Harpist and composer Margot Krimmel joined Fergus Stone on Seolta Gael for a live session of Celtic-inspired music and conversation. Performing traditional and original pieces, Krimmel showcased the versatility and emotional depth of the harp, including selections like “Blackbirds and Thrushes” and her own composition “The Road to South Stream.” She reflected on her path into Irish music, the unique qualities of different harp types, and the personal stories behind her compositions. Krimmel also shared details about her past album and upcoming performances, including shows at the Denver Botanic Gardens and in Cheyenne. (Studio Session: 5/28/25)
Fergus Stone: Ladies and gentlemen, you have just heard the harp stylings of Margot Krimmel. Welcome to Seolta Gael, Margot.
Margot Krimmel: Thank you, Fergus.
Fergus Stone: Thank you for coming.
Margot Krimmel: My pleasure.
Fergus Stone: First, tell us what you just played.
Margot Krimmel: Sure enough. I started off with Blackbirds and Thrushes, a traditional Irish piece, and then followed that with some marches: Farewell to Nigg, which was composed by the piper Duncin Johnston, and another I think of as a march, Return to Fingal, that I learned from a Lunasa recording. Then I played Rose in the Gap, which is a march I learned from my good friend Ben, and finally Atholl Highlanders. So that was that. It was really fun. Thank you.
Fergus Stone: A lovely set. It seems to me that the harp is one of the most ancient instruments in the world—apart from the drum. It’s even older than the banjo, I think. Orpheus played the harp, did he not? Or at least the lyre. And so it’s millennia old and more. And yet in Ireland, it seems to have taken a deeper root than in any other country. It’s on the flag. Guinness not only makes stout, but they make Harp Lager. It’s everywhere you look. The harp is the emblem of Ireland. How did you become attracted to playing the harp?
Margot Krimmel: I got attracted to Irish music through my good friend Beth Leachman Gabo. I did like Irish music—it really fits well on the harp. So I started playing some Irish music, but I actually knew basically nothing about it—still kind of know just a little. But it fits so well on the harp, and the harp is so magical in Ireland. So I think that’s where those two things happen. Why there’s so much harp in Ireland? It’s because it’s magic. It’s magic there. And the music is magic.
Fergus Stone: My son told me that there is a man who made a copy of Brian Boru’s harp—the one that sits in the Trinity College Library in Dublin.
Margot Krimmel: Right.
Fergus Stone: And that harp is a wire-strung harp.
Margot Krimmel: Right.
Fergus Stone: And, my son said this man made as close a copy of it as possible, including the wire strings. The sound, he said, is quite different from this. These strings are nylon—is that correct?
Margot Krimmel: These on this harp? They’re nylon. It’s much easier to play than the wire-strung. The wire-strung is hard to play because it continues to ring, so you need to dampen the strings that you aren’t playing.
Fergus Stone: Which—
Margot Krimmel: —means you have a lot going on with that wire-strung harp. At least to make it sound like anything other than just a bunch of ringing.
This harp is closer to a pedal harp—a classical orchestral harp—in tone and feel. Or maybe it’s kind of halfway between that really full, woody, mellow sound of the classical harp and the really bright sound of the wire-strung harp. This harp—this is a beautiful Dusty Strings, by the way—I just love this harp to death.
Fergus Stone: Made where?
Margot Krimmel: Made in Washington State, at the Dusty Strings factory.
Fergus Stone: Ah-ha.
Margot Krimmel: Aha.
Fergus Stone: The harp comes in various sizes. I’ve seen them seven feet tall and more. My wife has one that fits on her lap. Are there even smaller ones than that? Another indication of just how deeply rooted the harp is in Western culture.
Margot Krimmel: There are some Christmas tree ornaments that have pretty tiny harps on them.
Fergus Stone: Oh, perfect.
Margot Krimmel: I think once you get less than about 20 strings—which is what your wife’s harp is probably, 22, 23, 26 strings—
Fergus Stone: Right.
Margot Krimmel: —then you’ve kind of got more of a nursery rhyme… you know, almost a toy. Well, it’s just less. But with that many strings, you can have one thing going on with one hand—chording with one hand and melody with the other. It’s kind of like a piano.
Fergus Stone: We began the program tonight with a cut from your new album. Tell us a little bit about that.
Margot Krimmel: So, it’s not that new—it’s about five years old. And it’s almost time to make something new.
Fergus Stone: That’s why the station’s copy is missing from the stacks. I was in there looking. I couldn’t find it anywhere.
Margot Krimmel: Somebody…
Fergus Stone: Somebody found it and didn’t bring it back.
Margot Krimmel: Whatever the new time comes, it was recorded in Longmont with John McVey at Cinder Sound. I wrote most of the pieces on it, but it has a very Celtic flair.
That first one we heard, The Road to South Stream, is one of my compositions. I think it’s a great CD. I’ve pretty much sold out of it, so it’s time to make a new CD.
Fergus Stone: I guess so. Well, I forgot what I was going to say. Do you have any upcoming gigs?
Margot Krimmel: Absolutely. The thing you can always do is check my website: boulderharp.com. It’s pretty easy.
Fergus Stone: What a great name for a website.
Margot Krimmel: My name being Margot Krimmel is not so easy to spell or remember. So Boulder Harp is super easy to remember and has my up-to-date listings. I don’t do any other social media, so I can handle keeping that one pretty up to date.
I’m going to be playing at the Denver Botanic Gardens in August with Beth Lehman. Then we’re also going to do a concert in Cheyenne in September. The Botanic Gardens event is Evenings al Fresco, on August 6th. And Cheyenne—we’re playing at a library up there on the 13th.
You can check the website for up-to-date times and whatnot.
Fergus Stone: With such an enormous historical catalog of tunes written for the harp, even just in the Celtic realm, it took a lot of guts for you to start writing your own tunes. How many compositions have you come up with so far?
Margot Krimmel: Well, it was really great to get some of them recorded. I would have a piece that was almost done, and then when I made this recording I went, “Okay, this is how this song goes.”
Almost all the pieces on that CD have a Celtic flavor, because I love that music and it sits so well on the harp. But it’s really a personal album. It’s not full of hits or me trying to make the next hot traditional Irish session tune.
That particular one I did was really for my sister—it was during the pandemic and she felt millions of miles away. That one I wrote for her. Then there was one for my mom and one for my dad. My dad passed away during the pandemic. My mom had already passed. There are just a lot of songs on there that are really little vignettes or stories of something in my life. It’s really fun when those stories or scenes come to life like that—I can’t keep my hands off it. When that happens, it’s like, you know, don’t bother me—I’ve got something to say.
I really enjoy writing a lot, and all the songs I do are almost always my own. I would say 90% are my own arrangements. I get a song like Blackbirds and Thrushes—nobody does it like that. Because it’s just how I do it.
Fergus Stone: Would you describe your compositions as confessional?
Margot Krimmel: No, I wouldn’t. They are more scenic, I would say. Or like a little story you can interpret how you want. I won’t say which one is which—except for that one: The Road to South Stream is where my sister lives, on South Stream Road in Vermont.
Fergus Stone: Oh, okay. All right. Well, there are a couple of announcements coming up later in the show. We’re going to get to them later, because I understand you’ve got some more tunes you can play for us.
Margot Krimmel: I really would like to play The Bells of Rimini. It seems like a really current song. The words were written by Iris Davies and the music by Pete Seeger. Beth and I did this on our very first CD together. She sings it, but I sing it too, so I’m going to sing it tonight.
The Bells of Rimini is a great song about the Welsh uprising from the coal miners. Pretty tragic story, but important. It talks about the bells in different towns—the bells of Ypres, the bells of Rimini, etc.
If I have time, I’d like to do another one too, called The Sky Boat Song. Maybe finish with that.
Fergus Stone: By all means.
Margot Krimmel: All righty. Here we’ll do Bells of Rimini.
Fergus Stone: Friends, here is Margot Krimmel.
Margot Krimmel: Thanks, Fergus. Great to be here.
(plays music)
Fergus Stone: You just heard Margot Krimmel and her harp, playing Celtic tunes. Thank you so much, Margot, for favoring us with your beautiful music. We’re going to go through some announcements, and then we’ll continue with recorded music.
