Album Notes

"Jacquerie" is a compilation of new songs and remixed versions of selections from two out of print discs—"Trepanning" (2008) and "Before the Second Rooster" (2009).

Of "Trepanning," Boston’s music monthly, The Noise, says: "Ed Morneau...has created a passionate album of concern and critique. These are phenomenal and plaintive tunes of love and war that press a thumb … into the eye of the current [Bush] administration and other dissolute modern media swine. No breezy, light-weight stuff here, although many of the arrangements are acoustic-pop-jazzy, with fine harmonies and textures…Great musicianship from his collective [Folksonomy] adds further sensitivity to his impeccable guitar playing. Think lyrical John Lennon, Ray Davies, or Nick Drake channeling the musicality of Brian Wilson or Leo Kottke, with an acerbic-but-muted Andy Partridge… This is a magnificent album of deep reflection and purpose."

Sal Baglio of The Stompers (“Never Tell an Angel That Your Heart’s on Fire,” “East Side Girl”)—“'Before the Second Rooster' is a masterpiece!"

Two songs from these CD’s featured on "Jacquerie" have been honored in songwriting competitions: “When the Birds Stopped Singing,” Semi-Finalist, UK International Songwriting Competition (2008); “Back Where the Soldier Fell,” HM, John Lennon Songwriting Competition (2008).

Jacquerie collects both works into a cohesive lyrical history of America over the last decade. Drawing from the traditions of folk protest and using blues, pop, avant garde, and hard to classify beds of sound, Morneau’s music may temper the hard dissent of his lyrics but only for the purpose of reflection.

Jacquerie is taken from the French. The “Jacques” were the names given to the French revolutionaries in the 16th Century and figured even more prominently during the French Revolution.

Ed Morneau has been a public high school English and film studies teacher for many years in the Boston area. His song “Read to Me” is used by several organizations and school districts to promote early childhood literacy and can be seen on YouTube (as well as his locally popular “Godfather’s Christmas Song”). He has composed hundred of songs, most of them light-hearted. His foray into political despair and dissent surprises him. He calls "Jacquerie" a catharsis.