"Natural Bridges"

by

Celtic Stone

All songs unless otherwise noted: Hammered Dulcimer and Vocals:David Clauss, Accoustic & Electric Guitar, Flute, Recorders, Vocals:Robyn Hilliard, Fiddle, Banjo, Bhodhran and Vocals:Simon Spalding. Guest artists, Drums:Jamal Mohammed, Bass:Buddy Mohammed, Accordion:Albert Anastasia.

Song Titles and Info: Side One

A Bunch of Ugly Polkas ()
Lifetime Journey (by Robyn Hilliard) Written for his wife, Sarah around their second anniversary in 1980...25 years later, they're still together and wondering if it's gonna 'take'.
The Yellow Rose of Tralee (Dixie, Dashing White Sergeant, Yellow Rose of Texas, [reel], ) A band from Texas has just gotta do at least one good Texas song. As can be heard in the medley, the British Isles trad tunes sound a lot like their American cousins.
Bully in the Alley. A pumping shanty from the 19th century. Simon knows thousands of'em.
Nantucket Sleighrides (by Robyn Hilliard) Robyn sat down one day to write a 'save the whales' song in the early '80's and this one arrived completed. Too bad songwriting isn't always this easy!
Scandomania (Swedish Bridal March, Norwegian Walkinig Dance, Danish tune and a Finnish Polka) Simon covered almost all of Scandinavia with this arrangement. When I get the names of all these tunes, I'll update this page so you can have them too.
Macedonian Midnight (by Simon Spalding) A wild piece of music! Jamal added some great percussion here, invoking the 'mysterious East'

Side Two:

Oh, My Dear Rose (by Richard Hoy, pub. 1971) Little known rock tune from the little known British Progressive Band "Magna Carta". Our engineer, Russ Alvey, thought we'd add a little "Aqualung"-esque touch by compressing Robyn's voice in the middle bits. It worked.
Jigoid Units ([], The Tenpenny Bit, Wild Magic by David Clauss) Celtic Stone's far-from-traditional Jig medley, that wild sound in the middle is Simon's electric violin through an envelope modifier. David's dulcimer is played through an amplifier with custom pickups made for him by the Helpinstill piano folks in Houston.
Hard Road to Shiloh (The Bright Sunny South, Rally 'Round the Flag, The Jefferson Davis Reel, The Battle of Shiloh Hill, A Hard Road to Travel). Simon loves the historic reconstruction hobby and devised this medley to synthesize the American Civil War with authentic tunes from this era. The gunshots are from muzzle-loading weapons from the era, which we got to shoot at 3:00am with the approval of the Carrollton, Texas police department (Thanks, guys!)
Galway Races (The Galway Races, [jig]) A good time, authentic Irish song about the horse races in Galway, which are accompanied by music and dance competitions, betting and gambling, eating and drinking and in generall Partying Down! all of it transcending differences in religion and culture. If only people would live their lives like this....
Pink Floyd Goes to Limerick, part 2 (The Butterfly, Scarborough Rain by David Clauss, The Butterfly,The Gathering Gloom by David Clauss, The Road to Lisdoonvarna, []). Originally an idea from Robyn, after hearing of the tune "Bach goes to Limerick," what would it sound like if Pink Floyd took up mostly accoustic instruments and played Irish Music? Natural Bridges gave us the opportunity to explore this and turned out, I think, rather nicely.

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