Maisie Blades, despite diverse backgrounds, all four share a love for music that perhaps can best be described as Transatlantic a rich mix of ingredients, including American traditional and bluegrass fiddle tunes, country, folk, blues, Celtic fiddle tunes, a touch of Joni Mitchell, Townes van Zandt, Gillian Welch, Emmylou Harris and Richard Thompson. Karen Macwhinnie, a Scot, comes from a background of singing jazz, blues and Americana. An accomplished artist, she loves songs that tell a story, and she brings passion and authenticity to all her performances. Philip Rundall played guitar in several Cambridge based bands before taking up bluegrass guitar and mandolin fiddle tunes. In 2018 he and Mike Thompson, a guitarist originally from North Carolina and a fellow academic, formed the duo Free Agents, reviving the name of an earlier band Philip was in, making regular appearances at Black Fen Folk Club and elsewhere. Denise Neapolitan, originally from Chicago, plays fiddle and sings. She is classically trained but she loves traditional and Celtic fiddle tunes and folk music. The band was thrilled to welcome both her and the sounds she makes to the mix that is Maisie Blades.