Welcome to Womenfolk, and my delightful conversation with Hannah Read, an acclaimed Scottish fiddle player, singer, songwriter and guitarist currently living in California. I first met Hannah around 10 years ago (the house concert we discussed was actually in December 2015!) and have always been blown away by her wide-ranging talent, her beautiful music and her zest for life. This conversation was recorded in late February 2025, and is published as Episode 2 of Womenfolk (the trailer was Episode 1).

Womenfolk is a new podcast telling the stories of women working in roots music, on stage and behind the scenes. Maria Wallace (True North Music) hosts in depth interviews with female musicians, songwriters, creatives and organizers. Please subscribe to the podcast and share the episode far and wide!

The theme music ("The Old Ways - instrumental") was written by Maria Wallace and features Jay Bradberry (fiddle), Mike Giverin (mandolin), Lucille Williams (double bass) and Phil Stott (guitar). Copyright © and ℗ 2025 Maria Wallace. All rights reserved. This episode also features some music clips from Hannah Read’s album The Fungi Sessions Vol 1, with her permission. Copyright © and ℗ 2023 Hannah Read.

Links:

https://www.hannahread.com/

http://isleofeigg.org/

Follow Womenfolk on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/womenfolkpod/

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Follow Hannah Read on social media:

https://www.instagram.com/hanread/

https://www.facebook.com/hannahreadmusic

Listen to and buy Hannah’s music at

https://hannahread.bandcamp.com/music

Hannah Read official video for Silverphae from The Fungi Sessions Vol. 1:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6YXirGXA0

Hannah Read & Michael Starkey perform their version of Anaïs Mitchell’s Shenandoah:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biaQbyVU6Xw

Hannah Read performing with Julien Baker & TORRES on The Daily Show on US TV recently

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8HuGF4ac0E

A version of the tune about the session scene on the Isle of Eigg, Wes & Maggie’s Ceilidh Croft

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQbtIYjm07s