Felicia Dale

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Folk singers and composers, William Pint & Felicia Dale have won an ardent following across the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Poland and the Netherlands with their recordings and appearances at festivals and concerts. They have recorded ten albums, the independently released CD  Port of Dreams and Waterbug label releases, Hearts of Gold, Round the Corner, When I See Winter Return, Hartwell Horn , White Horses, Seven Seas, Set of the Sail, Blue Divide and Midnight on the Seas

They gather together material from many locales and cultures including the West Indies, Wales and Brittany. No dead tradition, seafaring music is very much alive in the hands of William Pint & Felicia Dale, and in the daily lives of people still dedicated to sailing tall ships in the 21st Century.

Felicia Dale grew up in an environment steeped in the traditional lore of the sea. Born on New Year’s Day 1958 and raised on Vashon Island in Washington State’s Puget Sound, she spent her childhood sailing Northwest coastal waters and cruising Canada’s “inside passage.” Her father was a sea captain who brought back tales and treasures from exotic ports of call. Her mother is a transplanted Parisian; Dale learned French as her first language and acquired a lifelong love for the songs of the French seafaring tradition.

Felicia’s first musical venture was a duet act with Waterbug recording artist Kat Eggleston when they were both sixteen.

Her exposure to the vielle-à-roue or hurdy-gurdy was first through several Seattle area players and then from a performance by the French group Cabistanwhile on tour at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut. Upon her return to Seattle she immediately commissioned an instrument from California luthier Michael Hubbert.

Felicia’s striking vocal harmonies are matched by her creative use of the hurdy-gurdy and Irish pennywhistles, taking these traditional instruments far beyond their usual roles as she blends them into the texture of a song or departs on improvisational romps with equal ease.