as if song and prayer

were paths life would follow back

to land Linda Hogan
My most profound musical memories are of playing in large ensembles and I was lucky
to have been able to sing Vivaldis Gloria in high school. Privileged to have played
through a Beethovens third Symphony later that same year. Reflecting upon this, the fact
that all of my previous recording projects have included various musical groupings is not
surprising. They might be seen as attempts to recreate those profound musical
experiences that happen in an ensemble setting.
Old Wood New Seeds is my first project that presents only guitar solos. It started with
re-imagining a renaissance piece, a joyous bouncy work that ended far too quickly, a
work that one would play five times in a row at background music gigs. My challenge
was to compose something in the same style that lasted four minutes rather than forty
seconds. A couple of weeks later I carried my dog down to my studio after his second
bout of canine vestibular syndrome. As always, he lay beside my practice chair and as I
picked up my guitar I thought about how the vigour and devotion with which he lived had
been tamed. I thought about his end being near and a sad pavin came out through my
hands. Certain musical feelings are best expressed in the solo realm.
A few months later I was reminded of the exhilarating music of Kolinda, a Euro-folk
group popular in France during the 70s and 80s. Finding a song they had arranged, I
asked myself to recast it expressing the many hours of pleasure remembered. This was
fun, but wound up taking over a year to find the way to capture those sentiments. The
work grew to include another when I found a prayer from the same fakebook that was in
a mode similar to double hijaz. I have toyed with that mode for a couple of decades and it
is in several of my pieces. I found that these two works needed one to close out the suite
and I set about composing a fast Bulgarian style dance piece like one I had commissioned
for violin and guitar.
I have composed several pieces in altered tunings on my steel string guitar. That
instrument allows for retuning whereas the classical will tend to be out of tune for a week
when altered extensively. I found a capo that would fit over three strings only which
allowed me to compose in the equivalent of DADGAD - one the most popular altered
tunings. Fooling around with my new toy, I started thinking about Aaron Copelands
Hoe-Down from the ballet Rodeo. This was a work that brought popular feelings into art
music. It reflected a desire prevalent at the time to blend the two disparate worlds of high
and low culture. Our current world needs much the same kind of creation in the arts and
with this in mind Appalachian Blue was created. During the same week I received some
bad news about a loved one, and my fingers stumbled through the first notes of
Appalachian Green as if they were trying to hold and heal. I continued to compose two
more works to complete that suite each one mirroring the feelings in Appalachian Blue
and Green.
This project is about looking back and forward. The older aged wood of my guitar also
contains a dream for a future.

Nasrudin, said the Sultan, I have the perfect task for a fool. Find me who the ten
most foolish people in my kingdom. Have no fear of anything for I want the truth. I want
you to get to it immediately, what do you need to do it?
Nasrudin considered carefully and replied: To hear is to obey, most honourable Sultan!
I need a bucket, and a week. The bucket was brought in and Nasrudin took it to the fruit
market in the middle of town where he filled it with water and sat down. He took out his
fishing line, which he dropped into the bucket.
Three days later an impatient Sultan came to the market to ask about the project and
found Nasrudin fishing in a bucket. Hmm said the monarch, how many did you
catch?
Until now my honourable Sultan I have caught nine, but now my job is over!