‘Mom and Dad are delighted’
Macisaac siblings Ashley and Lisa performing together for first time
A family reunion of sorts is the backdrop for Ashley Macisaac’s holiday homecoming.
For the first time in his celebrated musical career, he’ll share the stage with younger sister Lisa Macisaac for a six-show Maritime tour that begins Nov. 25 in Pictou and ends Dec. 2 in Port Hawkesbury, not far from their childhood home in Creignish.
Although they’ve both toured worldwide for decades, the Macisaac siblings haven’t performed together in a full show, aside from collaborating for a number or two in the odd concert over the years.
News of their upcoming mutual performance in Christmasthemed shows has already struck a chord back home.
“Oh, Mom and Dad are delighted that we’re performing together,” Lisa says. “Maybe they weren’t vocal about the want for us to perform together, but I know for a fact that this is a bit of a dream for them.”
Cape Breton is renowned for its musical family groups, but the Macisaacs took separate paths to fame. Ashley was still in high school when his fiddling prowess vaulted him to the big stage.
A few years later, Lisa blended her singing and instrumental abilities to carve her own career, partnering with Brenley Maceachern to form the Madison Violet band.
“I would say that it’s not unusual in Nova Scotia for families (to perform together),” Ashley says. “Obviously we’ve had the Barra Macneils and the Rankin Family, but that never really dawned on us to do a family thing. There’s just the two of us as musicians. Our older brother, Henry Snow, passed away a few years ago. He played some music but he wasn’t a musician per se. It really has just been myself and Lisa from our direct family. I have other cousins that play and such, but we were never like a family band.”
That history makes this Christmas performance that much more meaningful for the Macisaac family and fans of the musical siblings. Ashley says his father is “not in the best of health right now,” but he’s hoping to attend — and his mother “definitely will.”
“I haven’t had many opportunities to perform with Lisa, but I’ve had her occasionally,” says Ashley. “She sang on one of my records. She is such a beautiful singer that I thought it would be such a great addition to have a vocalist (with me) rather than just have me go play fiddle shows.”
Hilda Chiasson provides piano accompaniment during the Maritime tour, which includes stops in Halifax on Nov. 26, Saint John, N.B., on Nov. 29, Fredericton on Nov. 30 and Truro on Dec. 1.
Lisa recalled entertaining alongside Ashley about five years ago at the Kincardine Scottish music festival in Ontario.
“I may have done a number or two with him over the years, but we’ve never toured together,” she says. “In the last five or 10 years, we’ve sort of crossed like ships in the night through certain cities and never really crossed paths on the road. I think we’ve always wanted to do something together at some point in our lives.”
In the past year and a half, the COVID-19 pandemic forced Lisa’s band to cancel three German tours, two UK tours, a crosscanada tour and U.S. dates.
“I’m actually supposed to be in Germany right now on tour with my band and we just cancelled 25 shows,” she says. “So, when Ashley was putting this (Maritime) tour together, he needed a vocalist. Although this will be very foreign and very strange for me to be going up (on stage) each night and singing without my bandmate Brenley, I really jumped at the opportunity to have some family time.”
One of Lisa’s favourite holiday songs is ‘White Christmas,’ adding that it resonates with her in its simplicity,” and Ashley hopes she sings her beautiful version of the holiday classic.
“The traditional Christmas songs are important to me,” he says. “I play them every year on the violin. I think I do a pretty nice rendition of ‘O Holy Night’ that I released on a Christmas album years ago.”
Beyond the music, the Macisaacs anticipate bantering about Christmas in family fashion.
“One of the best parts of the show that I can imagine will happen is just the fact that’ll we’ll probably argue and bicker on stage a lot, as we tend to do when we’re on the phone anyway,” Ashley says with a laugh.
“It’ll be Christmas arguments about ‘You broke my present in 1984 when I got a Galaga game and you threw a rock at it.’ She’ll tell me that I stole her present in 1985. I just think the family dichotomy of being around the holidays will be something that will play out each night in a specific way that’s akin to a brother and sister being on stage together.”