Fiddler’s dreams come full circle in Dublin

Growing up in Nashville, Tennessee, Carolina sophomore Katherine Thomas fell in love with the fiddle early. She took lessons on historic Music Row, learning to play where country music stars record their albums.

The more Thomas fiddled, the more enamored she became with Irish music, where the fiddle is the star. The beautiful simplicity of Irish songs called to her. “It was my favorite thing to do. I would constantly assault family members with my playing a jig,” she said, laughing.

Thomas’ love for the fiddle led her to enroll at UNC-Chapel Hill, where she is a member of the Carolina Bluegrass Band and studies music in the UNC College of Arts and Sciences.

In late August, a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity tied all her passions together. Thomas and the rest of the Carolina Bluegrass Band had the chance to travel to Dublin along with the Carolina football and women’s soccer teams. While both Tar Heel sports teams competed — and won — overseas, Thomas and the Carolina Bluegrass Band explored Ireland and performed for an international audience.

“When I got the email that we were going to go to Ireland, it was like passion reignited,” said Thomas, who has Irish ancestry in her family. “I got my old books of Irish jigs, and I tried to relearn all of them. And I was on Irish music forums and commenting on Reddit posts, and I was really trying to find what I was going to do and how I was going to play the most Irish music possible.”

Thomas traveled to Dublin along with bandmates Malcolm Douglas ’27 (mandolin), Will Palmer ’30 (banjo), Margaret Thornton ’27 (guitar) and John Wood ’27 (bass), as well as band director Russell Johnson and Carolina Bluegrass Initiative director Jocelyn Neal. The trip was made possible thanks to a generous donation from The Carlyle Adams Foundation and an anonymous donor.

Playing Irish music was new for all but Thomas. She said the trip helped her and her bandmates develop greater chemistry as they challenged themselves to learn new material.

On the morning of the Aug. 29 football game, the band spontaneously decided to learn “The Galway Girl,” practicing the famous Irish song by Steve Earle in the lobby of the Trinity College Dublin dorms where they stayed.

Five hours later, the Carolina Bluegrass Band performed the song at a pep rally for Tar Heel fans, drawing thunderous applause.

“It sounded great,” Thomas said. “The fact that I get to play with people who are that good at just picking stuff up is super fun. I think going on the trip really helped us work and learn each other’s playing styles.”

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Thomas grew up playing the Irish fiddle and found her “passion reignited” by going to Dublin. (Submitted photo)

The trip provided many opportunities to play and learn in Dublin. Soon after she got off the plane, Thomas participated in a jet-lagged jam session at famous pub The Cobblestone, playing Irish jigs for an Irish audience. At an ethnomusicology conference, Thomas and her bandmates learned more about the influence of Irish music on American folk songs.

That interplay between Irish jigs and American folk songs — particularly songs of the American South — is one that Thomas finds fascinating, and she’s used Carolina’s deep archival reservoir of Southern art and folklore to study that connection. She credited her Carolina fiddle teacher Tatiana Hargreaves and the rest of the music department for helping her follow her passions and providing unique opportunities like this trip.

“The music department has been amazing, and it’s so important for opportunities like these to still exist,” Thomas said. “I think this trip happened because the music department and Carolina Bluegrass Band have had a little bit of increased visibility, and I’m hoping that this trip can continue that trajectory.”