Members of Ten Strings And A Goat Skin, a bilingual band hailing from Prince Edward Island Canada, recent winners of the 2015 East Coast Music Association’s award for World Music Recording of the Year, multiple nominees for the 2013 Canadian Folk Music Awards, East Coast Music Awards and Music PEI Awards, are having the time of their lives as a trad/folk/fusion trio. Weaving the music of the Irish, Acadian, Francophone and Maritime cultures and their original creations with modern and world rhythms, Ten Strings And A Goat Skin have created a fiery, contagious and unique sound that has them in demand and touring extensively throughout Canada, the United States and Europe.
Industry heavyweights have referenced the group’s rare musicality that belies the musicians young ages. With Caleb Gallant, 18 years, as percussionist, Rowen, violinist, and Jesse, guitarist, at aged 20, the lads are pushing boundaries and reinvigorating timeless traditional music for the 21st century. The group’s creativity and unique style has not gone unnoticed. In a recent review of the group, London England’s “Kreol International Magazine” made the following observation: “One of the greatest features of the music industry is the ability for any band from any corner of the globe to achieve widespread notoriety and success. No matter where a band comes from or what kind of music it performs, it is possible for the band to garner attention and gain fans from across the globe. What makes music even more special is the ability for particular groups to succeed while defining their own genre. In a way Ten Strings And A Goat Skin is the perfect example.”A recent Trad Magazine France feature article (issue 157 Sept/Oct 2014) on the group called them “Une Vent Frais et Novateur de Ille de Prince Eduard”. [ A Fresh And Innovative Wind From Prince Edward Island]
Jesse, Rowen and Caleb highly respect the traditions of the music they play but are riding the wave that is redefining the roots of that music. Their original material maintains solid traditional elements but explores rich world flavours and textures. The results have been described as intoxicating and refreshing and recently, a music industry professional, directed to see the group, stated the sentiment, “I don’t like Trad but I love this!”
By both French and English audiences, the trio is humbled by the huge reaction they have received towards their music. They just as easily connect with the indie music crowd as they do with the traditionalist and notably, their fan base carries no age barrier so including children to seniors and those in between. A recent article in Marque Wire Magazine from Milwaukee, Wisconsin reviewed the boys performance at Summerfest (the biggest music festival in the world) saying that while groups like Bruno Mars and Motley Crue were amazing, other smaller acts like Ten Strings And A Goat Skin (referred to as “a gem”) were every bit as good.
All three band members are proudly Canadian by birth but their roots stretch across the globe. Rowan and Caleb are natives of Prince Edward Island on Canada’s eastern coastline. Their root’s encompass Acadian, Irish, Scottish, and English heritage and were fortunate to grow up at time of French/Acadien cultural/language resurgence. Jesse grew up on Prince Edward Island but was born in Canada’s only remaining French province, Quebec, and so grew up in a bilingual home with French education. The members of Ten Strings And A Goat Skin believe their cultural backgrounds has allowed them to appeal to a wider range of music lovers.

From humble beginnings came the music of Ten Strings And A Goat Skin with a first performance at a community fundraiser to paint the local parish church in Rustico, PEI. Not having a band name to introduce the boys, a family friend took stock of the instruments and suggested the name that has served them well. They’ve never looked back and the church got painted.
The year of 2014 has seen the group perform at major Canadian and International festivals and theatres as well as many wonderful smaller venues. They have had the privilege, in a very short music career, to perform in some of the worlds premiere festivals including Festival Interceltique de L’orient (France), which included stadium shows to over 75,000 people, the Philadelphia Folk Festival, considered the Granddaddy of folk festivals , Festival International de Lafayette, Rythym and Roots Festival, Winterlude (Ottawa), Artsplosure, Raleigh, and Summerfest (Milwaukee.) In addition to live shows, the group has recently performed in television and radio productions. In September 2014 a new Canadian national television production “Balade a Toronto”, which highlights rising stars in Canadian Music, featured its premier show with Ten Strings And A Goat Skin, they were presented on TV5 France to an audience of 4 million as part of the Festival Interceltique de L’orient and In addition, they were featured on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) nationally televised Canada Day show. The trio has enjoyed numerous interviews on radio, locally, nationally and internationally.With it’s latest album, “Corbeau”, Ten Strings And A Goat Skin has received wonderful reviews and multiple award nominations. A UK FolkWorld music review states, “Corbeau is one of the top trad albums of 2013. Fetch a copy”, and suggest that the group relates to the British Group Lau or the Irish American Group Solas. Trad Magazine (France) has been hugely complimentary. In addition, the groups album has been listed on numerous top ten folk album list at year end 2013.
The opportunities presented to the trio have been tremendous. They have been fortunate and their hard work and commitment to the music is being noted all over. Playing such prestigious festivals as the Philadelphia Folk Festival is very exciting and the venues have been very generous . A comment from a senior industry player serves as a testament to what the group has been able to achieve in short order. “Several of our programming committee saw Ten Strings And A Goat Skin at various Canadian events in the last year. We agreed, unanimously, that they represented the best of the contemporary/traditional Celtic music, and booked them for our 2014 Festival.” Jesse Lundy – Point Entertainment, co-artistic director Philadelphia Folk Festival.

The group, Ten Strings And A Goat Skin, who are as happy at a local irish session or fiddle camp as they are on a main stage, are very excited about the future and their music. The spirit of the tradition is in good hands with Ten Strings And A Goat Ski