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Two Journeys
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Tim O'Brien
Two Journeys
SUG-CD-3954
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1. Turning Around (3:33)
Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
Just before starting this recording project, I saw John Hartford's last performance, down in Dripping Springs, Texas. Nine weeks later, Randy Best and I mixed this song, breaking early to attend John's funeral at his home on the Cumberland River. In the time between, I was one of many who visited him at home and at the hospital.
Framed as it was by John's last days, this production seemed to come together under his spell. John did his part to change to world, and his influence will be felt for generations to come. An insatiable innovator, commanding entertainer, authority on traditional music, and a true friend to the music community, John Hartford defines the word hero.
When someone like John dies, there's a heightened awareness of that person and what they stand for. Their passing becomes a sad but beautiful signal to continue their life's work, to keep blazing the trail they cleared. When we respond to this signal, we nurture tradition. This atmosphere seemed to underline the meaning of this song; that we all do our part to keep the world turning around. Long live John Hartford!
Tim O'Brien: Mandola, fiddle, vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Djembe
Dirk Powell: Banjo
John Williams: Accordion
2. Mick Ryan's Lament (3:19)
Robert Emmet Dunlap (Prodigal Salmon Music / ASCAP)
The traditional melody of this song, known as "Garryowen", was George Armstrong Custer's marching at Little Big Horn. The Union army of the western plains Indian wars, like that of the Civil War before it, included many an Irish national. Another Indian fighting general, Phillip Sheridan, from County Cavan, was quoted as saying, "The only good Indian is a dead Indian". Several years ago, some Lakota women came to is home place in Cavan, where they planted a weeping willow tree as a symbol of mourning and to heal the tragedy of those wars in the late 1800s.
Tim O'Brien: Mandolin and vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Drums
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
Michael McGoldrick: Low whistle and Penny whistle
Jeff White: Harmony vocal
3. For The Fallen (3:19)
Tim O'Brien (Phillip Aaberg, Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / Big Open Music / ASCAP)
Many have asked me if I wrote this about the troubles in Northern Ireland. While it certainly applies, I actually wrote the lyric on April 3rd, 1999, about ten days after NATO planes started bombing raids on Kosovo. I was on an airplane headed to the Newgrange sessions in San Francisco. I grafted my words onto Phil Aaberg's beautiful "Cabin Waltz," which can be heard in it's original form on Newgrange (Compass Records 7-4280-7).
Tim O'Brien: Vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Drums
Michael McGoldrick: Low whistles
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill: Keyboard
4. Paddy Fahey's / Garret Barry's / The Cliffs of Moher (5:20)
PD, arrangement by Tim O'Brien & Kevin Burke (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
I'm proud to have captured Kevin Burke and Michael McGoldrick's first collaboration in this beautiful set of jigs. These words on the tunes from Kevin: "Paddy Fahey, from East Galway, has written many tunes over the last thirty or forty years which have entered the "Traditional" repertoire. He plays at a very relaxed pace and makes great use of minor keys and minor sounding modes in his compositions. Garret Barry was a blind piper from Inagh in West Clare. He died in 1900. The Cliffs of Moher are on the West Coast of Clare. They form one of Ireland's many (pick one - majestic, awe-inspiring, imposing, wet) beauty spots."
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
Michael McGoldrick: Flute
Laoise Kelly: Harp
Steven Cooney: Guitar
Tim O'Brien: Low fiddles
5. The Apple Press / The Apple Cart (3:32)
Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
These tunes were written outside a chicken coop recording studio in Fremontel, Normandy, during the recording of Red Knuckles and the Trailblazers The French Way in June of 1984. The barn on the old orchard and farm there held a big horse-drawn apple press. Fiddle in hand, I sat beside it and let the music come.
Tim O'Brien: Mandolin
Dirk Powell: Guitar
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
John Williams: Accordion
Paddy Kennan: Pipes
Kenny Malone: Djembe, tambourine
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill: Keyboard
6. Demon Lover (5:19)
P.D. Arrangement by Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
The devil likes to trap us, or at least we think he does. The American version of this song is usually called "The House Carpenter", though the devil seems to have disappeared from most versions in the USA. The male protagonist is identified as a Scotsman named James Harris by many folk scholars, suggesting that the text is based on a real event. Collector James Francis Child traced it to a London broadside, or song sheet, from 1657.
