“Review Quotes “Lively, full of energy, high octane; the spirit is infectious” Marvin J. Ward, Classical Voice of New England Artist Reviews: Chris Devine: thrilling solos and a charming stage presence.....  Berlin Taggespeigel Michael Nix: ... breathtakingly beautiful."  Peter Mix, "Acoustic Musician”

“Silky strings And on Friday, Jan. 11, Chris Devine and Michael Nix, two of the three members of The Pioneer Consor t, will perform at the Great Falls Coffeehouse, Great Falls Discovery Center, 2 Avenue A, Turners Falls, at 7 p.m. On the billing is an entertaining blend of composed and improvised music — Argentinian, Brazilian, Neapolitan and American music, jazz, and original works — for violin, guitar, mandolin and banjar, a seven-string classical banjo. While perhaps sacrificing some root-system strength on the lower end, the absence of the cello opens up a great deal more musical space in which the radiance of Divine’s fiddle and the subtle sounds of Nix’s guitar — which also possesses a rich and resonant low end — can be heard all the more penetratingly. A particular fan of Divine’s extremely felicitous music making, and a lifelong guitarist myself, I’ve come to feel that there is a particularly intimate relationship between violin and guitar that both intrigues and refreshes the ear, almost endlessly. The gossamer, web-like sound-strands of the guitar seem to me to provide the perfect underpinning — and at times, overlay — for the unraveling of the fiddle’s fluid arabesques. Everything is transparent, the two instruments clearly defined in space, with virtually no air clutter at all to negotiate. String instruments both, yes, but with a world of difference in how they’re played — one elegantly set in motion with drawn bow, almost as by an archer; the other galvanized by an almost percussive blow — otherwise known as a pluck — filling the air with a series of throbbing, quickly evaporating tones.” - Joseph Marcello