She knew this music-knew it down to the very core of her being-but she had never heard it before. Unfamiliar, it had still always been there inside her, waiting to be woken. It grew from the core of mystery that gives a secret its special delight, religion its awe. It demanded to be accepted by simple faith, not dissected or questioned, and at the same time, it begged to be doubted and probed. — The Little Country
Ok, I’m going to assume that you know that Charles de Lint is one of the finest writers of characters who are musicians and also of scenes involving music, and I’m also assuming you’ve got at more than a passing acquaintance of his many, many works of fiction. If not, I’m going to have you read our reviews of The Little Country, 
Forests of the Heart, and Medicine Road as all feature both really well drawn musicians and cool scenes of a musical nature. While you read them, I’ll have a Guinness…
So now you wonder why de Lint is so good in depicting music and musicians? That has to do with him being an actual musician who has been writing and playing music for nigh onto thirty years now as you can see from his musical biography. He’s a quite prolific composer, i.e. you’ll find more than a baker’s dozen of his compositions in The Little Country alone and one of the compositions in that novel, ‘The Tinker’s Black Kettle’, a lovely jig, has been recorded.
Indeed, his wife MaryAnn Harris has played music with him as far back as when Wickentree was active, so together they make quite lovely music, be it Celtic nature or not. She was also in Jump at the Sun, the band after Wickentree, which Charles notes in an email ‘was a fun band with uillean pipes, hammered dulcimer and our usual instruments (mando, flute, whistle, fiddle, etc.) Mostly trad stuff though we did a bunch of orig tunes in the Celtic style. Too bad we never recorded.’ He went on to note that in addition to him and MaryAnn that there was ’John Wood. Doug Heirlihy (might not be spelling that right) I’m going to be putting out a digital single of my The Loon’s Lament slow air soon ft. John on pipes and whistle. I’ll let you know when it’s available and I’ll send you a copy.’ He added that ‘Jump at the Sun is named after the John Kirkpatrick tune.’
Now I have a treat for you.
As I noted above, husband and wife Charles de Lint and MaryAnn Harris both started out as musicians; de Lint became a writer, Harris an artist, but they still make music. Their work has largely been confined to small clubs, but we now have an EP, Crow Girls, from Harris and a full album, Old Blue Truck, from de Lint. One feature of both albums is the element of surprise: de Lint’s songs move toward places you don’t expect, and his husky growl of a voice pulls some real power, while Harris seems to change personas as she moves to a new song, from a slightly raucous Crow Girl to a grown woman thinking about love that has kept its magic alive. Both offerings are marked by superb performances by an amazingly cohesive group of musicians.
Go here for complete details on how to get these lovely recordings!
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