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Searson more than family
band Erin Searson says members of the band that bears her last name are not sure of their direction, but they're enjoying the road that's taking them there. "We like where we're heading, but we don't know if we're going to be more pop or more country," she says of the contemporary-sounding group that has been a full-time project only a little more than a year. Searson says the band probably will keep playing Irish festivals because fiddling and step dancing are at the root of all its music. The band, based in Ottawa, Canada, is made up of sisters Erin on piano and mandolin, Heather on bodhran and bass and Colleen on fiddle; father Mike on guitar; and friend Jamie Gardner on fiddle and mandolin. Searson says the family members have been playing together for 15 years, growing up "on traditional fiddle music." They met Gardner about eight years ago. She says they started playing for fun in their small town northwest of Ottawa and "finally started getting paid to play." Performances grew while they were in college in Ottawa and, about a year ago, they decided to make it full time. "And it's been sort of nonstop since then," she adds, mentioning a three-week tour the band is on now in this country. 'We're going to enjoy getting some rest in October." She adds 95 percent of the band's work is in the United States. Searson says the group provides a "Celtic mix with a rocky edge," and believes the band is popular because "we can sing, we can fiddle and we step dance as well."
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