12º of Separation
12º of Separation
The tracks of the record span traditional Irish dance tunes, original ballads and tunes, a boogie-woogie, even a piece composed for symphony orchestra. Each track is set it is own acoustic space appropriate to its unique voice.
Separation is an act of detachment or state of being disconnected. Degrees are a series of way-points along a course. I hope you will enjoy these twelve stages of my current course. As to the destiation . . . . that remains an enigma for both of us.
Off of the Bay
This song tells the story of how a sailor feels after a storm sank his ship and his shipmates drowned. "And I don't believe I'll ever make it home..... off of the Bay". The composition comes from my experience as a small boat sailor and my tour in the Central Highlands of Vietnam as a Buck Sgt in an infantry company of the US Army.
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Sunset on
Big Gut
This tune was composed for friends who built a new home on the banks of the largest pond on Chincoteague. But, in our local language there are no ponds on the Island. We have guts glades, cuts and sloughs. On maps this "pond" is named "Fowling Gut". But, everyone here calls it Big Gut. The motif for this tune came from a bird song I heard on the property before the house was built. The melody of this track is how I heard that bird sing down the sun.
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Captain Chandler's Lament
Where the asphalt of North Main Street ends and the gravel road to my house begins, there is a solitary grae located atop a low rise embraced by concrete retaining beams. Captain Joshua L. Chandler is buried there. He was killed during a thunderstorm while toning for oysters on Chincoteague Bay. The final verse of the ballad is a verbatim statement of the inscription on the Captain's gravestone. The grave is located on the northern end of the Island. We locals call this area "up the neck". The chorus uses a phrase from old nautical jargon. "Crossed the Bar". In the days of sail, sea captains had to mind the tide in order to leave port. They needed fair winds and a high tide in order to cross the sand bar that forms where rivers meet oceans and large bays. Crossed the bar means "I've made it to the other side." And that become a colloquial way of saying that a shipman has died. "Old jack has crossed the bar.
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Carolan's Farewell to Music
Turlough O’Carolan (1690-1738) is regarded by many as Ireland’s national composer. When he was in his late teens, a high fever caused by small pox, robbed him of sight. He was taught how to play the harp and set out across Ireland entertaining the wealthy. More than two-hundred of his compositions have survived. Each is a tiny masterpiece, very much on par with his better-known Baroque contemporaries in mainland Europe. This tune is thought to have been written after his doctor told him to give up whiskey. It’s usually played as a dirge. I don’t hear it that way. Carolan was, by all accounts, a party animal. He danced, sang, told jokes, drank and in all possible ways lived to the utmost. My version of this famous tune may be dark, but it’s full of life. Carolan soon sought a second option. Dr. John Staff wrote him a receipt (prescription) for a drop of the pure. Carolan regain his vim and celebrated the good Dr. Stafford with a tune he titled Dr Stafford’s Receipt
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Thank you, Adam Smith
Politicians from all parties routinely misquote, or takeout of context, the writings of Adam Smith. I have this deeply held conviction that very few of them ever read Professor Smith’s second book: An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (1776), But they do loudly misconstrue many of the professor’s conclusions and concepts like the invisible hand of the marketplace. Adam Smith was a key thinker of the Scottish Enlightenment. He held the title of Moral Philosopher at The University of Edinburgh. He is widely credited as the father of modern economic theory. He foresaw the dangers of monopoly and predatory capitalism. So, tongue in cheek, I wrote this boogie-woogie as a teaching aid. The arrangement and production harden back to the rock-a-billy style of the late 1950s.
