First Light
More
of a tone poem than a piece of music, and something of an experiment in sound.
Dancing With Maggie
A Christmas gift for my daughter Maggie. She’s now a lovely young
woman, but thanks to
an old cassette I found, we can journey back in time as she performs
the opening vocal.
It seems like yesterday.
Alison & Anna
This one took about 25 years to create. When John Murphy (my partner in
Hal An Tow)
and his wife Pip had their first daughter, Alison, I started working on
some music to
celebrate
the occasion. Somehow I got sidetracked and never finished it. Years
later,
John found a fragment of Alison’s Tune on a cassette, brought it
to me, and asked if I could
finish it. By then daughter Anna had
appeared on the scene, which meant a change of title
as
well. The
result is played here as a piano solo by my gifted friend Mark
Lloyd.
The Bird on the Mountain
For the distinguished children’s author Alice McLerran, and inspired by
her classic The
Mountain
That Loved a Bird. The “chirps” on this track were done with a tin
whistle, so
no animals were harmed in the production.
Lost in the Fog
For the celebrated Canadian actor/director R.H. Thomson. Several years
ago, Robert
graciously
took on the role of narrator in the theatrical version of my Marco Polo
Suite.
As the stage fog swept over us as the curtain went up, he
whispered “good-bye Jim”
from his spot next to me. It certainly helped
ease the tension!
Carol’s Waltz
For my dear friend Carol Rohl, from Maine. Carol was the harper on both
the studio and
stage versions of the Marco Polo Suite.
Elegy for Penuel
For my late aunt, the talented and beautiful Penuel Laws. The poem used
here is traditional,
and was translated from the Gaelic.
Kendall’s
Reel
For my good friend Kendall Morse, legendary singer, humourist and
raconteur from Maine.
Hornpipes
Two
tunes in honour of a couple of great friends, both wonderful musicians
from Maine.
The first is Gordon Bok’s Welcome to Renforth, and the
second is George Fowler’s Fancy.
Appropriately, that’s George lending his fiddle talents to the track.
Jason’s Hard Drive 2.1
My friend Jason Myers is a skilled musician and a computer techie. This
is a bit of “Celtic funk” in his honour.
My Good Old Man/Captain Dave’s Delight
For
years, the late “Captain Dave” Kennedy hosted an international
gathering of musicians at his
farm in Maine. His gregarious nature and
his talents as an actor, musician and story-teller made him
a friend to
all who knew him. I composed a hornpipe in his honour when he was still
alive, but never
got around to recording it. Thanks to Steve Sellors
and Bill Preeper, who found an old recording of Dave,
I combined the
two elements.
The Wind in the Cedars
As the tune was forming, I happened to look out the window.
The Gathering
When
my niece Mahri Macdonald married Danny Machado I composed this in their
honour. The combination
of families, with Scottish and Portuguese
heritage, made for one heck of a party.