Frantically Atlantic Find Their Rhythm Again

Fredericton folk duo Frantically Atlantic are slowly getting back into the swing of things with a mix of live and online performances.

Matt Carter

Michelle Daigle and Don Rigley are slowly getting back it. After navigating their way through a difficult spring and early summer that involved the loss of dozens of planned performances as Frantically Atlantic, the pair are now gradually making their way back to stages around the province as restrictions slowly lift.

“It has been a challenging 2020 for everyone,” said Daigle and Rigley who have been performing together as Frantically Atlantic for several years now, playing a mix of Celtic, Acadian and traditional music and songs on a staggering variety of instruments.

“Our last gig before COVID 19 hit was a music, art, drama, dance and movement workshop and then everything went black, as they say in the theatre. We had 40 gigs planned for the spring, summer and fall and our calendar went from yellow highlights to a series of large x’s indicating cancellation after cancellation.”

To keep connected with their audience during the pandemic shutdown, Daigle and Rigley launched a performance series they called Shindigs for Shut-Ins, streaming regular live performances through the group’s Facebook page.

“We started Shindigs for Shut-Ins and started asking for requests to keep us on our toes. We found ourselves [learning and] performing all sorts of material that was out of our comfort zone but it was fun and challenging.”

They also took part in a number of other online events from the comfort of their home including a fundraiser for the CHIMO Help Line, a concert for the Fredericton Garrison Club, Fredericton’s Canada Day virtual concert series and a live Zoom concert with Scotia Music. They even performed as actors in an online theatre festival organized by Live Bait Theatre in Sackville.

Frantically Atlantic played their first post-lockdown live show in Fredericton in July and have been picking up opportunities ever since.

“The St. Andrews Farmers’ Market has become a bi-weekly live show for us,” they said. “We performed live at the Life at the Lakes Festival in Cambridge Narrows and did pop-up shows on the back of a trailer for the New Brunswick Day Celebrations on the Fundy Trail.”

Over the spring and early summer, both Daigle and Rigley admit to asking themselves a question many musicians have most likely pondered over the past few months: Can we continue making a living as musicians in these precarious times?

“The answer was, come hell or high water we are going to continue on this path!” they said. “And it appears to be paying off. We will be performing live on Saturday, August 22 at the Tipsy Muse Café and on Sunday, August 23^,a video produced by video wizard Gary Weekes, will be streaming on the Friends of The Fredericton Public Library Facebook Page.”

Frantically Atlantic will also be playing a live fundraising show for the Queens County Heritage Society in September and have a few more fundraising events booked for later in the fall.