Shane Cook
Shane Cook is a Canadian violinist. He is a long-time member of the celtic fusion ensemble Bowfire, and is a past Canadian Grand Master fiddler and U.S. National Fiddle Champion. His musical career has taken him to tour across Canada, the United States, Mexico, Germany, England, China and Taiwan. Life. Shane Cook was born in Dorchester, Ontario as the oldest son of Ken and Shirley Cook. Shane Cook holds an Honours degree in music from the University of Western Ontario (now known as Western University) in London, Ontario. He and his wife Jillian have one son, Charlie . Career. Shane Cook won the U.S. National Fiddle Championship in Weiser, Idaho in 1999 at the age of 17. He won the Canadian Open at the Canadian National Fiddle Championship held in Shelburne, ON in 2001, 2003 and 2005. as well as three Canadian Grand Masters championships in 2000, 2002 and 2003. As a founding member, Shane toured for over 15 years with "Bowfire," a high-energy violin ensemble that combined string masters of classical, Celtic, bluegrass, jazz and rock violin. The group toured from June 2000 to Fall 2015. Step dancing was also a feature with this performance troupe . In 2008, Cook's album "Where Here Meets There", with Nova Scotia fiddler and pianist Troy MacGillivray, was nominated for a Canadian Folk Music Award and won an East Coast Music Award (ECMAs) for Roots/Traditional Group Recording of the Year. In 2013, Mr. Cook joined the Alison Lupton Band, an Ontario folk group. In 2014, Mr. Cook released an album titled "Head to Head" with Ontario pianist, guitarist and Juno-winning member of the East Pointers, Jake Charron. The album was nominated for Group of the Year at the 2015 Canadian Folk Music Awards. Since 2016, Shane Cook has  performed in a four member group called "The Woodchippers," a group with various musicians and step dancers who grew up in Ontario’s traditional fiddle and step dance world. Joining Shane Cook as The Woodchippers are: In 2021, this group released an album, titled "Shane Cook and the Woodchippers: Be Here for a While." Since 2018, Shane Cook has played in the Claire Lynch Band, led by three-time Grammy nominee and International Bluegrass Music Association Female Vocalist of the Year, Claire Lynch.