Album Notes

"simply amazing" is a collection tunes I learned as a child along with some others I picked up along the way.

This CD is a mix of Traditional and newer Celtic tunes played on Guitar, Autoharp and the Bouzouki.

The title "simply amazing" comes from Amazing Grace with a wee twist at the end. Once a slave trader, John Newton wrote this song about his salvation. It didn’t become a “bagpipe” tune until the 1960’s. The up tempo section at the end celebrates the joy of salvation.

I wrote "A Jig for Matthew, Cooper and Mason" to celebrate 3 remarkable babies. In mid 2005 premature boys were born a month or so apart to friends. These two boys, Matthew and Cooper, had significant medical challenges in the first few months. The original jig was written to celebrate their coming home from the hospital.

In 2006 Mason entered the world and faced the same uphill fight. He came home about a week before I was to record this tune. I wrote the 3rd part to the jig that week. All three boys are now fine. This piece is my thanks to them for being strong and to their doctors and nurses for making sure they could someday hear it.

A skilled guitar player and teacher, Jeff was featured in the August 2006 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine.