TAKE YOUR TIME
We live busy lives, and unfortunately, we miss a lot of the precious things in life as we motor along. In this song, 
an assortment of artists,nature lovers, and tourists enjoy the waterfall on their own terms. Even the narrator's dog, 
Skipper, shares the fun. - The first thing I recorded was a scratch electronic drum track as a reference and  mood 
enhancer for everything else. I planned to wipe it before mixing, but it seemed to fit.

PLANT A GARDEN
What  do we hope to accomplish with our fleeting days? A few thoughts. Here, and other places on the CD,
the influence of Robert Louis Stevenson's writing slips in. I was thinking of  A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSE 
 on this song: "The world is so full of a number of things, I'm  sure we should all be so happy as kings.

ACROSS THE SUMMER'S FLOWERED FIELDS
Instrumental with my wife Julie on the harp (that's me on the cello) with the feel of those warm and humid
 summer days with a trace of haze looking out  across the uncultivated fields populated with wildflowers,
 tall grasses, and yes, even milkweed.

SECLUDED POOLING STREAM
Inspired by the memory a particular swimming hole shielded by trees in the woods. Fed by a small waterfall
and lined with mossy rocks, it was a secluded world apart. This was the second half of track 3 in earlier 
versions.

THE WIND IS UP 
This tune won me an Honorable Mention in the BILLBOARD SONG CONTEST. 
It's my "angry young man of the 60's" style song. We can find ourselves unable to accept change 
because of an unbending mind set. Not a good thing when the impetus comes from on high. 
Mike Furbee provided the fiddle  and I added a simple bass part on the upright.

BEACH BABES
I have always been fascinated by the Bosa Nova,  and was eager to do a  song in that style. 
The storyline in my song is far removed from sunny beaches of Brazil.  Years ago I had a colleague
who owned an International Scout (4wd vehicle) and insisted constantly that I should buy one too. 
It was tempting; he was able to transverse the snowy New York landscape with ease while I often 
struggled with my 1966 Rambler. My hesitation was caused by this; his vehicle was often broken down 
or in need of costly repairs, but the Rambler motored on. At a business breakfast one day I noticed 
that he was driving a rear wheel drive Ford sedan. He told me that the Ford was a much better idea
as the Scout broke down too often and cost too much to repair. You see, misery needs company, that is, 
you will find folks who want you to do what they are doing because they are doing it. But they may quit 
doing it an any moment...except if you do it WITH them, they may keep doing it even if they wouldn't 
had you not done it with them. OK? Make sense? Believe it or not that was the original inspiration 
for the storyline and lyrcs. The main story ended up being the guy who wants to improve his life 
by moving, but lives just the same in a radically different environment,... and is just as happy. 
Incidentally... there are no beach babes in this story. Colleen Grogan  played the drums and percussion, 
Dan McCollum added the keyboard parts. I take the blame for everything else.

BEACH TAG
Beach babes ended up being a long song; almost 5 minutes. I hacked off about a minute
and used the altered scheme for this instrumental 

DEEP FOREST JOURNEY
If you have ever walked alone alone in the wild (those deeply wooded places far from civilization 
where men rarely tread) you may have had the hair stand up on your neck and even heard little 
voices that say, "You shouldn't be here!" Guitar, cello, and string bass are the instruments.
This tune was a semi-finalist in the Song Of The Month Contest. 
Sheet music for solo guitar version of this tune available for free download HERE

BOTTOMLAND
A narrative description of the flat lowlands along the Ohio River on a muggy day.  The whole scene
 is before us, the commanding view from our high porch is unequaled.  The song is like a grown-up 
version of Robert Louis Stevenson's "Land Of Counterpane.  Keyboard parts by Dan McCollum

DRAW ME OUT
I always think of Garrison Keiller's ad for Buttermilk Biscuits ("..they give shy people the courage to 
get out and do what needs to be done...")  A prayer for the motivationally challenged.

I THINK OF HOME
A Scottish style instrumental.  I was thinking of those who had gone to sea or were otherwise far afield
and feel a longing for home.  I planned for the fiddle (played by Mike Furbee) to be prominent in 
 this song, but I could not find some of tracks when we did our mixing session at Sweetsong.
One of the downfalls of being your own recording engineer.

PORCH BLUES
An introduction to HEAR MY CRY, I meant to call this "Blues Lesson", but  forgot until after the CD
artwork was finalized. This is dad giving his (disinterested) son a lesson in the blues on the 
front porch while neighborhood life goes on around them. The father (Trevor Nicholas) and son 
(Nicholas Brown) parts were recorded separately, so the people behind the voices have never met. 
In case you must know, here is the script for the radio announcer heard in the background:
Over in Mellonburg this past weekend the local folks gathered for the annual 
"Running of the Pigs". As always the weekend begins with the ceremonial 
gathering call----- Suuuueee! (hog call). Doesn't quite have the same 
effect as "Gentlemen, start your engines", now does it? In another 
activities at the annual event, the pig meal featured ham, bacon, 
pickled pigs feet, with pork rinds on the side. For the children, 
prizes were awards in the ceremonial and highly competitive pig lips 
pull. As always, the crowning of Miss Piggy causing the crowd to squeal 
with delight. And now we begin this half hour with a little tune by 
Danny and the Fanny Flippers.....Hear My Cry. Nothing to do with pigs, 
by the way.

