I have played music for many years, it has always played an important part in my life. My grandfather, Joseph Campanella, brought his mandolin with him from Calabria, Italy as a young immigrant. My mother, Antoinette Campanella Cleary, played violin as a girl and adult with community orchestras, and sang in church choirs and vespers. My father, Thomas Hugh Cleary, experienced music in his large Irish-American family, and was heavily influenced by his two piano-playing older brothers. His instrument was guitar, which he used to lead mass, as a Jesuit priest in Honduras. Music and singing was inextricable from our family life, at home and at church. My younger brother John has been a long-time musical partner--from high school talent shows to regional and national shows with our own string band based in Vermont. My older brother Jesse lives in Carrboro, NC and plays old-time banjo. Now I am lucky enough to be able to pass this gift on to my children, and enjoy the rewards of a musical family.

My musical cousins in Vermont are Tom and Neil Cleary, sons of Bill and Roddy Cleary of Burlington. Tom is a local jazz phenom, teaching jazz piano at UVM, and Neil's original songs and performances as a drummer and sideman are widely appreciated. Go see them perform!

View my discography.