Tim O'Brien: Bouzouki, fiddle, vocal
Karan Casey: Vocal
Darrell Scott: Baritone guitar
Kenny Malone: Drums
Dennis Crouch: Bass
John Williams: Accordion and low whistle
7. The Holy Well (3:15)
Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
My beautiful wife Kit and I once spent an amazingly sweet thirty or forty minutes by a holy well near Union Hall, west Cork. Maybe it was the sunlight through the mist, maybe it was just the quiet time we'd been having together on a break from touring, but we felt a new energy during and after our visit there.
There are countless holy wells around Ireland. From the Druid times, sources of water have been respected as life giving sources of the earth's bounty. In the old days, people would leave a piece of cloth from an article of clothing as an offering, while nowadays, you'll see everything from flower bouquets to statues of the Blessed Virgin encased in upside-down soda bottles. In the Dales of England's midlands, wells are still elaborately "dressed" annually with live flower petals, much like they decorate floats at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, Ca. Some say this "dressing" is a Celtic tradition, dating from the time when the Celts were in the arid Middle East, where sources of water were held sacred. The Oracle of Delphi could also be described as a holy well.
Tim O'Brien: Bouzouki, fiddle, vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Drums
Michael McGoldrick: Low whistle
Paddy Keenan: Pipes
Maura O'Connell: Harmony vocal
8. Me And Dirk's Trip To Ireland (2:34)
Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
Miltown Malbay mood music, in this case from the late night into the daylight hours. Advice to the uninitiated: jumping into a bog is not a good idea, as Dirk Powell learned one night from first hand experience.
Tim O'Brien: Guitar, fiddle, and vocal
Darrell Scott: Banjo
Dirk Powell: Accordion and Fender Rhodes piano
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Drums
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
Background Vocals: Various bog trotters
9. The Lancer's Jib / Gusty's Frolicks (2:35)
P.D. Arrangement by Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
Learned from the playing of Johnny Doherty, the traveling fiddler from County Donegal. John Williams, on piano here, describes our version of this set as "archival", sort of like a Topic Records out-take.
Tim O'Brien: Mandolin
Nial Vallely: Concertina
John Williams: Piano
10. What Does The Deep Sea Say? (4:15)
P.D. Arrangement by Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
Bill and Charlie Monroe recorded this one in the 1930s. i suspect it came from the later 1800s. Thanks to the countless unknown and un-named writers of the great body of traditional music.
Tim O'Brien: Bouzouki, vocal
Karan Casey: Vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar
Niall Vallely: Concertina
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill: Keyboard
11. Two Journeys (Deux Voyages) (4:16)
Dirk Powell and Christine Balfa (Swinging Door Music/BMI)
Dirk Powell and Christine Balfa wrote this beautiful song in Cajun French as a tribute to Christine's father. Dewey Balfa, and to the Acadian migration. Originally from the regions of Poitou and Brittany in western France, the Acadians traveled to Nova Scotia, and eventually to southwest Louisiana, where the culture evolved to its current state. The Cajuns, as they came to be known, intermarried and assimilated people of many cultures, including the Scottish ancestors of the Balfa Family, who came to Louisiana from North Carolina in the early 1800s. Within a few generations, the lines of ancestry were obscured and a new Southern American culture had evolved. Dewey Balfa, along with brothers Will and Rodney, became known as Cajun ambassadors from the time of their first appearances on the US and international folk music circuits in the 1960s. Cajun musicians today still play some of the same tunes as their Celtic relatives in Ireland, Scotland, the US and Canada.
Husband and wife, Dirk and Christine, along with fiddler Kevin Wimmer, and Christine's cousin Courtney Granger, keep that Balfa sound going with their wonderful Cajun group, Balfa Toujours (Balfa Forever). Check out their recordings on the Rounder label. Courtney, only eighteen at the time of this recording, has clearly inherited the singing voice of his great uncle, Dewey Balfa.
Tim O'Brien: Guitar, fiddle, vocal (English)
Courtney Granger: Vocal (French)
Darrell Scott: Baritone guitar
Dirk Powell: Accordion, triangle
John Williams: Low whistle
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
Dennis Crouch: Bass
12. The Tide Flows Into Miltown (5:58)
Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
North Carolina fiddler Tommy Jarrell and County Clare piper Willy Clancy represent similar things to devotees of traditional music in the US and Ireland, respectively. Neither of these renowned musicians traveled outside their home areas all that much, but people from all over the world would journey to visit and learn from them during their lifetimes. Their hometowns of Mount Airy and Miltown Malbay have since become sights of annual music festivals.
