The Cottars are a Canadian Celtic musical group from

Cape Breton Island Cape Breton Island (, formerly '; or '; ) is a rugged and irregularly shaped island on the Atlantic coast of North America and part of the province of Nova Scotia, Canada. The island accounts for 18.7% of Nova Scotia's total area. Although ...

formed in 2000. The group's current members are Ciarán MacGillivray, Fiona MacGillivray, Bruce Timmins, and Claire Pettit.

History

The Cottars were founded in late 2000 when two sets of siblings, Ciarán MacGillivray and Fiona MacGillivray of Albert Bridge, Nova Scotia, joined with Rosie MacKenzie (then age 11) and Jimmy MacKenzie of

Baddeck, Nova Scotia Baddeck () is a village on Cape Breton Island in northeastern Nova Scotia, Canada. It is situated in the center of Cape Breton, approximately 6 km east of where the Baddeck River empties into Bras d'Or Lake. Baddeck is the shire-town of th ...

. In 2001, they released their first CD, '' Made In Cape Breton'', on

Warner Music Warner Music Group Corp., commonly abbreviated as WMG, is an American multinational entertainment and record label conglomerate headquartered in New York City. It is one of the " big three" recording companies and the third-largest in the gl ...

. The disc, with their single, a cover of

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on society's underworld and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He began in the American folk music, fo ...

's "The Briar and the Rose", showcased John McDermott's vocals along with Fiona's in two duets. In 2003, they won the New Group of the Year award at the 2003

East Coast Music Awards The East Coast Music Association (ECMA) is a non-profit association purposed towards supporting the music industry in the Canadian east coast, i.e., Atlantic Canada. The ECMA hosts the annual East Coast Music Awards (formerly the Maritime Music A ...

. The members were each individually nominated for a

Gemini Award The Gemini Awards were awards given by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television between 1986–2011 to recognize the achievements of Canada's English-language television industry. The Gemini Awards are analogous to the Emmy Awards given in t ...

in the same year in the category of Best Performance or Host in a Variety Program or Series for their performances at the 2003 East Coast Music Awards. In 2004, the Cottars released their second CD, '' On Fire'', for which they won the Best Roots/Traditional Album award at the 2005 East Coast Music Awards. The group's third CD, '' Forerunner'', was released on

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

in January 2006, and was their first release in the U.S."News 2005"
thecottars.ca; retrieved December 25, 2012. It contained two new

covers; "Georgia Lee" and "Hold On". In January and March 2006, the Cottars went on a tour of the US with

The Chieftains The Chieftains were a traditional Irish folk band formed in Dublin in 1962, by Paddy Moloney, Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous w ...

which included a performance at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

in New York City, where they performed with

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

. In mid-2006, the group announced they would disband, but they continued to perform together until the end of 2006. Some time later, the group started performing again under a new arrangement in which the MacKenzie siblings were replaced with fiddler Claire Pettit and guitarist Bruce Timmins. The band released their fourth CD, ''Feast'', in February 2010 on

, which features the new members, Timmins and Pettit, in addition to the MacGillivray siblings.

Discography

* 2002 - '' Made In Cape Breton'' * 2004 - '' On Fire'' * 2006 - '' Forerunner'' * 2010 - ''Feast''

References

External links

The Cottars
at

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The Cottars
at

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cottars, The Musical groups established in 2000 Musical groups from Nova Scotia Canadian Celtic music groups Canadian folk music groups