Dan and Fran
Today’s featured performers are
Dan Compton & Fran Slefer
The 2020 Samhain Celtic New Year Festival is excited to welcome Dan Compton and Fran Slefer.
Dan Compton and Fran Slefer play traditional Irish music on button accordion, fiddle, guitar, and voice. They’re especially fond of the music of southwest Ireland — that region known as Sliabh Luachra — with its repertoire of slides, polkas, and danceable reels and jigs. But they’ll play a tune from anywhere if they like it, so you can expect to hear them borrow from the traditions of the Québec, Brittany, Britain Scandinavia, and other cold, damp places.
Dan plays fiddle and guitar and sings. His main fiddle influences are the Irish players Denis Murphy, Kevin Burke and Matt Cranitch. Dan is also known as a tune writer, and many of his compositions surface on recordings and at dances and sessions. As a guitarist, Dan draws on a strong classical background, and is a captivating fingerstyle player as well as a dynamic flatpicker and accompanist. Dan is a long-time teacher at Artichoke Music, and his Irish session classes are a great way to spend a Monday evening.
Fran plays button accordion. She grew up in Limerick, Ireland, and lived in Luxembourg, Belgium, Holland, and Dublin before moving to the United States. Fran studied fiddle with Tralee fiddle player Maire O’Keeffe before picking up the box about 20 years ago. She plays the C#/D “press-draw” style rooted in the music of Sliabh Luachra, and is inspired by the playing of Jackie Daly, Sharon Shannon, and Verena Commins.
Dan and Fran have two recordings: The Rambler and Session at the Cottage. Each are available through their own website, CD Baby, iTunes, Amazon Music, Spotify and the like.
