Album Notes

The Taverners.
How might i describe the Taverners in a nutshell?
You would have to go back and describe the past twenty to thirty years of the Israeli Folk Music scene to gain an understanding of this amazing phenomenon that developed from world wanderers many of whom came to Israel for some sort of spiritual reasons and wound up coming down to the Tavern on Rivlin Street in Jerusalem in the late seventies and early eighties.
Names such as Pinky Ricky and Danny along with others who ran venues in town such as Tsavta and Pargod, Penny Lane and the Nevi'im Pub - there was the Galilee Grass and the Mountain Dew Band before them and there was Dave Stacy and the foxy Devils
There were David Deckelbaum Shay Tochner and Elisha Avshalom playing away at all sorts of parties and events and making general trouble about town.
Then Jonathan Miller and Paul Moore came to Israel
Jonathan playing around town in Jerusalem and Paul making his own brand of music up north on the Kibbutz.
There was the Acco festival of 1981 where they met Paul and then Jonathan meeting Paul on the corner of Jaffa STreet and King George to make the recording of the Red River Valley special on Israeli TV covering famous country songs done by famous Israeli singers.
The trip to eilat the pilgrimages to the sacred scrotum trees - dannying by the pool and the amazing gigs down there not to mention new years eve being presented with a bill larger than our fee a la blues brothers

The Tavernmen were almost a secret society with their own languages and symbols and they played their asses off all over israel and once even in turkey -
The Taverners (Jerusalem Taverners) were the face of american roots music to the Israeli public playing at weddings bar mitzvas and funerals (with payment in advance)
and generally having fun and spreading goodwill (and a few particular diseases)
There was Morag and Conn, Mencher and Ruby Harris and of course Dave Gould who left us all in 1995 so we could never really do it again the same without good old dave
but paul is still at it over in Israel and Shay and Elisha have an Irish Band Ruby Harris is playing blues in Chicago with the big boys Jonathan is in Joisey making music as always Deckelbaum is still filling holes up in Montreal and basically we are only one airplane ticket away from the next reunion and if you have read this far you are a better person than I

In the Spring of 1990 we all gathered in the studio with a few bottles and some other unmentionable substances and undertook a 12 hour marathon live to DAT session and this is the result
WE released it IN CASSETTE FORM (remember that???)
back then and sold quite a few copies

Since then the time has flown by and cassettes are not standing up to the test of time so I say to myself hear now lets get this bloody thing out so I go to my friend ed who remastered it quite well and as people have been inquiring about good material here it is

The classic all nighter session
A slice of history

Shay Tochner on guitar and he has been the backbone of the band all those years (more than 20 of them!!)

Jonathan Miller on violin mandolin clarinet
(I am currently touring with the new Cirque Du Soleil show, CORTEO)

Paul Moore on his classic washboard setup with cowbell ukulele cymbals and other sordid surprises

david deckelbaum dds and his son ron on excellent banjo playing on sweet georgia yom shishi the israeli rock classsic and foggy mountain and rockytop

and the saint
mr dave gould lord rest his soul
we miss him every single day and one of these days a website will be set up with a special part dedicated to him with some of his quotes and peculiarities

the taverners

pour a shot of whiskey grab a beer and enjoy yourself

jonathan miller
dumont new jersey
december 2004