Album Notes

CD liner notes below:
1. SPINDRIFT (3:07)
(Guitar tuning DADGAD, capo 5) Guitar solo. The foam that blows across ocean beaches on a windy day is called spindrift.

2. FELICIA'S WISH
(DADGBD, capo 2) Al, with Pat Petteway, DX7 bells. For my daughter, Julie Felicia.

3. WISPERING STONES
(CGCGCE) Solo guitar. The ancient site of Stonehenge was the inspiration for this tune.

4. WOLF'S HEAD
Al, with Felicia Petteway, flute. In medieval England, "wolf's head" was the term used to describe a wanted criminal.

5. THE WEST WIND
(DADGBD) Solo guitar. A traditional Scottish melody known by many as "The South Wind."

6. DRYAD DANCE
(EADGBE, partial capo) Al, with Pat Petteway, piano. Dryads are wood nymphs that live in trees. I have a guitar built by Larry Sifel that is nicknamed, "The Dryad." I composed this tune on that instrument.

7. SONG OF JOHN (2:09)
(DADGBE) Al, with Diana McFadden, cello. This melody was written for John Sifel, a wonderful man whose passing affected me deeply, almost as if he were my own father.

8. NORTH COUNTRY MOOR
(EADGBE) Al, with Felicia Petteway, flute. For a friend who spent his childhood in England's North Country.

9. MAGIK
(DADGAD, capo 5) Solo guitar. Written for my wife, Pat.

10. THE WEDDING
(DADGAD) Al, with Diana McFadden, cello. Guitarmaker Larry Sifel and his wife Jean were married by a minister who wore a kilt and played the bagpipes.

11. FINAL PASSAGE
(CGCGCD) Solo guitar. Dedicated to Jimi Hendrix, whose creative vision is a continuing inspiration to me.

12. FETSIVAL WALTZ
(DADGBE) Al, with Akira Otsuka, mandolin.

13. A NEW DAWN
(DADGBD, capo 2) Solo guitar. Visiting a friend at a rehabilitation center in the countryside, I realized that for recovering addict, each dawn is a new dawn.

14. THE BLACKSMITH
(DADGAD) Al, with Diana McFadden, cello. From a book of English folk songs.

15. SIDH BEAG, SIDH MOR Turlough O' Carolan
(DADGBE, capo 2) Solo guitar. This Irish Gaelic title translates "small hill, big hill." Its composer, the 18th century Irish harpist Turlough O'Carolan, claimed to witnessed a battle between the inhabitants of two fairy hills. This is his first and best-loved composition.

16. MIDNIGHT RIDE
(EADGBE, capo 3) Solo guitar. I used to lover riding our horse "Dancer" through the woods. We'd blaze new trails and then follow the creek home.

17. LADY SARAH'S FANCY
(EADGBE, capo5) Al with Pat Petteway, DX7 bells. A sweet tune for my daughter Sarah.

18. ALL THROUGH THE NIGHT
(DADGAD, capo 5) Al with Diana McFadden, cello. A traditional Welsh lullaby