Springtide is: Willy Clemetson on fiddle and foot percussion, Elsie Gawler on cello and fiddle, and Ethan Tischler on guitar. We are musicians, songwriters, and central figures in the Mid-Coast Maine fiddling scene. We combine a love of high energy traditional Celtic and Scandinavian fiddle music, heartfelt original tunes and songs, and spacious creative improvisation to produce our unique trio: Springtide. We aim to lift audiences with the music of the landscapes we come from, drawing inspiration from the tidal rhythms and creative energies of the coastal land we’re grateful to call home.
Willy Clemetson
A longtime singer with the internationally acclaimed group Northern Harmony and involved in a great many growing musical projects, Willy Clemetson has distinguished himself with his peaceful and powerful approach to music, with attention to detail balanced by deep connection to the community that music creates. Growing up in Belfast, Maine, a nexus of traditional music in the Northeast, he developed a passion for composing music held, but not confined within Celtic, Swedish, and New England folk music traditions, to name but a few. The feeling evoked by his compositions and his personal approach to music can perhaps be summed up with this quote from the song Fiddlers Hymn by the late, great Pete Sutherland: “Where does the music come from? Where does it go? I may know, by and by, I may know. I draw the bow and let it fly, I draw the bow and I feel my heart fly.”
Elsie Gawler
Elsie Gawler is a multi-instrumentalist and songster rooted in Maine's traditional folk music and culture. With her family, the Gawler Family Band, she has played throughout the state and beyond, sharing traditional fiddle tunes, songs, and original works since she was 6 years old. From this foundation she has branched out and launched her debut solo album, Sweet As Honey. The album is a collection of 9 original songs inspired by sacred connection to earth and community. While continuing to play regularly with The Gawler Family Band, her other projects include Elsie & Ethan, The Gawler Sisters, and Springtide. She has also been a long-time member of the group Childsplay.
Visit Elsie’s website to listen to her music and to learn more.
Ethan Tischler
Hello there! I am a Maine-based musician/educator with roots in the Champlain Valley of Vermont. For the last many years, I've been teaching, performing, and recording music, mainly in Burlington Vermont and Mid-Coast Maine. Alongside my own solo projects, I delight in playing with Elsie Gawler as Elsie & Ethan, and with the Gawler Sisters and Gawler Family as a whole.
As a teacher, I've worked in groups and one-on-one with students in Vermont and Maine, in the Music for Sprouts and Village School programs at Bread & Butter Farm, and the Belfast Adventure Education Program and Sweetland School in Mid-Coast Maine. I appreciate working with music learners of all ages, and strive to pass along key foundations and theoretical concepts in music alongside a genuine joy and lightness in music-making as a whole.
On the performance side of things, I feel fortunate to have played alongside a number of wonderful musicians in the Burlington area, and now here in Maine. I generally focus on acoustic guitar and vocals, but have been known to pick up the fiddle, banjo, and electric guitar as well. Songcraft is at the heart of it for me - the magical blend of melody, harmony and poetry that pulls the song together. Look to the album Across the Waking Skies for another batch of original Ethan tunes.
As a budding sound engineer, I've been fortunate to have had a number of opportunities to record the Gawler Family Band for music festivals around the Northeast, Bennett Konesni and the Worksong Quartet for Sea Shanty workshops in Sweden, the Pineland Fiddlers for their forthcoming album, and my own album Across the Waking Skies this last year. I'm grateful too for the opportunities to run live sound in Mid-Coast for the Bagaduce Music Library in Blue Hill, Belfast Flying Shoes, and the Mid-Coast Reparations Collective.
Most of all, I believe in the power of music to bring us together and enrich our lives, no matter when and how we engage with it!
Visit Ethan’s websites to listen to his music and to learn more.
Credits
Homepage photo by: Dylan Ladds
Other photos by: Elsie Gawler