Standing Sun Fanfare
trumpet, tenor guitar, acoustic guitar
a tune to herald the summer turning of the year
The Moon In A Bottle
dulcitone, mandolin, acoustic guitar, violin, cello, trumpet
named after a Max Ernst painting
Red Bank
zither, acoustic guitar, chimes
a crumbling earth embankment along a quiet stretch of the river Wye below Holme Lacy in Herefordshire. Largely inaccessible now, unless you know the old paths;this track is for Jan, who does
Roads Of The Sky
mandolin, acoustic guitar, cornet
inspired by the surprisingly delicate tracery of aircraft vapour trails, and named after a line in Sandy Denny’s song “The Sea Captain”
Sprig
mandolin, acoustic guitar, chimes
a pocket-sized tune, in honour of Bernard Edwards and his collection of rosemary sprigs
Brute Angels
acoustic guitar, zither, rotary-valve tenor horn, bowed psaltery, tenor guitar, euphonium
named after the stone-carvings in Llanbedr and Partrishow churches in the Black Mountains, Wales, which were made by members of the Brute family of stonemasons in the eighteenth century. See also Pascal: “man is neither angel nor brute, and the unfortunate thing is he who would act the angel acts the brute”
Flowers Barrow & Worbarrow Tout
bouzouki, cornet, acoustic guitar
from the promontory of Worbarrow Tout, west of the abandoned village of Tyneham, an uphill scramble takes you from the crash of the waves and bluster of the wind into the silence of the Iron Age haven of Flowers Barrow. A favourite spot
An Acre Of Watery Light
zither, chimes, acoustic guitar
the title is a line from Michael Longley’s poem “In Memory Of Gerald Dillon”. Here it refers to the inescapable rush of excitement as you travel towards the coast and the sky opens out at last
The Hare At Daggers Gate
acoustic guitar, mandolin, cornet
an isolated Dorset crossroads with a lot of history: a murdered farmer, a witch’s grave, illicit meetings between Llewelyn Powys and Gamel Woolsey, smuggling activities both real and from Thomas Hardy’s imagination, and all in a stone’s throw from Bertrand Russell’s inter-war love nest
The Bronze Sounding
harmonium, mandolin, acoustic guitar, cornet
named after the Gloucestershire poet-composer Ivor Gurney’s synaesthetic poem about autumn, clanging its “gong of colour” over the Cotswold hills
The Eye On The Hill
lyre-harp, bowed psaltery, acoustic guitar, violin, dulcitone
the travel writer H. V. Morton’s phrase for the Clifton observatory in Bristol
A Magic Of Strange Welcome
tenor guitar, acoustic guitar, flugelhorn
the title is from Edward Thomas’s poem “Good-night”. With thanks to Tim Graham and the other Pedal Folk for inviting us to Steep in Hampshire, where Thomas lived
Wingmore
dulcitone, acoustic guitar, hammered dulcimer
the house where Pete’s mum lived on the North Kent coast, though the house-name has long been abandoned. Trains and oystercatchers
Shadows On The Chalk Hills
mandolin, acoustic guitar, cornet
glimpses of the past; fragments of the forgotten; flickers of lives lived before
Gurney’s Oak
nylon-string guitar, mandolin, acoustic guitar, rotary-valve tenor horn
a little elegy for a lost poet and a lost place. Gurney’s Oak was once a pub, now a private house, on the English-Welsh border. Ivor Gurney played the ‘baryton’ (a kind of bass cornet) in the 2nd/5th Battalion Gloucester Regimental Band, which inspired the use of the rotary-valve tenor-horn (in some countries apparently called a ‘baritone horn’) in this tune
Penda’s Fen
acoustic guitar, hammered dulcimer, piano
a piece written whilst pondering the 1974 BBC Play For Today of the same name: a visionary pulling-apart of conservatism / patriotism, Christianity, the family, & heterosexuality, through the coming-of-age of a vicar’s son who meets Edward Elgar, angels and King Penda in the Worcestershire countryside
Winchester Geese
piano, tenor guitar, acoustic guitar, violin
inspired by the unconsecrated Crossbones graveyard in Southwark where the bodies of an estimated 15,000 medieval prostitutes are believed to be buried. Coming under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Winchester, they were known locally as Winchester Geese
Gospel Pass
mandolin, dulcitone, acoustic guitar, miniature harp, lyre-harp, violin, cello
in memory of Annie Cusack. Named after the watershed point of the road between Llanthony and Hay-On-Wye,the highest road pass in Wales, a heart-stopping threshold place
