Charlie Wilson is a wooden flute player and a prolific composer whose tunes reflect a wide-ranging interest in traditional music from around the world – England, Ireland, Scandinavia, Galicia, Brittany, and beyond – as well as a deep connection to the landscape of her home on the banks of Petite Riviere, Nova Scotia.
Charlie hails from the north west of England and has lived in Canada now for half her life, moving first to Inuvik in the Western Arctic, then Whitehorse, Yukon, by sailboat to Vancouver and eventually found home in coastal Lunenburg County. In Nova Scotia she has worked in duo Pennybrook, with Jude Pelley on fretted strings – they released an album of original music in 2012, called The Edge of Waiting, and have toured across Canada several times.
Charlie Wilson and Ellen Gibling are a new instrumental duo of wooden flute and harp, performing original compositions by Charlie and an eclectic mix of traditional dance tunes.
Charlie and Ellen met through their shared background in Irish traditional music, playing in Irish sessions and larger ensembles over the past decade. They only began playing as a duo in earnest in 2023 during the recording of Charlie’s up-coming album of original folk instrumentals – debuting their work together in a sell-out series of 7 intimate shows in Crousetown, rural Lunenburg County.
Their instrumental sets are joyful and intricate with Ellen’s deeply rhythmic playing grounding and lifting the melody of the wooden flute. The first year of their work together has homed in on and celebrated the local and specific – playing concerts of music inspired by Charlie’s river home, on the banks of the Petite Riviere, their music features the poetry of Naomi Blackwood, also from Petite Riviere and stories about the impetus behind the tunes.
Charlie is currently working on an album, tentatively titled River Song, which will feature 24 of her original tunes. Several tracks on the album feature the duo with Ellen.
At home on the South Shore, Charlie has teamed up with Scottish players, Eilidh Campbell (from Mahone Bay) and Andy Webster (from the Annapolis Valley), together with bodhran player RJ Genge to form a new traditional music ensemble, Larka.