Jim and Jamie Fox

Jamie Fox, fiddle
Jim Fox, guitar

with Scotty Leach, piano

Jamie Fox is an Aaniiih tribal member of the Fort Belknap Reservation in eastern Montana. At the age of 5 she got her first fiddle, for Christmas, which started a life-long love of the Metis Native American style of fiddling. Her first mentor was Marvin Morin, but she was also influenced by other fiddlers in the area, and later by Jimmie LaRocque and Mike Page of the Turtle Mountain Reservation and Johnny Arcand of Saskatoon. Jamie’s father Jim learned guitar so he could chord for his kids.

The Métis tradition of fiddle playing grew out of a mixture of Celtic, French, and Native American cultures. They took old Scottish and French-Canadian reels and transformed them, accelerated the tempo, and make them crooked, pulsing bows to match traditional Métis jigging. Jamie calls the rhythm “old-time fiddling with a Native American dialect.” Her music represents this generation maintaining a style and repertoire that dates to the fur trade era of the 17th century and the first Aboriginal and European mixing in the upper reaches of North America. Today, Jamie continues playing with the Fox Family Fiddlers. She’s not preserving museum pieces—she’s playing living music at real dances, real celebrations, real gatherings.

Scotty Leach is a pianist and fiddler hailing from Centralia, WA. Through his lifelong immersion in folk music traditions, he has acquired the ability to transition effortlessly from Appalachian old-time to New England dance music to Cape Breton style piano backup and fiddling.  His energy and intuition on the piano enliven Métis tunes.  Scotty and Jamie have been lifelong friends, musical partners and consider each other brother and sister.