Jane

Jane Rothfield – fiddler, banjo player, tunesmith, teacher and composer – has been playing since childhood. Although her beginnings were of the classical kind, she quickly slipped her mooring and headed off for other shores, along the way mastering an inspiring repertoire of American and Celtic traditional tunes, with a strong smattering of old-time and Scottish-rooted pieces as the centerpiece. Despite decades of collecting the tunes she loves, she has managed to reserve space on her internal hard-drive for lots of original compositions in the tradition of the roots music she is addicted to.

Jane performs solo, with Scottish husband-singer-guitarist Alan Carr, with Franco-American fiddler and singer Donna Hébert in Groovemama and with Jane’s Gang, her official contradance band. She is widely recognized as a gifted teacher of aspiring (and sometimes expiring) fiddlers, employing techniques she has honed over years of one-on-one experience. Jane is not big, but she packs enough energy into her small frame to keep a roomful of veteran musicians going until it’s time for breakfast. She has numerous recordings to her name, including a new CD of mostly original tunes and a to-be-rereleased, digitally remastered version of a vinyl LP with partner Alan Carr.

When not on the way to a gig, Jane can be found developing broadcast media strategy for clients of her company Rothfield-Daniels Media, doing the laundry made by her two kids (she’s currently training Alan to do his own), teaching the next-big-thing fiddler, or thinking about what to make for dinner.