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Sundial
I composed this tune for Jane and Jon Richstein, owners of Sundial books. Their store is the cultural headquarters of Chincoteague Island. They direct residents and visitors to all sorts of cultural happenings on the Island. They sell, books, recordings, note cards, original art works. They host performers and authors. It’s a magical place. Jane was a hammer dulcimer student of mine for years. Jon and I worked for many years to book touring musicians to perform on the Island. Jane is of Irish decent. Jon’s ancestors were Ashkenazi Jews from Russia. This this tune is a bit of an Irish reel seasoned with the harmonic minor scale and underpinned by the energy of movement that reflects the workings of Sundial Books. https://sundialbooks.net/
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Reel Set
Cooley's Reel - Sgt. Early's Dream - The Broken Pledge
Joe Cooley (1924-1973) was one of the most influential button accordionists in Ireland. This tune was originally known as Tulla - tightly associated with Joe Cooley's playing and his band - Tulla Ceili.
Sgt. James Early joined the Chicago police force in 1874 and rose to the rank of sergeant. Visiting Irish musicians and those native to Chicago considered Sgt. Early to be one of the best uilleann pipers in Chicago.
This tune seems to date from the late 19th century. It was collected by Chief O'Neill in one of his early books of Irish music. Francis O'Neill (1848-1936) was born in Tralibane, Coun4ty Cork, Ireland. There he learned fiddle, flute and pipes. At age 16 he set out to sea as a cabin boy. He left the sea to become a Sheppard in California. He left the sheep to become a police officer in Chicago. He rose to Cheif of Police and survived three changes of Mayor. Along the way Chief O'Neill collected and published more than 3,000 traditional Irish dance tunes.
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Accomac Roots
The tune was wrtitten for Dr. Richard Smith. Rick's distinguished professional life as an academic chemist includes work in cancer research and as chairman of the Chemistry Department of McDaniel College. He is also a skilled genealogist who developed a keen interest in African-American history of the Eastern Shore of Virginia. rick was the first scholar to do foundational research among legal documents, family bibles, cemeteries and church records in order to reconstruct family histories. His work is available at www.accomacroots.com. Rick was also one of my hammer dulcimer students. I wrote this tune to celebrate his wonderful, voluntary work to rediscover the history of African-Americans in the county where Chincoteague is located. Rick completed a similar project for Frederick County, Maryland. I am sad to report that this good friend, outstanding academic and very decent man has passed away.
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Sailor Man
The song describes a stereotypical sailor-man character returning from sea along the coast of Delaware, Maryland and Virginia to reach the port of Norfolk. His enthusiastic plan is to spend a night blazing the town and then return to his "home' on the sea. Hens and Chickens, Winter Quarter Shoal, Cape Charles Light, are well know navigation points along the coast of Delmarva. I confess to singing about a mono-dimensional, Disneyesque, stock character, but the melody is fun. And, if you love your work, doesn't it come with the feeling that doing it simultaneously frees and enslaves you?
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Marianne & Mr. Jones
The four-bar motif for this symphonic orchestration was derived from my DNA by a computer algorithm. Some say that this technique is a bit of a technological parlor trick that has no place in artistic inspiration. I disagree. Composers take inspiration from all kinds of sources - birds, baying dogs, human speech, noises of a train, the sea, even the random results from throwing a pair of dice. Using the CTGA code of DNA to generate the inspiration for a melody is no different. I composed this symphonic piece a few weeks after i had my DNA analyzed. The results of the DNA test ultimately revealed my unknown ancestor-path. It was a powerful discovery that continues to ring throughout my life. Inspiration doesn't get any more personal or profound than this. Half of this melody came from my Mother. Half came from my Father. From beginning to end, it's 100% me.
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Irish Wind
A surprisingly warm breeze wafts over he southwest coast of Ireland. So warm that palm trees grow in the region. The great collector of Irish Music, Edward Bunting (1773-1848) recorded that South Wind was composed by Donal O'Sullivan from the translation of the song by a resident of County Mayo named Domhall Meirgeach Mc Con Mara. That name translates from Irish into English as: Freckled Donald MacNamara. That guy certainly wins the "best name competition!" Wind that Shakes the Barley and Spring Wind are popular session tunes.
South Wind - Wind that Shakes the Barley - Spring Wind
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