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Tarbot House Band
Cape Breton

Tarbot House Band

Running from 1977-1979, the Tarbot Music Festival was the first of its kind on Cape Breton Island. Community concerts, like the Broad Cove Scottish Concert and the Big Pond Concert, were well-established by this time, but they concentrated on preserving and celebrating traditional Scottish Gaelic and Cape Breton Celtic music. Tarbot was different. While there were traditional fiddlers and singers in the lineup, there was also a wide range of more contemporary folk, rock ‘n’ roll, and blues band on the bill. One of the popular bands at that time was Road, an influential and groundbreaking group featuring Fred Lavery, Allie Bennett, and Bruce Timmins. While the band’s time in the spotlight was short-lived, the members of that band went on to have long lasting careers in the music industry. In putting together the Tarbot concert for Celtic Colours, we recruited Fred, Allie, and Bruce for the concert’s house band, and teamed them up the multi-talented Stephen Muise, Musical Director of the Men of the Deeps.

Festival Performances

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