MacIsaac and Wedden rock the hall in Dacre

Oct 04, 2017

Fiddler Jessica Wedden and her guitar player, Reilly Donnelly, are taking Southern Ontario by storm! They opened last Saturday night for three time Juno Award winner Ashley MacIsaac, originally of Nova Scotia, along with an appearance by Change of Step, a step dance group also from Nova Scotia and Ontario. The event was located at the DACA Community Centre in Dacre for the Festival of Small Halls Ontario. The Festival of Small Halls places Canadian musicians in small venues across Eastern Ontario. It is organized by the Team Behind Bluesfest.
To start off the evening, Jessica and Reilly opened with Celtic fiddle tunes. Jessica also did some step dancing and trick fiddling. Of course, for Ashley's set, he played some nice slow tunes and picked up the pace as his set unfolded with an appearance by Change of Step. For a dramatic ending to the show, Jessica rejoined Ashley on stage for a couple of tunes and Change of Step made one last appearance.

Jessica Wedden is a 15 year old fiddler, step dancer, trick fiddler and composer, passionately playing for almost six years. Jessica was nominated for a 2016 Canadian Folk Music Award, interviewed live a couple times on Kingston's CKWS-TV, and profiled in Halifax’s Celtic Life Magazine of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jessica was the special guest of J.P. Cormier, the Larry Mercey Trio, performed at the Havelock Country Jamboree, Ottawa's Marvest at CityFolk and many others.

Jessica has been performing with Reilly Donnelly since last July of 2017. Due to last minute band cancellation, she was asked to perform at the Youth Showcase for the Stewart Park festival and needed a backup guitarist. The unexpected cancellation joined the two and they proved to be a dynamic duo. They have been building their musical partnership and merging their talents ever since.