Wild Thistle Contra Dance

Wild Thistle Contra Dance Celtic Knot

Traditional and Modern Contra Dance Music

We are a fun loving Contra Dance band, with fiddlers, piano/keyboard, and Hammered Dulcimer and optionally, cello. We also have dance callers.

Our first "official" gig as Wild Thistle Contra Dance was for a LITMA dance in Westbury a few years, although we have been playing together in different groups for many years. We now have two band names -- Wild Thistle Contra Dance and Wild Thistle Scottish. For Scottish music, click on Wild Thistle Scottish

Keyboard adds a strong rhythm and harmonies, Hammered Dulcimer add a unique texture to our sound, and the fiddles provide the dynamic lively and energetic dance harmonies and drive to our music. You can't help but start dancing. Our musicians play a wide variety of traditional contra dance music, giving us the ability to play authentic New England, Scottish, Irish Country, Ceilidh, Cape Breton, Quebec, and other traditional music for dance. Most of our musicians are also dancers, so we understand what music the dancers love.

Please contact us for a demo, from one of our recent live performances

Wild Thistle Contra Dance Musicians

Mary Morrisson Abdill - Piano/keyboard, concertina, Scottish ceilidh and country dance caller
Jenny Evans Winship - fiddle and vocals
Bernie Stolls - Hammered Dulcimer and Dobro Banjo
Gail Heppen - Cello and fiddle - guest artist
Debbie Neus - fiddle and small pipes - guest artist
James Cleveland -fiddle - guest artist

===> Hey - Jenny wrote this up for our LaMaMa gig July 1. I love it. <===

The Wild Thistle Ensemble embraces Scottish dance music with vigorous energy and glee which often propels even the most bashful of dancers to drop their inhibitions and join in on the fun.

The “leader of the band” and pianist, Mary Morrison Abdill is a well-know dance teacher and musician in the Northeast. It is not unusual to see Mary at a Scottish Dance class on Monday, English dancing on Tuesday and English or Contra dance on the weekend. For many years she was the leader and artistic director of New York Royal Scottish Country Dance (RSCDS) Demonstration Team and the Mary Morrison Dancers. In addition to piano, she also plays traditional music on the English Concertina and Hammered Dulcimer.

Fiddler, Karen Brown, hails from Dundee. In addition to playing in sessions at traditional music festivals in the Northeast, Canada and Scotland, Karen runs the Iona Scottish Session in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. These Monday night sessions focus on the pipe and fiddle music of Scotland, Cape Breton and Ireland and many of NYC’s finest Scottish musicians and enthusiasts (including all of the members of Wild Thistle!) stop in to share and exchange tunes. The session is open and everyone is welcome.

Piper, Douglas Safranek fell in love with Scottish pipes at the age of eleven. For our ensemble, he plays the small pipes but is often in demand for parades and other venues requiring a Highland Bagpiper. As well as being an accomplished piper, Doug is a renowned artist. His works have been featured in solo exhibitions in New York, Washington, and Wisconsin. His paintings are in museum collections from the West to the East Coast, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, here in NYC. He is represented by the ACA Galleries in Chelsea, NY.

Fiddler, Jenny Evans has traveled the world on a wing and a jig. She has played from California to New York and all the states in between that start with the letter M—and some that don’t start with the letter M. She is a lover of all Celtic music and has played with some of the finest musicians on the Scottish and Irish music scene. She continues to learn and adapt her music styles and hopes to someday accomplish fiddle nirvana.

Fiddler, Hannah Marcus embraces all types of music, from traditional to indie rock, American Old-Time to Celtic. She is also a well-regarded composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to playing for dances and leading local Irish sessions, Hannah performs her original music in Europe, Canada and the US. In addition to her solo work, Hannah is a member of the Wingdale Community Singers who just released their third album. Some day the Wild Thistles hope to premiere an original composition ala Hannah.

For information about Wild Thistle Contra Dance, or to book our band, please email: Mary Morrisson Abdill

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