Celtic Music: Alexander James Adams

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.