Shelter Island annual bluegrass concert Saturday night

Local bluegrass fans know that each January, Shelter Island is the place to be when Sylvester Manor presents its annual traditional music concert in the school auditorium.

But when The Lonely Heartstring Band heats up the school’s stage this Saturday evening, bluegrass lovers will hear at least one player who had to move thousands of miles and cross an international border in order to tap into the traditional American music form he now calls his own.

That’s because fiddle player Patrick M’Gonigle hails not from the United States, but Canada — British Columbia to be specific, Vancouver Island to be exact. While there often aren’t huge cultural differences to be found between Canadians and Americans, when it comes to perfecting uniquely American forms of traditional music, Mr. M’Gonigle realized early on that it wasn’t something he could easily do in British Columbia.

“There are a lot of singer-songwriters and fiddle players here,” said Mr. M’Gonigle during a recent phone interview from his hometown of Victoria, “but I was more interested in real traditional American music — like bluegrass and old time.”

So this classically trained violinist set his sights on the United States. He packed his bags and his fiddle and headed east — to Berklee College of Music in Boston where he enrolled in the school’s American Roots Music Program.

“Boston is active in the traditional music scene and Berklee is a huge part of it,” he said. “I wanted to draw myself into it.”

At Berklee, Mr. M’Gonigle found that the American Roots program — dedicated to exploration of rural and early American music from the first half of the 20th century — was exactly the place to learn the language of traditional music; and he also appreciated the intimate nature of the instruction.

“Students would come and go throughout their degrees, but for 20 to 40 students, that was their main focus,” he said. “American roots teachers would come in and we worked with lots of ensembles. Among the amazing guests was Bela Fleck.”

Berklee was also where Mr. M’Gonigle met the fellow students with whom he would form The Lonely Heartstring Band. Along with the instruction received at Berklee, immersing themselves in Boston’s active traditional music scene formed the backbone of their education. Dropping in to play a set at a place like Harvard Square’s storied Club Passim, where Joan Baez and Bob Dylan played, was not uncommon.

But it was a wedding that brought this band together — not one of their own, rather that of a couple who hired them to provide the music for their reception. That gig also provided the inspiration for their name, which has stuck, as the groom specifically wanted them to play only Beatles tunes.

“That’s how we formed. It was the first time we played together as a group,” said Mr. M’Gonigle. “I said, ‘We should maybe do this again.’ So we started doing events and things, and one thing led to another.”

Among the things the collaboration has led to is a 2015 International Bluegrass Music Association Momentum Award, and in late 2015, The Lonely Heartstring Band was signed to Rounder Records. Their debut album, “Deep Waters,” came out last June.

“It’s huge. Before that, we didn’t have a record,” said Mr. M’Gonigle. “We were playing festivals but it’s hard to be a band without a record. It’s also a big deal to have it on Rounder. We’ve all listened to their records for years. That meant a lot.”

The Lonely Heartstring Band, which also includes mandolin player Matt Witler from Los Angles, and three Massachusetts natives — guitarist George Clements, his bass-playing twin brother Charles Clements, and banjo player Gabe Hirshfeld, now has enough original material in its repertoire to carry a concert without the music of the Fab Four.

With the musicians all between the ages of 25 and 31, there will soon come a day when they’ll need to devise a strategy for balancing the band with family commitments. But for now, it’s all about making music — and for all you Beatles fans out there, Mr. M’Gonigle said the group just may cover one or two of their tunes over the course of any given evening.

The Lonely Heartstring Band performs on Saturday, January 14 at 7:30 p.m. at Shelter Island School auditorium. Tickets start at $25. To reserve, call (631) 749-0626 or visit sylvestermanor.org. Proceeds from the concert benefit Sylvester Manor Educational Farm.

Opening the show will be the Island’s own Tom and Lisa and Friends.