Check out Colin, Mike Hall, and Robbie Fraser at Le Gabriel Restaurant & Lounge in Cheticamp this Sunday June 27.

Want to see who’s going? Join the Facebook event here.

Playing at the Celtic Music Interpretive Center tomorrow afternoon (Sunday) 3-6:30pm. Come show your steps and don’t be shy.

Celtic Music Interpretive Centre

Following on the heels of the 2009 summer release “The Toy EP”, Colin Grant plans to crank out his second full-length album entitled “Fun for the Whole Family” to kick-start 2010 with controlled abandon.

Teaming up again with co-producer/engineer Mike Shepherd of Lakewind Sound (www.lakewind.com), Colin set out to capture his evolving and versatile brand of Cape Breton fiddling in a series of sessions with a variety of close musical compatriots. Collaborators include his father, John Grant (highland pipes), New Waterford’s own Dougie MacPhee (piano), the driving traditional duo of Robbie Fraser & Chris Babineau (piano, guitar), fellow Louisbourg Playhouse cast mates Jason Kempt, Adam Young and Jason MacDonald (piano, guitar), multi-instrumentalist and fellow Pogey band member Darren McMullen, and the powerhouse combo of Jason Roach and Patty Gillis (piano, guitar). Rounding out the album are two tracks by the emerging Colin Grant Band, comprised of the rough and red-eyed blues/funk rhythm section of Merlin Clarke, Shannon Ezzat and Donnie Calabrese on drums, electric guitars and bass.

Taking a new approach, Grant’s new album leans heavily on his own compositions, while paying respect to various contemporary musical influences and friends.

Excited about a brand-new batch of tunes and a wealth of sounds from some of Cape Breton’s favourite accompanying musicians, Colin says “Fun for the Whole Family” promises to be just that; something for everyone, from indie scenesters to blue-haired bingo stampers.

Stephen Cooke, The Halifax Herald
February 25, 2021

I’ve been lucky enough to catch Cape Breton fiddler Colin Grant on stage a couple of times during trips across the causeway, including the CD release bash for his self-titled debut at Celtic Colours in 2006, and discovered he’s everything you could hope for from a Celtic musician: energetic, adventurous, serious in his study of music but always eager to have a good time on stage and in the studio.

Those traits carry over to Grant’s new CD, titled Fun for the Whole Family, which he launches this week with a series of shows around the province, starting tonight at Governor’s Pub in Sydney with guest Carlton Stone Drives the Big Wheel, with two shows at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Colin Grant and his band will perform this weekend in Sydney, Church Point and Halifax. Band members include Donnie Calabrese (bass), Colin Clarke (drums), Jason Roach (piano), Grant (fiddle), and Darren McMullen (guitar, mandolin, banjo, bouzouki).

On Friday, Grant returns to Universite Sainte-Anne in Church Point, where he’s been a student and a teacher, to perform at Theatre Marc-Lescarbot at 7:30 p.m. with guests Nathalie Saulnier and Allie Mombourquette.

Then on Saturday, Grant is in Halifax for an afternoon ceilidh at Durty Nelly’s Irish Pub on Argyle Street from 2 to 6 p.m. The shows feature a crackerjack band made up of bassist Donnie Calabrese, drummer Colin Clarke, pianist Jason Roach and multi-instrumentalist Darren McMullen, a cohort of J.P. Cormier’s, recently seen around the province with the duo of Gillian Boucher and Andrea Wittgens.

Grant’s something of a musical sponge, soaking up the Scottish and Acadian fiddle styles of Nova Scotia, and even a wee bit of the Irish, and can go from a stone trad set like Donald Angus Jigs to a contemporary track like Beoga’s Surprise without batting an eye. It shouldn’t be a surprise he started studying Cape Breton fiddle with Sandy MacIntyre in Toronto at the age of 10, and continued with Allie Bennett when his family moved to Cape Breton in 1998. As a result, his music brims with confidence, but also reverence, as Fun for the Whole Family includes tributes to the late fiddle titan Jerry Holland, the Beatons of Mabou, and of course his respected teacher MacIntyre.

This weekend’s shows will also include new tunes that Grant and his band plan to record later in the spring, taking advantage of the extra musicians to explore a fusion of Celtic and progressive sounds. Definitely worth a sneak preview.