Amy McNally started playing the violin at the age of three. She clearly hasn’t stopped for a moment since, because she is one of the most talented and adaptable fiddlers in our community. She has been a filk room feature for more than two decades.
Amy is a versatile musician, comfortable in a variety of styles and genres ranging from classical to Celtic and trad roots music to jazz and rock. She plays with multiple bands, including Wild Mercy and Play It with Moxie.
It is uncommon for a soloist to also be an excellent accompanist, but Amy is both; and she does so in a way that always adds to the performance. She is often sought out to accompany on stage or on other musicians’ recording projects, and is also happy to accompany performers in the filk circle. Like all good accompanists, she makes everybody she plays with sound better. Amy plays in service to the music, the singer, and the songwriter.
She has huge patience and compassion for beginning violin players, and has a gift for noticing something you did well, and telling you about it, sometimes months later, in a way that makes you feel seen and worthy.
Amy’s generosity and encouragement to all voices—especially the quiet and unheard ones—her love of people and warmth of spirit too, have nurtured many a filker—many a person in this world of ours. By adding to the work of so many others, her fiddling has become an essential part of the sound of filk music.
For these contributions to filk music and the filk community, Amy McNally is inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame this eighteenth day of April, two thousand and twenty-six.
Photo credit: Karen Paddison