Grey Sunny Sunday - Bates no. 4 - Gathering Echoes

Grey Sunny Sunday (mp3) (pdf)
Bates no. 4 (mp3 pt. 1) (mp3 pt. 2) (pdf score in G)
Gathering Echoes (mp3) (pdf)

Last Sunday was one of those grey winter days that are so common here in northeast Iowa. In mid-afternoon, however, the skies cleared and we had two or three hours of abundant sunshine. This week's new tune was mostly written in the morning and then fiddled with for the next few days. The photo above was taken during my afternoon walk, going up the back road entrance to Palisades Park.

I'm also continuing my William Bates project with duettino no. 4. These are always fun to play and I hope that a few readers are giving these a try.

In addition I'm presenting here a piece I've had for many years that I finally am calling "Gathering Echoes." I don't think I've recorded it before but it's been around for so many years that it might have turned up somewhere in that time. In addition to being a pretty tune (at least to my ears) it's also a nice little exercise. I usually play it in D but you can transpose it to other keys for fun.

This coming Wednesday, Feb. 8, I will be playing another solo mandolin gig at Java John's Coffee House in Decorah. This will be my twelfth consecutive month doing this and I will, as always, be playing some new music. I'll be performing solo versions of three or four more of James Oswald's 96 Airs for the Seasons along with various other pieces from the baroque era. I will also play all four of my new tunes from January 2017, some of my Postcards From the Crater pieces, some fiddle tunes and maybe a couple of jazz standards. It's only Sunday so I'm not close to finalizing the setlist yet.

I'm looking forward to joining my Contratopia band mates on Saturday (Feb. 11) at Tapestry in Minneapolis for our first contra dance of 2017. Come by if you are in the big cities next weekend.