Lost Summer

Lost Summer (mp3) (pdf)

I noticed earlier this week that my tune Lost Summer had yet to make an appearance in this blog. It was first printed in the Contratopia Tunebook and later recorded (around a decade ago) as the final piece on our Smitten CD as a duet between me on guitar and Pat O'Loughlin on English concertina. More recently I published the piece again in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book and it is that arrangement that I recorded this week.

I took the photo above a little while ago. It depicts Tolly, our elder cat, wondering "where did Summer 2013 go?" from the shelter of her garden/playground.

Wyandotte Woods

Wyandotte Woods (mp3) (pdf)

Wyandotte Woods State Recreation Area (known now as O'Bannon Woods State Park) is not far from my home territory in southern Indiana. I have many good memories of visits (concerts, hiking, camping) there and so I used this title back in 2000 for this duet. Having spent so much time this summer with my Deer Tracks pieces I can see now that this was a sort of precursor of the Deer Tracks to come. I published the sheet music for this in my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book a couple of years ago but I believe this is the first recording.

Speaking of Deer Tracks, thanks to the help of Steve Kaul and Pat O'Loughlin I had a very successful pair of recording sessions a few days ago at Wild Sound in Minneapolis. I think I'm pretty close to a finished CD of those pieces now. I'll be writing an update on my Kickstarter site soon and if you are interested you'll be able to learn more about the sessions there.

Spending time at a great studio like Wild Sound inspired me to take another look at my home recording setup. Today's track was recorded using the free sample version of something called Mixcraft 6 and I was very pleased with how easy it was to use. I'll try it for a few more things and then decide if I want to go ahead and pay the very reasonable price to register the software. If you are looking for something simple but with lots of features you might want to check it out.

Finally, my Blogger control panel tells me that sometime today, probably, this blog will experience page visit number 10,000. Now I know that's nothing in the world of viral video cats but I'm pleased that so many folks have spent some time over the last few years checking out these little audio tracks of mine. Thanks for listening!

August 2, 2013

August 2, 2013 (mp3) (pdf)

A hornpipe in A minor from a couple of weeks ago. I'll probably give it a real title someday. The curious push-pull effect between the guitar and the mandolin is the result of recording the melody first and then adding the guitar chords after.

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 6

Six Duettinos, Summer 2006, no. 6 (mp3) (pdf)

Taking a short break from Deer Tracks practice this morning I thought I would finally record the last of my 6 Duettinos from the summer of 2006. The recording was easy (although not perfect) but I took this opportunity to change the metronome markings on nos. 1,2,4,5,6 of the set. Then, of course, I had to go and change the score, create new pdfs of both the set and my Midwestern Mandolin Duos book and update various web pages. I think I've got those all corrected now.

The photo above is from the backyard of the ancestral home in Clarksville, Indiana, taken during the summer of 2007.

This blog will take a hiatus next weekend, interrupting my record-shattering, once-a-week string of posts that began last fall. But I expect to post something new in two weeks, just before I head to the studio to do the official Deer Tracks recordings.