October advanced weekend 2025

Andy has had the good fortune to accompany some of today’s leading fiddle talent, including Caroline McCaskey (with whom he collaborated on “Salute to San Diego” released in 2023), Judi Nicolson, Elke Baker, David Knight, Tim Macdonald, Deby Benton Grosjean, and many others. Andy leads the “Reel of Seven” Scottish dance band, which released “The Magic of Summer School” (a compilation of dances recorded during their fabulous week at the New Zealand Summer School) in 2016 to wide acclaim. Their earlier CDs include “Dance for Joy” (2009), “Dance for Joy Encore!” (2012), and “Gotta Dance!” (2015).

Andy began studying classical piano as a child and started playing for dances with the encouragement of Kim McGarrity and Barbara McOwen. He plays regularly for Scottish Country Dancing, ceilidh dancing, and contra dances throughout the US and Canada, and has been on music staff for several tours, including one in France, three to New Zealand and one to Scotland, Orkney, and the Shetland Islands. He has also been on staff at Asilomar and Pinewoods on multiple occasions and was honored to have been invited to teach piano accompaniment at the Boston Harbor Fiddle School and the Valley of the Moon Scottish fiddling school for several years. Andy was delighted to serve as music director for the TAC Summer School in 2019 and to be on staff at the International Branch workshop in Italy in 2022.

Andy is married to Sherryl Fawx (also a dancer and musician); they live in Santa Clara, California. In 2021, he retired from his position as Engineering Fellow at a major aerospace company where he was a specialist in simulation, guidance, and control of flight vehicles.

A native daughter of the genre-bending West Coast music scene, Caroline McCaskey is equally at home in the traditional, improvisational, and classical music worlds. In demand as a teacher and performer throughout North America and author of the « AltStrings Fiddle Method », she holds degrees in music composition and performance, as well as Suzuki teaching certification in violin and cello. She is the 2019 U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and a two-time International Musical Saw Champion.

Caroline is a fiddler for the dance bands Tartan Suite, StringFire!, Reel of Seven, and Greenwich Mean Time. She also performs regularly with Boston-based guitarist and banjo player Larry Unger, and with cellist Daniel Delaney as Secret Oaks, a jazz- and folk-inspired string duo.

She also runs AltStringsAcademy.com, a learning community for amateur adult string players who are ready to build their technique, style, and musicianship skills.