8-Mar-2019 Fiddle Mother of Dragons Eldridge submitted a slightly longer bio which was super cool, but Lord Webmaster Nathan cut it in twain with his Claymore of Editing Oversight in order to fit around the pictures of The Band bio’s webpage…. but the unedited full story in all its awesomeness is here for all you fans:
Eldridge started playing violin at the age of 7, after listening to the classical hour on public radio and saying to her mom, “what instrument is that? I want to play that!” She grew up reading fantasy novels by Phillip Pullman, Robert Jordan, Lloyd Alexander, and Marion Zimmer Bradley, to name a few. She was intrigued by the mythologies and legends behind these stories, and was particularly drawn to stories about ancient Celtic mythologies and beliefs. When she was 15, she made the jump to violin to fiddle and became immersed in Appalachian String Band music, and learned to play by ear and play in bands. Around that time, she researched the meaning of her name, and found that Eldridge means: Old Hills (literal translation from middle English: Eld-ridge), which refers to ancient folk beliefs that say the kingdom of the elves and faeries lies under the rolling hills of the English countryside. The name also can be translated as Wise Council or King’s Council, referring to the idea that Wise Women and king’s councillors were often thought to have magical powers originating from the otherworldly source of the kingdom of the Fae under the hills. She plays all kinds of genres of music, and teaches her students to let the music in their minds out through their instruments. The idea of this band had been brewing in her mind for a few years when she met a Celtic harp player living next door to her in Tucson, AZ. So, in 2018, The Eldritch Dragons became a band.