Over the bow Lissa Schneckenburger and Andy Happel rip the fiddle BY SAM PFEIFLE

The fiddle is and isn’t an instrument that makes rock stars. The fiddle is definitely a lead instrument, don’t get me wrong, always supplying melody, and capable of pyrotechnic outbursts. A great player can often take over a whole band. Just look at what Timmy Farrell does when he sits in with Jerks of Grass — the rest of the guys can barely get a note in edgewise. But it’s just such a teeny, screechy wooden box, that fiddle, and there’s something about fiddle players that makes them think it’s really quite fascinating when they show you how they can make barnyard noises come straight from their strings.

So, in large part, the fiddle players you’ve heard of are cute gals like Alison Krauss and Nickel Creek’s Sarah Watkins, who one gets a feeling would be famous no matter what instrument they chose to play. If you’re looking for the next famous fiddler to come out of that mold, look no farther than Maine native Lissa Schneckenburger.

Her debut self-titled album (the spine of that disc’s sure full of letters) on Footprint Records is a fairly thrilling introduction to a player who gets everything interesting out of her instrument and who has a voice with beauty to match. While the song selections and writing won’t have you grabbing for the liner notes, being fairly standard Celtic/Cape Breton-influenced fare, they do show good taste and exude a warmth that’s comforting, even on a humid summer night.

Then there is Andy Happel, a fiddler with attitude and progressive vision. If you follow the Seacoast scene at all, you know Happel. Part of Thanks to Gravity, who owned the rock scene in the mid-to-late 1990s, and a much sought after producer of local discs, Happel is about as widely respected a musician as you’ll find in these parts. Having recently moved up the coast to Scarborough, Happel’s also been busy as of late backing Don Campbell during his gallivanting about the south.

He’s a fiddler intent on breaking the standard mold. His fiddle’s translucent blue, and is barely recognizable as that wooden screechbox when it’s plugged in and rippling out effects. Take a listen to Happel’s brand-new Dreaming By the Sea and hear the world-music influences (lots of Latin, particularly), the early Genesis riffs, the rock and roll.

Happel and Schneckenburger couldn’t be farther apart in style or delivery, but they share a world of talent.

Schneckenburger certainly has a feel for arrangement. One of the nicest things about her disc is the way she blends songs together within tracks. On track three, she takes a reserved approach to Aoife O’Donovan’s "Aoife’s," riding the Celtic backstep and some cool guitar work that supplies a percussive element, before dipping into the traditional "Coleman’s March" and pulling back out into "Aoife’s." Elsewhere, she blends expertly the traditionals "The Bottle of Brandy" and "The Banks of Lough" before finishing with Jennifer Wrigley’s "Miss Sarah MacFadyen" on track 8.

And you won’t forget her voice. When she asks you to "let the wind blow high and low" in "The Irish Girl," her ultra-pure and high resonance will give you chills. She’s not someone who really belts notes out, but she’s also not holding anything back with her delivery straight from the diaphragm.

Happel’s voice is more than passable, but it’s not what you’ll notice on his disc. His real talent comes in getting the utmost from his instrument, through contrasts with various and sundry other instruments, and from wringing notes low and high from what’s normally just an acoustic, four-stringed, and thus fairly limited, piece of equipment. On the opening "I Rise with You," you’d swear he was playing an alto sax. Later, on "Shapeless," he matches perfectly the otherwordly nature of his playing with his tripped-out vocals: "I am made of ether/ I swim among the stars."

Schneckenburger could be among the stars, too.

Sam Pfeifle can be reached at sam@phx.com

Lissa Schneckenburger plays the St. Lawrence, in Portland, June 19. Call (207) 775-5568. Andy Happel plays the Big Easy, in Portland, June 18. Call (207) 871-8817.