Album Notes

"Danielle's tender, touching singing would charm any ear anywhere" - Lee Haring

1.Ten Thousand Miles – (trad. English). An 18th Century folk ballad in which a lover bids farewell before setting off on a long journey.
2.A Kiss – (D. Ballantine). Sometimes the memory of a kiss is all you need to find your way home.
3.Oranges in Bloom – (trad. English). A popular tune from Bampton in Oxfordshire that was originally a Morris dancing jig.
4.John Riley – (trad. English). This theme of the disguised true lover has long been a traditional one in folk ballads. I chose it because I’m partial to happy endings.
5.Never Arrived – (D. Ballantine). A harp solo written whilst I was waiting for some other music to arrive from a friend...it did actually arrive, but very late!
6.I Wonder what is Keeping my True Love This Night – (trad. Irish). This version is inspired by Kate Rusby, and captures the pain of waiting for a lover who will never return.
7.Planxty Eleanor Plunkett/ Follow me up to Carlow – (trad. Irish). This planxty is one of the most popular and widely played airs by the famous Irish harper-composer Turlough O'Carolan (1670-1738). It was written in praise of Eleanor Plunkett who is said to have been the only survivor when the rest of her family was reputedly killed in their castle. Follow Me up to Carlow is an instrumental version of the traditional Irish song which celebrates the defeat of 3,000 English soldiers at the battle of Glenmalure in 1580.
8.Never Trust a Maid – (D. Ballantine). This song was written after a folk night in London where everybody was singing songs warning young ladies to watch out for rogue gentlemen; I wanted to turn things around, so watch out fellas!
9.Huntingtone Castle – (trad. Scottish). A beautiful and very popular Scottish traditional tune, first published in the John Bowie Collection 1789.
10.She Moved Through the Fair – (trad. Irish). This beautiful love song was first collected in Donegal, Ireland and was published in 1909.
11.Iona – (D. Ballantine). A harp solo based on the Ionian mode.
12.Wild Mountain Thyme – (trad. Scottish). I think of this as ‘our’ song, since Nick and I wandered among the heather together on a sunshiny day last summer.
13.Wandering – (D. Ballantine). A harp solo inspired by my travels and wandering spirit.
14.Botany Bay – (trad. English). An old transportation ballad; many English, Irish and Scottish people were sent to Botany Bay, which was originally a penal colony in Australia.