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Stonemason's daughter cracks White Rock scene

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WHITE ROCK — Stagefright? What stagefright? Kiérah Raymond's nerves don't get to her when she plays her fiddle for a crowd.

"I started when I was five, just setting up in the middle of shoppers - I don't have any fear," she said.

She's only 18, but music has been a lifelong passion for the South Surreyite. Born into an Irish-Scottish family, she first picked up her four-string violin at the age of four, and it was only a year before she started doing her own live performances.

"I started performing when I was five, did my first wedding, and then at six, I started busking at Granville Island - every second Saturday for 11 years, I did that," she said. "I would play at farmers' markets, private events, music festivals. I still do that now - not the busking at Granville Island, but performing wherever I can."

Raymond is classically trained and has learned the works of Bach, Vivaldi and Mozart, but Celtic music has been just as much of a musical inspiration, if not more, to her.

"When I was five, I was introduced to Celtic music, and so I did those two side by side for all those years," she said. "I just love Celtic because it's so happy and fun and not so disciplined like classical music. With Celtic music, you can play the same tune six different ways – with classical, you can't do that.

"But I wouldn't be a good Celtic player if I didn't have the classical training."

Raymond released her debut album, Irish Madness, when she was merely 11 years old, and earned a nomination for Young Performer of the Year from the Canadian Folk Music Awards. Her followup, 2010's A Fiddle Affair, garnered the same nod, and her latest record, Stonemason's Daughter, finally took home the Young Performer honour. (The track "Ireland Meets Scotland" off her 2013 album has also been nominated for a Celtic Radio Music Award.) "It took a lot of work, but the album has two of the most incredible musicians I've ever worked with: (producer and pianist) Adrian Dolan and (guitarist) Adam Dobres," she said. "They just added so much that I could've never even thought of on my own. They put a mandolin on there, bodhrán drums, accordion, banjo - they just threw in all these ideas."

The term "stonemason's daughter" isn't just a clever name for an album by a Celtic lass like Raymond, as her father actually crafted stone for a living.

"My dad's retired, but he set up a business in the '80s that my four brothers run, Bedrock Granite Sales," she said. "Stone is in the family.

"It's personal, it says a little about me, and people are intrigued by the name."

Her virtuosic ability has taken her on tours across Canada, south into the United States and overseas to Europe - but she's staying closer to home next week with two shows at Blue Frog Studios, on March 20 and 21.

Raymond sold out the Johnston Road venue last November, and is making her return there during the White Rock Irish Festival. Dolan and Dobres, who performed on her latest record, will join her onstage throughout the evenings.

The latter show is sold out, but tickets are still available for the Thursday concert - and going back to her fearless stage presence, Raymond is crossing her fingers for another full house on the 20th.

"The bigger the crowd, the better, because you just totally feed off their energy," she said. "If you have a few people in the audience and they're not giving you a reaction, you don't feel like giving your best, but when there's a full crowd, I will give you my best."

For tickets, call 604-542-3055 or buy online at bluefrogstudios.ca.

jzinn@thenownewspaper.com