The Coast is Clear

The Coast is Clear (mp3) (pdf)

A friendly hornpipe in D from September of 2005.

Early Fall is always beautiful here in Winneshiek county (except when it's muddy). I'm pretending that the sun was shining and the trails were dry on the day I wrote this tune.

First Snow

First Snow (mp3) (pdf)

Another waltz from another January. The nineteenth day of 2004 to be exact.

I remember running through the tune with Patrice and Erik a couple of years back while we were setting up in Shepherdstown, WV but I don't think we've ever actually played it during a dance. Maybe someday...

The guitar chords are all played out of standard tuning but I let the high E and B strings ring open most of the time.

Backbone

Backbone (mp3) (pdf)

Back in June of 2005 we spent a couple of nights at a pleasant cabin in Iowa's Backbone State Park. This tune came from that visit. I probably was thinking, as I often do, of the wonderful mandolin instrumentals composed and recorded over the years by Norman and Nancy Blake. Especially the nearly perfect tunes that appeared on the LP Original Underground Music from the Mysterious South in 1983.

It's been two weeks since the last entry but it's been a busy two weeks. Lots of snow shovelling in particular. Plus a fun Contratopia dance (the Winter Stomp) in Northfield, MN last weekend. I recorded four tunes yesterday so I've got some stuff "in the (digital) can" and that should help me stay on track for at least the next couple of weeks.