Electronic press Kit for ghost story

Maddie’s young, welcoming voice belies a darkly evocative lyricism creating an album that is both unsettling and thrilling. ★★★★★” - Jude Rogers

The Guardian, Folk Album of the Month July 2022

Finding her own footing on the path forged by millennial folk interpreters like Jake Xerxes Fussell and Sam Lee, this Vermonter enters fully into dialogue with the songs she's selected for her full-length debut, claiming a woman's perspective on the old English ballad "Hares on the Mountain" and adding subtle, sick synth beats to her take on Scotland's "Ca' the Yowes." She's also an assured and inventive clawhammer banjoist. Her originals, some dedicated to the father she lost too young, are as haunting as those songbag favorites she's gathered from the misty English or Appalachian hills. ” - Ann Powers

NPR Music, The Best Roots Music of 2022

Ghost Story is Fern's debut album. Across its 10 tracks, it blends traditional folk ballads with original songwriting and live-take acoustic performances with experimental folktronica sounds.

The product of a successful Kickstarter campaign, Ghost Story marks Fern's second project with co-producer Colin McCaffrey, who also contributes instrumental accompaniment throughout.

Other musicians featured on the album are Ari Erlbaum (bones), Oliver Zeichner (pipes and whistles), and Noah Zacharuk (drums). 

Ghost Story is a spell-binding, beautifully captivating and genuinely haunting release – an immediate favourite of 2022.” - Billy Rough

Folk Radio UK

A superb debut, quiet but brooding, confident but never ostentatious. It sets out from seemingly nowhere, scales challenging heights to reveal glistening vistas, before quietly descending a simple trail back to where we started. ” - Jon Wilks

Tradfolk.co

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Fern Maddie has a knack for powerful storytelling in her otherworldly takes on traditional music. ” - Rachel Cholst

The Boot

bio

Fern Maddie is a balladeer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist based in Central Vermont (N’dakinna). Her songs -- performed with clawhammer banjo, guitar, and clear, soulful vocals -- explore themes of trauma, grief, and renewal. Fern’s modern interpretations of traditional ballads have earned national and international acclaim: her debut album, Ghost Story, was named #2 of The Guardian’s Best Folk Albums of 2022 and was listed on NPR’s Best Roots Music of the year. 

Fern’s unique sound is the child of many influences: Old-Time string band music, the revivalist balladeers of the 60s and 70s, dark country, experimental folk-rock, and the modern trad renaissance(s). Her sensibilities have been compared to the music of June Tabor, Kate Rusby, Sharon Van Etten, and Joni Mitchell.

Fern's first two records were co-produced with Colin McCaffrey, a Central Vermont legend, who contributes exceptional musicianship and a traditional, pared- down aesthetic to the work.

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Hares on the Mountain Music Video

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