Brittany Haas returns home with her fiddle performing at The Guild

Fiddler Brittany Haas and her band Hawktail is playing The Guild for the first time on May 24. But she’s hardly new to the area growing up, she says, “around the corner from M-A” where her parents still live.

Her calling to take up the violin came early, at age four. She attended the Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School and also took lessons at the Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto. “My parents took us around to fiddle events,” she says. “My sister played cello.”

Attending Menlo School, she found the teachers “very supportive.” But while her sister went on to Julliard, Brittany went to Princeton and studied biology. It was during her college years that she joined Aoiffe O’Donovan’s band. Hawktail is opening for Aoiffe on the 24th and will be accompanying her.

Hawktail also includes bassist Paul Kowert, and guitarist Jordan Tice.

“I have been a full-time musician since graduating college,” says Brittany, who now lives in Nashville.

“For me the fiddle is both expressive and versatile. It pops up all over the world. I feel like it’s my voice.”

Photo by Michael George (c) 2024