The annual Willy Clancy School in Miltown Malbay, County Clare is a ten-day spree of classes, concerts, and most importantly, informal pub sessions. I recorded one of these sessions in Friel's pub one afternoon in the summer of 2000, and have listened to it many times. It was a quiet afternoon session, and I met many old friends and made some new ones there as well. This song attempts to portray the mood in that back room.
Tim O'Brien: Fiddle and vocal
13. Pear Tree / Muddy Roads / Ladies' Pantelettes (3:36)
P.D. Arrangement by Tim O'Brien (Howdy Skies Music / Universal Music Pub / ASCAP)
The first two tunes come from the fiddling of Gaither Carleton, from Deep Gap, North Carolina. He happened to be Doc Watson's father-in-law. I learned the third tune from Galway accordionist Mairtin O'Conner.
John Williams: Flute
Dirk Powell: Banjo
Tim O'Brien and Kevin Burke: Fiddles
14. Norwegian Wood (4:06)
John Lennon and Paul McCartney (Northern Songs Ltd)
I always wanted to know more about Lennon and McCartney's Irish background, a major port of entry for so many exiles looking for work, is one of the great foreign Irish cities. In this version of the classic song, George Harrison's sitar is replaced by whistle, fiddle, and pipes.
John Williams: Low whistle
Paddy Keenan: Pipes
Tim O'Brien: Mandolin and vocal
Darrell Scott: Guitar, harmony vocal
Dennis Crouch: Bass
Kenny Malone: Drums
Kevin Burke: Fiddle
Paul Brady: Harmony vocal
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Produced by Tim O'Brien
Recorded at Groundstar Studios in Nashville
Engineered by Randy Best and King Williams
Additional recording at The Mill in Naas, County Kildare
Engineered by Steve Cooney
Mastered at Final Stage Mastering by Randy Leroy in Nashville
Lyrics, schedule, and other info at timobrien.net
Bookings: Class Act Entertainment, 615-262-6886, classactentertainment.com
Design by Sue Meyer, suemeyerdesign.com
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Paul Brady appears courtesy of Compass Records and Abirgreen Limited
Kevin Burke and John Williams appear courtesy of Green Linnet Records
Karan Casey appears courtesy of Shanachie Records
Paddy Keenan appears courtesy of HoT Conya Records
Michael McGoldrick appears courtesy of Compass Records and Vertical Records
Triona Ni Dhomhnaill appears courtesy of Windham Hill Records
Maura O'Connell appears courtesy of Sugar Hill Records
Dirk Powell, Courtney Granger and Jeff White appear courtesy of Rounder Records
Niall Vallely appears courtesy of Beyond Records
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This recording represents an ongoing celebration of the shared heritage between the USA and Ireland. Our wold may continue to shrink, but it is still essential to view each others perspective.
Thanks to Kevin White, John Williams, Karan Casey, Dirk Powell and Darrell Scott for your contributions and support, both in the studio and on the road. Thanks also to Danny Thompson, Kenny Malone, Mark Schatz, Dennis Crouch, Maura O'Connell, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Paddy Keenan, John McCusker, Kate Rusby, Martin O'Conner, Kurt Storey, Joe Rusby, Tony Davoren and others who have toured with me since the release of The Crossing in May of 1999.
Thanks especially to Kit Swaggert for so much hard and thankless work, for being my link to the ground and for being the love of my life. Without your help, this recording would still be a dream. Thanks to Jackson and Joel O'Brien for putting up with their dad. Special thanks to Pat Higden and Universal Music Publishing, Oein O'Toole, Steve Cooney, Laoise Kelly, Mike McGoldrick, Triona Ni Dhomhnaill, Randy Best, King Williams, The Corner House in Cork, Sean and Mary O'Driscoll, Henry and Bernadette Benagh, Dermot Diamond and Altan.
Thanks also to Mike Drudge at Class Act Entertainment, Brad Hunt at WNS, Andrea Compton, Chris Wade at Adastra and Matt Greenhill at Folklore Productions, for getting the show on the road.
