Background
MacMaster is the daughter of Alex and Minnie (née Beaton) MacMaster and the sister of Kevin and David MacMaster.
MacMaster is the daughter of Alex and Minnie (née Beaton) MacMaster and the sister of Kevin and David MacMaster.
MacMaster has toured with the Chieftains, Faith Hill, Carlos Santana and Alison Krauss, and has recorded with Yo-Yo Ma. She has appeared at the Celtic Colours festival in Cape Breton, Celtic Connections in Scotland, and MerleFest in the United States. She is also distantly related to Jack White.
Leahy and MacMaster have six children.
MacMaster began playing the fiddle at the age of nine, and made her performing debut the same year at a square dance in Glencoe Mills, Nova Scotia. When she was sixteen she released her first album, Four on the Floor, and a second album, Road to the Isle, followed in 1991.
Her first album was self-produced, while her second was co-produced by John Morris Rankin (The Rankin Family) and Tom O"Keefe (as per original cassette jacket). Both albums were initially released only on cassette, but Rounder Records omitted a few tracks and re-released as A Compilation in 1998.
In recent years she has expanded her musical repertoire, mixing her Cape Breton roots with music from Scotland and Ireland, as well as American bluegrass.
In 2004, MacMaster appeared on Sharon, Lois & Bram"s 25th Anniversary Concert special titled "25 Years of Skinnamarink" that aired on Canadian Broadcasting Company on January 1, 2004 at 7:00pm.