“Like a well oiled machine… with feelings!”
– Max Wareham
“Julia and Baron are delightful ambassadors of traditional tunes! Julia has the most gentle touch with the fiddle, never over-works, just eases out the love from the instrument. Baron is the playful joker, adding a cascade of harmonic chaos that rocks the solid boat.” – Paul Mattor
Hailing from Maine, Julia Plumb (fiddle, foot percussion) and Baron Collins-Hill (tenor guitar, mandolin) play original and traditional fiddle tunes from New England, Quebec, Appalachia, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. They play with a tight, close sound, staying true to the tunes and bolstering them with with driving dance rhythms and sweet harmonies. Julia and Baron are thoughtful teachers and experienced players, performing for dances, concerts, weddings, and other events. As the duo Velocipede, the synergy of Julia and Baron’s playing is manifest. Whether delivering a ripping set of reels for a contra dance, teaching crooked tunes from their journeys to Quebec at a workshop, or harmonizing with an achingly beautiful march in concert, Velocipede is sure to catch listeners’ ears and set toes tapping.
After years of enjoying each other’s playing, Julia Plumb and Baron Collins-Hill formed Velocipede in 2011.
Julia has traveled the British Isles, France, Eastern Canada, and Appalachia learning and teaching traditional tunes and dances. She brings to the duo a wealth of knowledge of different traditional music styles as well as more than a decade of experience playing for contra dances in New England. Equally at home on the stage and on the dance floor, callers and dancers appreciate Julia’s strongly rhythmic playing and ability to select the best tunes to match a dance.
Baron grew up playing the mandolin in Maine and recently graduated from Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts with a degree in music performance and ethnomusicology. He is known for his rhythmic experimentation and unique harmonic sense on both the mandolin and the tenor guitar. Baron loves crooked tunes and major flat seven chords substituted for major four chords.
Past Performances Include
The Greenfield Contra Dance (Greenfield, MA)
Common Ground Fair (Unity, ME)
Acadia Trad School (Bar Harbor, ME)
Maine Fiddle Camp (Montville, ME)
Plant & Sing Festival (Shelter Island, NY)
River Falls Contra Dance (Marietta, SC)
Grey Eagle Contra Dance (Asheville, NC)
Jonesborough Dance (Jonesborough, TN)