Recorded, mixed and mastered by Derek Bianchi at Muscletone Studios in Berkeley, California. Thank you, Derek, for your kind and pleasant way of advising and leading the way!
Up in the Morning Early
A Scots parlor song that I learned from Nancy Koch, the accordion player in the Brattle Streetband.
Drown it in the Bowl
Art song written by W.D. Biggs in 1802 with good advice: if you’re sick or sad, get drunk.
Erin Grá Mo Chroí
I love this Irish emigration song even more because it’s set in New Yawk.
NY Mining Disaster
Speaking of New York, Barry Gibb never told us why his song was called that.
My Resting Place
“Mayn Rue Plats,” written by Morris Rosenfeld (1862–1923) and translated by June Tabor, has become synonymous with the deaths of some 146 textile workers in a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in 1911 in New York.
Lassie with the Yellow Coatie
I learned this one 50 years ago from Pete and Pat of the Elliots of Birtley. For years I thought I was singing about a girl wearing a yellow coat; no, it means she had blonde hair!
English Ale
Harvey Andrews hit the target square in the middle on this song.
Do Li A
A Tyneside song I learned from Louie Killen about a well-known and loved Newcastle camp-follower.
Drink Puppy Drink
I learned this song from Bill Crawford and thank him heartily for it!
The Bohemian Dreams
Marla Fibish married a Robert Service poem to a Quebecois waltz clog that paints a picture of a lazy life in the Paris of the 1920s.
Storms Out on the Ocean
The Carter Family’s song about eternal love that lasts in spite of it all.
We Shall Overcome
A gospel song which became a protest song.
All the Good People
Originally written by Ken Hicks, and then beautifully re-written by our own Carol Holdstock!