HEAR MY CRY
I did a back-up track and demo of this song a few years back for Aldrea Reese-Brown, 
who wrote it. It was so much fun, I asked her permission to do my own version.
Colleen Grogan on drums - Dan McCollum on keyboard.

BREEZE AT EVENTIDE
A quiet and unhurried evening gives us time to reflect. A time to unwind and meditate.
That's Julie (Cunningham) on the harp.

WINDBLOWN
Originally the introduction for So Glad, it develop into a longer piece of its own. I once saw a short 
television interview with a black gentleman who wandered the country looking for work during the 
Great Depression. His description of walking the rural plains thru the night waiting for a car to pass
and not a light in sight was enough to start this tune in my head. In recalling the painful loneliness of 
that time long ago, he wept. Thanks to Curtis Johnson for the clarinet.

SO GLAD
A hitchhiking song. For a short period of my life I did some traveling via the thumb. 
It was enough for me to get a feel for what it's like for those that have traveled long distances with 
meager resources. If there is a jaunty feeling of freedom during the day, it can fade as night  falls 
and the wind chills.  After the lyrics were pretty much set, I tried experimenting with stream-of-consciousness 
version, loosely based on the syllable rhythms. For what it's worth,  here they are: 
(think of the melody in your head)
Holy craters with moonbeam eyes - rabid beavers with hives
Blending pancakes with lizard hands - showing handguns and knives
Holding mangroves in sun white sacks - no comprhende de tat
There's conestoga wagons - there's bandelara ducats 
Windswept landers showing tight-dry skin - windburnt redness and cracks 
Chafing clothes, misfitting canvas shoes - rended hat and coat stained so black
Bolted waiters behold bow guys - agitated and dried 
Bengali stripes and bright plaid pants-pensive, tailored and white 
Wenches, waiters, and shoe shine boys - passing plates with no hands 
There's a subtle code so elementary - bones, apple cores and big teeth 
--I never said they made sense.

SOMEDAY I'LL VISIT SPAIN
The intended title was "Never Been to Spain", but it sounded a lot like the title of that 
Hoyt Axton song made famous by Three Dog Night. That's me on classical guitar.

A QUIET WALK
There remain physical monuments to remind us of family who have passed on. We are 
drawn to these decaying memorials, but they are sad all the same. I adapted the melody 
and chords from Francisco Tarrega's Mazurka in G and added lyrics. The first draft for the
 lyrics practically wrote itself after I settled on using Mazurka for the music.

After this song, let you CD play on for one minute in silence: an unlisted track will play.
(Instrumental version of SO GLAD)

TECH  NOTES for I THINK OF HOME
instruments  used:
1974 Alvarez C125 KazuoYairi classical guitar
Yamaha CD150CA classical guitar
Alvarez 5220 steel string guitar
1960 Fender Precision bass
 Yamaha RBX260 bass
 Kay acoustic upright bass (1950's)
 John Juzek cello (Hungary 1969)
 German-made cello (unlabeled, early 1900's)
 Ensoniq ZR-76 keyboard
 Roland V electronic drums
 Yamaha PSR-320 keyboard (drums on track 1)

The first basic tracks were recorded at Songs From The Garden (Marcia Clark - engineer) 
recording studio in Morgantown WV in early 2002. The basic tracks for tracks 2,8,9,15, and 19 
were classical guitar recorded with an AKG 414 microphone. The basic tracks for Beach Babes, 
Beach Tag, and  Hear My Cry were drum tracks using the Roland V electronic drums. 
Colleen played while I sang and played in her ear. Marcia Clark was the engineer. 
Keyboard overdubs by Dan McCollum on the Ensoniq were done in early 2003 on 
tracks 1,5,6,7, 9, 10, 11, 13, and 16. The fiddle overdubs for The Wind Is Up and  I Think Of Home  
were also done at Marcia's Studio. Equipment used: AKG C414 condenser mic, VLA Pro 
mic preamp, Mackie 32X8X2 recording console, Alesis ADATs.

The remaining basics, and most of the subsequent overdubs were recorded in my son Jesse's bedroom,
which he vacated last year. Most guitar overdubs, cello, bass, and the clarinet parts by Curtis Johnson 
were done there. Equipment used: Rode NT1 condenser microphone, Audio-Technica PRO 35x 
condenser microphone, Art Tube MP Studio V3 mic preamp, Alesis LX20 ADAT, Mackie 1202-VLZ pro Mixer.

A  preliminary digital edit on I Think Of Home (the song) was done by Bob Shank (Otter Slide Studio)
in Morgantown using Pro Tools.

Mixing/Mastering was done at Sweetsong Productions in Parkersburg WV by Steve Bodner. 
We fed the tracks from ADAT tape into Pro Tools in Aug-Sep of 2003 and worked from there.