Lee's Liner Notes

1. The Glade.  Paradise Lost is a local Berkeley Band, headed by Cape Breton fiddler Brian Therriault.  In this piece, Brian shows off a nice piece of slow air playing.  The only way to get Paradise Lost CDs is to go through Brian at this point.  He may have a website up by now, but he hasn't mentioned one.

2. Tom Tom.  Jez Lowe is a singer/songwriter from Durham Co, England.  This particular song was his reply to the claim that the Internet and electronic music meant that folksinging was dead.  To quote Jez, "Thpppt!" accompanied by a rude gesture.  Jez is a longtime friend of Berkeley local Shay Black, who's also featured on this compilation.  They were both part of a large group of musicians and singers living in Liverpool during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

3. Gulf of Mexico.  Irish flute player Terry Coyne gives his own take on the tune known as "The 8th of May" or "The Battle of New Orleans."  He did a little multitracking here to play both flute parts.  http://www.talented.fsnet.co.uk/terry.html

4. Adios La Mio Voca Pinta.  Llan de Cubel hails from Asturia, Spain.  The music has a strong connection to celtic musical traditions, but with its own distinct flavor.  The Asturies are a mountain chain near the border of France, and many of the local dance and music traditions have survived there.  From the band's liner notes:  Based on a recording by Tonin de Numbra, Marcos made an adaptation for the flute of what is one of the most beautiful songs from County Ayer.  After it comes an instrumental version by Guzman of  the song "Coyi d'un artu una flor" ("From a bramble bush I picked a flower").

5. Peat Bog Soldiers.  The Black Family are originally from Dublin, Ireland  though they have now scattered across the globe.  The main singers in this  track are Shay and Michael, who now both live in the bay area.  The harmonies are supplied by their brother Michael and their sisters Mary and Francis. This song was originally written in 1933, in a german concentration camp.

6. Alborada d'Amandi/Entermediu de Nemesio/Alborada'l TigreXuan.  Another  track from Llan de Cubel.  The band visited San Francisco two different years for the Celtic Festival, so I got to hear their story about this set of tunes. An alborada is a tune meant to be played by a piper early in the morning during festivals.  Usually the _second_ morning, which means that if you have a  hangover, it's an evil thing.  If the _piper_ has a hangover, it's even more  evil for everyone else.  From their liner notes: Another instrumental set made up of two "alboraes" (bagpipe tunes played very early in the morning) and an "entermediu" (a tune for the mass interlude).  The first one is from County Villaviciosa, and was collected by the piper Jose Angel Hevia from Ramon de Cazanes who, in turn, had learnt it from the late piper Aladino d'Amandi in  the early years of this century.  It's followed by a tune that's now played  a lot by soloist pipers and pipe bands, known thanks to Nemesio, an old piper from County Teberga.  To round it off, and "alborada" in the Central Asturies way, which we dedicate to the pub where we practice by day and drink by night.

7. The Pipe Tunes.  Shooglenifty is part of a new generation of scottish bands who combine traditional music and instrumentation with a modern dance beat. The set ends with a favorite of many pipe bands, "Kitchen Piper."  Originally from the album "Venus in Tweeds," 1994 Greentrax Recordings.

8. Amhran'n Pheadar Brethnach.  Maighread ni Dhmhnaill is an irish singer from another musical family.  Her father Aodh O'Dhomhnaill was an extremely  respected song collector in Donegal, and her aunt Neili ni Dhomhnaill another well-known singer/collector.  Her sister Triona and her brother Micheal are also working and recorded musicians.  The album "No Dowry" is a collection of songs of star-crossed lovers and unrequited love.  From Maighread's liner  notes about this track: Peadar Breathnach was a prolific and popular songmaker from Glenfin in Co. Donegal. He lived around the middle of the last century. This is probably the most popular of his songs.  Here we meet with a young man who seems to be on the run. (Perhaps he's running away from some angry man who wants to be his father-in-law.)  Eventually he ends up in the islands around Aranmore and he meets a young woman who is more than a match for him.  They  retire to a shebeen at the side of the road where his music keeps the drink  flowing freely. There are different opinions as to the capacity of O'Donnell's gallon mentioned in the last verse.  One this is for certain -- it's more than eight pints.

