Donna Hébert, Max Cohen, Molly Hebert-Wilson

Donna Hébert, Max Cohen and Molly Hebert-Wilson

Award-winning Celtic & French-Canadian fiddling, fingerstyle guitar & songs in Gaelic, English & French

Programs offered:

Concerts of virtuoso French-Canadian, Irish and Scottish fiddling, fingerstyle guitar and vocals in Irish, French and English. 

School assemblies and classroom programs teaching and demonstrating the French-Canadian and Irish music history and cultures in New England. Optional potluck supper and Soirée where students perform with group. Donna is a Creative Teaching Partner, certified for folk programs in the Massachusetts schools. Molly is an Irish Studies minor at NYU and a fluent Irish speaker as well as a French-Canadian step-dancer. Max helps Donna coach and conduct the Great Groove Band at Old Songs and Philadelphia Folk Festivals every year and teaches at Old Songs Summer Camps.

Workshops: For schools, colleges and community groups, Donna teaches Fiddling Demystified for String Players and Improvisation as well as fiddle styles from Canada, Europe and the U.S., specializing in the French-Canadian fiddle music of Louis Beaudoin. Max Cohen teaches Celtic guitar accompaniment, DADGAD fingerstyle guitar and chord theory. Molly Hebert-Wilson teaches Irish Gaelic songs and Irish language.

Donna’s Fiddling Demystified channel on YouTube – check out performances with our children’s groups at festivals, see Donna and Max play “Raven’s Wing” at the Philadelphia Folk Festival with Groovemama and watch them play for the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s concert in 2008. Max also plays the classic air “Da Slockit Light” on fingerstyle guitar.

Facebook event page for tour with photos, video links and more.

Donna, Max and Molly at a CT house concert in June 2009. Molly brought down the house! (This trio is also touring in the northeast with Irish accordionist John Whelan in 2010.)

about Donna Hébert . . .

AUDIO: Magic Foot/Son of a Bear (2nd tune is a fiddle duet with André Brunet, Max Cohen guitar, Pascal Gemme feet, from Donna’s 2009 “In Full Bloom” CD
VIDEO: Dad’s Reel/Circular Reel – YouTube (© Daniel Boucher) Franco-American fiddle and dance with Max Cohen and Christine Morrison at Mass. Cultural Council’s Keepers of the Tradition concert, 2008
VIDEO: Raven’s Wing – YouTube (© 2008 Donna Hébert & Max Cohen), with Groovemama at 2009 Philadelphia Folk Festival

Cited for “outstanding artistic achievement,” by Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick in January 2009, Donna Hébert is a 2008 Massachusetts Artists’ Fellow in the Folk Arts. One of the state’s most prestigious art awards, the Fellowship from the Massachusetts Cultural Council recognizes Donna’s virtuoso Franco-American fiddling. Donna was also named a Creative Teaching Partner by the Council, allowing her to bring her Fiddling Demystified for Strings program to classrooms around the state. In 2010, she joins forces with Irish accordion legend John Whelan (and Molly and Max) to feature the music of the Irish and French-Canadians living side by side in New England’s mill towns.  

Says string guru Darol Anger in his introduction to Fiddling Demystified Vol. I, “Donna gets it all right!” “Fiddling Demystified should be required reading for all string teachers hoping to branch out into fiddling” in her review of the book in the Sept. 2009 issue of Strings Magazine, where she calls the book “a substantial contribution to the growing field of fiddling pedagogy.”

With more than twelve fiddle recordings and books to her credit including her latest French-Canadian fiddling CD, “In Full Bloom,” Donna also directs summer camps for children and adults at Old Songs Community Center in Voorheesville NY. The Donna/Max/Molly trio adds a fourth member, fiddler Katherine First, for Celtic ensemble Mist Covered Mountains. Donna also performs Franco-American music with Josée Vachon and Daniel Boucher and The Beaudoin Legacy. She teaches and and performs with Max Cohen and Old Time band Groovemama at Old Songs and Philly Folk Festivals. Donna is especially happy on this tour to be performing with her daughter, Molly Hebert-Wilson.

about Max Cohen . . .

VIDEO: Da Slockit Light, YouTube solo guitar:

VIDEO: Buck Mountain, Great Groove Band, main stage, Philadelphia Folk Festival 2009, Max conducting.

Max Cohen is long respected in the New England folk music scene as a guitarist’s guitarist, continuing to astound listeners with his fingerstyle artistry. In addition to playing in duos and the trios with Donna, Max performs with Donna in the 9-member Beaudoin Legacy group and performs and teaches with her in Groovemama. He also tours and records with folk legend Priscilla Herdman. Dar Williams used him on her debut album and says, “I love Max!”, a sentiment clearly echoed by everyone he plays with. 

While retaining a strong identity as a solo fingerstyle guitarist and composer for both acoustic and electric guitar mediums, Max moves deeper into traditional music. Working with Donna, with fiddler Katherine First and with his Renaissance group “Misfits of Avalon,” Max also composes tunes and plays at local sessions, where fiddlers find his guitar playing groovy, supportive and generally wonderful.

Max teaches guitar at summer camps for adults and children at Old Songs near Albany NY and coaches youth performances with Groovemama at the Old Songs and Philadelphia Folk Festivals. Max is a willing convert to French-Canadian songs, tunes and rhythms and co-produced Donna’s “In Full Bloom” CD of French tunes. Max also producing and engineering for bands and soloists in the northeast.

Max and Donna have all their dates listed on Donna’s calendar. For more information, see Donna’s media kit page.

about Molly Hebert-Wilson . . .

AUDIO: Molly na gCuach ní Chuilleanáin/Cowboy’s Jig with Max Cohen guitar, Donna Hébert backup vocal, fiddle

“I saw Molly Hebert-Wilson at the top of the musical ladder a year ago in 2008. Since then, she’s added more rungs than one can imagine!” Mike Haley, film producer

Molly Hebert-Wilson is a junior in Irish Studies and Musical Theater at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU. Bringing a decade of theater and singing experience to her performances, Molly’s songs in Irish Gaelic and English are a highlight of the group’s performances. A member of the NYU Irish Folk Group, she studied at Trinity College in Ireland in summer 2009. Featured at the Old Songs Festival’s ‘Tree of Life’ Concerts from 2005-2008, Molly has been a favorite of theater and folk audiences since beginning at age nine. With Max and Donna, she is also performing next year with Irish accordion legend John Whelan.