handholder

handholder demos - appalachian yard art

all songs are solo/acoustic.  just banjo, guitar, & mandolin.  these are the first step in the direction of a "bluegrass" project.  or at least appalachian in some sense or feel.  i use the terms bluegrass/appalachian loosely.  they mean what i want them to mean.

1. milk chocolate
2. down in the still #1
3. song for sam #2
4. the son of my father
5. when you stole my heart, you buried my soul
6. union valley
7. hell is hotter than hell (desert song)
8. the medicine is all gone
9. loser (garcia/hunter)
10. black & blue
11 & 12. wasted (years of my life) #1 & #2
13. down in the still / hoofbite
14. away from me
15. on parade, now and forever (horses come down)

these are all working titles and a lot of repeat songs. just different recordings. more crappy demos coming soon.

handholder

who wants a cassette? - from congress st., with love

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gene burgy

Gene Burgy, luthier and owner of Auburn Mandolins, in Newark, WV.  Gene has created some beautiful, great sounding instruments, so if you happen to be in the Ohio River Valley and you have a hankerin' for a nice, custom mandolin...

He's also a leading member of Union Valley and they do a mean rendition of Orange Blossom Special.

liz shaw

this one is about a local music instructor. truly keeping the music of appalachia alive.  growing up in north carolina, liz has been playing traditional clawhammer banjo and fiddle music since she was child.  this includes touring with her family as a young girl, as well as touring and collecting traditional folk songs of the region with her husband.  

liz does us all a favor by continuing the tradition as a teacher in athens, ohio. 

the medicine is all gone

songs for friends

recorded for a friend on a simple, crappy, little tape recorder.

some covers, some traditional songs

track list:

1. whatever (elliott smith)

2. friend of the devil (robert hunter/jerry garcia)

3. down here in the still

4. wayfaring stranger (traditional)

5. i know you rider

6. down in the hollow

7. when the ship comes in (bob dylan)

8. this town is empty now

9. from congress st., with love

10. dink's song (traditional)

11. it's hard to be blind (traditional)

12. the jackson hole

down in the hollow:

the jackson hole:

songs for a friend

folk songs in C

how about something with words and vocals too? it even has banjo.

no? tough.

the dead's "friend of the devil":

bob dylan's "when the ship comes in":

from congress st., with love:

i'm not sure where that last one will end up in the big scheme of things.  i feel like i'm constantly somewhat-working on multiple albums/records/whatever-you-wanna-call-em.  one of which that i am working on right now is "from congress st., with love" so it'd make sense to include that song.  but all the songs for that project were written in athens, oh over the past year or two.  i try to keep each little collection of tunes concise in some way, and all the songs for that album were written around the same time, in the same little house, with the same thoughts about the same things. primarily simple little folk songs. so i'm not sure if that song, which was not written around the same time, same place, etc., will be included on that or another project i'm working on. 

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we'll see.