Wasn’t there a sculptor once, who said that he created an image of an elephant by approaching a block of stone and chipping away everything that was not an elephant? I don’t know how that happens with granite, but I’ve tried to do something like it in this recording, with words and sound.
Simplicity, it turns out, is the hardest thing to achieve and to keep. Standing still takes more energy than a headlong rush. The greatest challenge is to speak the bare truth, so “Speak” seemed the right choice for a title. I’ve done the best I could... I recorded them with just voice and guitar, the way I play them live. Most of these songs are new ones, with a few from previous recordings that I wanted to show in a different light.
The guitar is a Larrivee OM-03. All songs were played in DADGAD tuning, except when otherwise noted. John Pierce strings.
This is my fifth CD - all the others are also available here at CDBaby. I've also recorded a duo CD with Kate McLeod. I've played live and on recordings with David Bromberg, Bohola, the David Munnelly Band, Niamh Parsons, Jim Tullio, Tom Dundee, Dennis Cahill, Michael Smith, Brooks Williams and Andrew Calhoun. I've toured in Europe, Australia, Ireland, England and Scotland as well as the U.S. I'm also a musical theater artist, most recently for two seasons as the lead in Michael Smith's "Snow Queen" in Chicago. I also teach and play the hammered dulcimer.
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