Celtic Music: Alexander James Adams

The huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in 2010 inspired Alec to write a song about what we humans are doing to the Earth. While almost all of Alec's and Heather's is only available at Alec's concerts, festival appearances and his website, he's decided to make "What Are We Doing Available on CD Baby and Amazon.com. This is a single, priced at 99 cents, although the CD Baby link says "Buy the album."

What Are We Doing? from CDBaby.com

What Are We Doing? from Amazon.com

Heather Alexander was originally from the San Francisco Bay area. She began studying music at the age of six and began learning violin at age nine. Originally destined for a career in Nashville, she began playing Celtic music in 1985. She formed the short-lived Celtic fusion band Phoenyx, which released one album in 1990 on Heather's own label, Sea Fire Productions. Her first solo album, Wanderlust was released on Sea Fire in 1994. Nine additional solo albums followed, plus two with her next band, Uffington Horse. In 2002 she moved to Oregon, settling on a 30-acre site she named Fae Hollow.

Heather spent many years recording and performing at Renaissance Faires, science fiction conventions, furry conventions, Faerieworlds and other venues including Portland Saturday Market (which is where I first encountered her). Heather Alexander performed her final concert at the Orycon science fiction convention in Portland, Oregon in November 2006. At the end, she walked through a doorway and was never seen again.

For more complete information about Heather Alexander, her music, CDs, etc. see the link to the Heatherlands website in the Links section below.

The photo shows Heather performing on the Village Stage at Faerieworlds in July 2006.

As Alec tells it, Heather the changeling returned to the Land of the Fae, and Alec, the stolen child, held in that realm since infancy, got his chance to come into the mortal realm and take on the legacy of Heather, her music and magic. Alec wasn't entirely sure at first how this would all turn out. Would Heather's fans accept the Heir? Would her music work in a new voice?

While some fans were initially a bit confused by these events, they have overwhelmingly accepted Alec's role as the Heir. Alec has performed at many of the same venues Heather had performed in, and he's joined up with S. J. Tucker and Betsy Tinney in the group Tricky Pixie, which first got together at Faerieworlds at the Secret House Winery in Veneta, Oregon in July 2006. They released the CD Tricky Pixie Live!, a recording made at Soul Food Books in Redmond, WA in July 2007. That recording is the first to feature Alec's voice.

Alec also released The Cat and the Fiddle, a CD of instrumentals in 2007. Balance of Nature, a mix of old and new material followed in the Fall of 2007. Next was Wintertide, a Yule CD featuring the voices of both Heather and Alec in duets. More duets are featured on the July 2008 release A Familiar Promise. That's four CDs in about a year and a half, an impressive output!

Ordering information can be found at Alec's website through the link in the Link section below.

I'm pleased to count myself as a fan of Alexander James Adams because that means I'm in very good company. Take a look at this LiveJournal post from Alec for details.

Fae Hollow is the 30 acres of land located about 30 miles northwest of Portland, Oregon. It's where Alec and his wife Kore live with a number of animals. For a while during the Summer of 2010 it looked like it would fall victim to foreclosure, but Alec and Kore came up with a plan to offer shares in Sea Fire Productions so Fae Hollow could not only remain as their home and home to all the animals they've rescued/adopted, but also as a venue for concerts and workshops. The plan worked and as of late 2010 Fae Hollow has hosted both concerts and workshops, with more planned. For the latest information on workshops and concerts, go to The Faerie Tale Minstrel website.