Me brudder tells me he saw Ashley two nights ago, at the Scottish Club in Windsor, Ontario, and that it was a 'great show' - which I take to mean it was straight-ahead, no-nonsense Cape Breton fiddling.

I don't think Ashley is 'completely bored' with traditional tunes, since he seems to continue to play them with great spirit and vigor - however, I think he WOULD be bored with them if he never played anything else, or in anything other than trad. style - but I think that could be said of many outstanding trad. musicians. He and Nathalie M. were the first two Cape Breton fiddlers to make full-time professional careers of their music - I imagine it's one thing to play the dance in Mabou every Saturday night, and quite another to perform every night of the week and twice on Sunday for years on end. The boredom factor might well set in ....

Btw, there are reams of clips on youtube of Ashley playing in conventional style and setting - not sure why anyone is passing judgement on him on the basis of this one clip - other than that it is the one that the OP, for reasons that are not entirely clear, chose to draw our attention to.