Eloise & Co Announce the release of “avec Elodie: New Album Re-Imagines Bal Folk Traditions”. It is available on October 20, 2025. Known as Eloise & Co.,Becky Tracy, Rachel Bell & Rachel Aucoin are fulfilling a dream: recording a CD of magical tunes with fiddle, accordion and piano. They will host their album release concert in Newton, MA on October 26th, 2025 at The Scandinavian Cultural Center & Library located at 206 Waltham St, Newton, MA
Tickets at the door: $30 supporter / $20 suggested / $15 economy price / Kids 12 and under free
Brattleboro-based band Eloise & Co. is a shapeshifting ensemble, often a duo and this time a trio with piano. With Becky Tracy on fiddle, octave fiddle, and vocals and Rachel Bell on accordion and vocals, Eloise & Co. plays a dynamic range of music including gritty French bal folk groove tunes, energetic Celtic reels, soulful waltzes, and lively Quebecois tunes. Becky and Rachel found themselves in a spontaneous jam session with Quebecois pianist extraordinaire Rachel Aucoin at a music camp in 2017. The musical chemistry was instant and palpable, and the three decided right then and there that they had to play together again.
Becky, Rachel, and Rachel have explored many styles of music together: Irish and Quebecois jigs and reels, original compositions by Rachel Bell, Keith Murphy, Becky Tracy and others, and bal folk dance music. It wasn’t obvious that bal folk music would translate to the piano; it’s a scene dominated by the button accordion, fiddle, clarinet, and guitar, but Aucoin’s interpretations of the music mirrored Tracy and Bell’s approach. Becky recalls, “the recording encompasses much-loved material Rachel Bell and I had played as a duo that felt brought to life in a new way with Rachel Aucoin’s touch. We also worked up brand new pieces just for the recording, naturally veering toward the bal folk music that Rachel Bell and I adore with Rachel Aucoin’s signature on them.”
The band emphasizes that it’s important for them to balance traditional material with the new. “We feel a kinship with the old gritty tunes like the hanter dros and the “Alsace Valse à 5”” says Bell, “and the contemporary compositions like “Haven,”, and “Gilles’ Baguettes” are informed by the traditional.” The variety of music on the album reflects an evening of bal folk dancing, from mesmerizing an dros from Brittany, a sultry central France-inspired mazurka, to two hauntingly beautiful gavottes de Grenoble written by Rachel Bell.
The album includes a few tunes outside the bal folk tradition like “Humours of Kilclogher,” a sweet jig Becky learned in Clare, Ireland, and the rousing Keith Murphy reel “Dress Back.” Including these tunes in a primarily bal folk album is in the essence of bal folk itself, where dances and traditions in each bal folk community reflect the interests of the community.
When Bell, Tracy and Aucoin first performed together in 2018, they knew they had to make an album. They started recording in late 2019 “for promotional purposes,” a process that was interrupted in 2020. After a 4 1/2 year hiatus, they joyfully reunited in 2024 and immediately felt compelled to record this album.
The trio began the recording process in February 2025 in Rachel Aucoin’s lovely 1823 farmhouse in Quebec using “my favorite piano” as she likes to say. Intense recording sessions were punctuated with ski breaks through the woods, sumptuous meals, and hot tubs under the icy stars. Keith Murphy (co-producer) and Sabin Jacques (engineer) contributed with a monumental amount of inspiration and energy towards the project. “Our friends and fans gave us the confidence to move forward” says Rachel Bell. “The project was enthusiastically embraced by the public. There was such an outpouring of support that we quickly exceeded our Kickstarter goal to launch avec Elodie.”
Becky, Rachel, and Rachel are excited to invite you into their shared musical delight with a variety of music ranging from old traditional tunes to their own new compositions, all infused with the magnetism that drew them together in the first place.
They are thrilled to announce a very fun bunch of CD celebration concerts to coincide with the release, so please mark your calendar:
Oct 24 Middletown, CT House Concert
Oct 25 Lebanon, NH Upper Valley Music Center Workshop & Concert
Oct 26 Newton, MA concert Scandinavian Cultural Center
Nov 21 Brattleboro, VT concert
Nov 22 Cooperstown, NY house concert
Nov 23 Olivebridge, NY Ashokan concert
Eloise & Co.: “We’re Not Broken”
Rachel Bell in future performances:
OCT 3 FRI: Constellation: English Country Dance Celebration Weekend 2025 @ 7:00 PM
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
OCT 16 THU: Eloise & Co. w/Bethany Waickman: Portland Intown Contra Dance @ 7:00 PM
Portland, ME, United States
OCT 17 FRI: Eloise & Co. w/ Bethany Waickman: Brooks Contra Dance @ 8:00 PM
Brooks, ME, United States
OCT 18 SAT: Eloise & Co. w/Bethany Waickman: Peterborough Fall Ball @ 12:00 PM
Peterborough, NH, United States
Album Art by Caroline Leger
Artist Photo by Doug Plummer
For all press enquiries, please contact Tom Pryor:
tompryorpublicity@gmail.com
