Music meets community with Rakish

A woman plays a fiddle. Photo courtesy of Unsplash.

When contemporary folk duo Rakish performed at Frederick’s New Spire Arts in early April, they brought a blend of traditional Celtic music and modern influences with them.

Rakish, pronounced ray-kuhsh, is made up of Maura Shawn Scanlin and Conor Hearn. Maura is originally from Boone, North Carolina and Conor is from Takoma Park, Maryland. The pair met through mutual music friends in Boston while attending the New England Conservatory and Tufts University, respectively. They got their start playing music together as part of a larger folk band called Pumpkin Bread.

Maura and Conor grew up around Celtic music and first started playing together in casual sessions with friends. Eventually, they began doing shows as a duo.

“Both Conor and I come from this tradition of traditional Celtic music, so there is sort of this shared repertoire that people know in the Irish or Scottish music community,” Maura said. “Our duo certainly grew out of that shared repertoire that both Conor and I were familiar with.”

That shared background shaped not only their music, but the way it was experienced in a live setting. On stage, Maura plays the fiddle and clawhammer banjo while Conor plays guitar, and both share the role of singing. Their set includes a mix of songs with lyrics as well as just music, which reflects the traditional Irish music setting where tunes are often strung together into medleys.

“My favorite part about being a musician is sharing music with audiences,” Maura said. “I love the way the energy between the performers can be influenced and vice versa by the audience’s energy.”

That exchange of energy was part of what made their time in Frederick feel like more than just a performance. It was Rakish’s first time visiting the city, and for the audience, it was a chance to experience music shaped by tradition in a new space.

Both Maura and Conor were introduced to folk music at a young age, attending concerts and festivals and learning from other musicians. That sense of community has continued to shape their work today.

On that April night, New Spire Arts became a place where tradition and a local community met, connecting through live music.