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Celtic with an improvised middle, I had worked up the intro and transition bits to splice onto an old fiddle tune that I liked to jam on, just to dress it up a little. It wasn`t until later that I came up with the melody and the changes for the main body of the song.
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Sounds like a fanfare, like a tune you would use for tbe beginning of something (although I think "Into The Mist" works better as an opening for this CD).
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There have been many beautiful song written about a person`s last look at the old country before heading to the new world. This tune is for the ones who stuck it out. Also, this song is for the people we have lost contact with who have been important in our lives -- the ones who have died or we`ve lost track of, or, for whatever reason, we don`t see anymore. In the song, there is a nice three-part harmony chorus that leads back to the lone guitar bringing the melody on home.
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About how a good band communicates. The improv section here isn`t a ride with the lead over the top but rather an accompanist feeding different chords and feels to the soloist. Sometimes the two parts contrast or go in opposite directions, other times they support or mirror each other, always anticipating. This song is about the magic that can happen.
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A fiddle tune or a pipe tune, it could be either. For the last couple of years. I`ve been listening to Bonnie Rideout`s fiddle playing as well as any recordings by pipers--uileann or Northumbrian pipes (Kathryn Tickell) or Highland bagpipes -- that I can find. This tune has a solo guitar intro, then goes into the head, runs through some rock, swing, whatever jams, then back to the head with a little tag at the end.
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I`m fascinated by the high, open moorland of the UK. Walking by myself up on the hills, the springy feel of the heather underfoot -- the isolation or aloneness is intensified in those high, craggy, rolling, sometimes featureless expanses. Give me a map and a compass and the right gear and I feel safe there even in the nastiest weather. I feel at home, like I belong. The middle section of this song has a Mid-Eastern, African, Moorish feel.
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A dedication to the couple who owns the music store where I`ve taught guitar for the last dozen years. THey`ve been good to me.
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Indian and suburban Chicago (where I lived as a kid) combined. Named after the person who used to own the guitar that I`m using for the melody.
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A few more years and I`ll get that pipe thing down. This piece modulates into a section right before the ending which is supposed to be an accordion band playing.
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A train tune with a multi-sectioned intro that builds before flying into the main melody. Live, I perform this song sol, but on this recording, I got that bass note chugging along, then hadfun layering the melody, harmony and improv.
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The one completely solo piece on the CD (I`ve always loved Keith Jarrett`s approach to solo playing).
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The title fits the music.
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In the Lake District (NW England not far from the Scottish border), shepherds from the surrounding dales would meet on High Street (a fell named after an ancient Roman road) to return sheep that had strayed onto their pastureland. Over the years, the gathering developed into a festival with food and drink, music, and athletic events, as well as a commercial event. Also, I lived on High Street in Champaign-Urbana for a year while I attended the University of Illinois.
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CD Information