9. Sun Fire Magestic.  I'll quote straight from the liner notes, since I know nothing else about this band:  The Hemmingway reference not withstanding and international as the music is, there is something decidedly Scottish in the  inspiration.  Alasdair Joss is the main composer, bass player and keyboard player, backed by two Scots-Island born singers, Julia Dow, from the Isle of Arran, and Alyth McCormick, from the Isle of Lewis, both of whom are the band's lyricists.  Originally from "The Old Man and the Sea," 1994 Iona Records.

10. Grandpa's Hologram.  The Austin Lounge Lizards are a good example of what happens when you live in Texas too long.  It really does make you crazy after a while.  On this track, they're backed by autoharp player Lindsay Haisley. This particular cut is from the album "Paint Me On Velvet," put out by the nearly-defunct label Flying Fish Records.  It's hard to come by, and your best bet is to find it used or email the band and see if they still have copies available.  http://www.austinlizards.com/ 

11. Lily of the Net.  Holly Tannen is a Mendocino singer/songwriter who teaches anthropology at College of the Redwoods as her day job.  In this piece, Holly parodies the well-known song "Lily of the West."  This is another CD that the only way I know to get a copy is to email Holly about it.  htannen@mcn.org (At least, that's what's printed on the CD cover. I don't know if it's current because I haven't seen her in about 2 years.  We've been on opposite tour  tracks and keep missing each other)

12. Life is Hard, But Life is Hardest When You're Dumb.  Another Lounge Lizards cut, this time off the album "Small Minds."  The song was written by seattle musician Mark Graham.  Mark's rather notorious, and some of his other songs include "I Have Seen Your Aura, and it's Ugly" and "Their Brains Were Small  and They Died."

13. Western.  From the Australian group The Wheeze and Suck Band.  They started as an offshoot of the Sydney Morris Men.  This is just a little clip I got off their website and liked.  Their notes: Occasionally the band will reclaim a  song or tune from another country and give it the distinct Wheeze and Suck treatment and subsequent new title. A classic example is the American tune 'The Arkansas Traveller', which rapidly osmosed into one of the Wheeze and Suck staples, The Great Western Flyer. The tune retains its steam train  identity and distinctive fiddle sound, whilst acquiring a powerful melodeon and drum rhythm plus various whistle noises courtesy of Wotan's impressive array of sound effects.

http://wheezeandsuck.com/

14. Cory McClellan/Connie Walsh/Reel/Humors of Tullagh.  Another selection from Paradise Lost.  Cory McClellan is one of the prettiest waltzes Brian  plays, and he knows a lot of 'em.  In the other tunes, Brian demonstrates  his driving rhythms that make him such a sought-after dance musician.

15. Half and Half.  John Kirkpatrick is one of england's best-known and respected melodeon (button accordion) players.  Here he plays a zweifacher, known during the Ragtime era as a 5/4 waltz or a Half and Half.  The count is 123-12, 123-12.  The clacking you may hear in the background is a "feature" of the melodeon, it's the sound of the levers clacking as the player presses the bass buttons. 

16. Inside Every Bird.  Mark Growden is yet another Bay Area local.  This is actually a very tame piece from him.  Some of the ones he's shocked audiences with before include "Fuck Boy" and "Doing the Nasty."  This piece is a balkan-inspired waltz.  The scraping noise in the background seems to be part of the recording, and may be the mic system in Mark's piano accordion freaking out as he sways and stomps along to the music.

He appears to be in the process of moving his website, the new one isn't up quite yet: http://www.markgrowden.com/

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