. Currently there are 16 titles in their catalog:

 
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