Liner notes for The Day That Never Was

Here’s a track-by-track  listing of our tunes, with a little commentary!

1. February 30th

Time: 2:48

Tune composed by Leo and Sami, Chords written by Riley.

  • Leo-Mandolin
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Guitar

Leo walked into practice in early February one day, picked up a mandolin and began to play the first part of this tune. Riley and Sami were amazed, and decided that it needed an arrangement and a name! Sami quickly whipped out a B-part, and Riley did the same with some awesome chords. After a few times of playing it, the tune had evolved into what you are hearing. Enjoy!

2. Sid Baglole’s Reel

Time: 3:27

Tune composed by Sid Baglole.

  • Leo-Guitar
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Fiddle

We learned this tune at Festival of American Fiddle Tunes (a camp we go to every summer to have fun and learn tunes) outside in a Quebecois Class led by Devon Leger. He e-mailed us some information about this tune, here it is below…

“The tune is called ‘Sid Baglole’s.’  It’s from the Acadian group Barachois, but originally from fiddler Sid Baglole from Prince Edward Island.  He’s dead now, but he was an amazing and truly original fiddler in the PEI Acadian fiddle style.  This fiddling is closely linked to Cape Breton fiddle, is mainly located in the West End of the island, and has been the source of most of the great Acadian bands (Barachois, Vishten).”

3. Charlie’s Hibernation

Time: 2:46

Tune composed by Leo and Sami.

  • Leo-Fiddle
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Guitar

Again, Leo started this tune off with his A-part, Sami followed it up with a B-part and Leo then finished it off with a C-part. We called it Charlie’s Hibernation because Leo’s dog, Charlie, was lying on the couch at his house. We were instantly inspired to name the tune about Charlie. So we took his repose, and turned it into a tune!

4. Miss Lyall’s/Gravel Walk/ Hurricane

Time: 3:22

These tunes are all traditional.

  • Leo- Guitar
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Fiddle

These three tunes Sami learned in all different places, but decided that they sounded good together in a medley.

5. Smart 86/Primrose Lasses

Time: 3:17

Smart 86 was composed by Riley, Primrose Lasses is traditional.

  • Leo-Guitar
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Fiddle

Riley named this tune Smart 86 because of Agent 86 in “Get Smart.” Riley starts out with an intro that he too wrote, and then Leo and Sami come in with some harmonies and chords. The second tune, Primrose Lasses, we learned from a fabulous Cape Breton fiddler named Kimberly Fraser down at Valley of The Moon Scottish FiddleSchool in the summer of 2010. It was originally part of another set that we played at the camp, but we pulled it out and stuck it at the end of Smart 86, and it was a good fit!

6. I Will Go Smartly/Christmas Pish/ I’d Play it On The Pipes

Time: 3:20

All tunes are traditional

  • Leo-Guitar
  • Sami-Fiddle
  • Riley-Fiddle

Down at Valley Of The Moon, we learned this set from Alasdair Fraser, a very well-known and amazing Scottish fiddler. The tunes all have longer Scottish names but it would be a miracle if we could even sound them out! The third tune, I’d Play it On The Pipes sounds almost exactly like “High Road To Linton,” an old Scottish tune, but Alasdair swears it’s not, so if you are wondering if we made a typo in the name, we were wondering that too!

7. Soldier’s Wife

Time: 3:26

  • Riley-Fiddle
  • Leo-Guitar
  • Sami-Fiddle

We first heard Soldier’s Wife on “Duets Abroad,” an awesome CD by Sami’s teacher, Ruthie Dornfeld. It was written by the French guitarist Patrick Desaunay (who happens to back up Ruthie on her record – maybe we can get him on our CD next time!). It’s such a beautiful tune, we decided it would make the perfect ending note. What do you think?

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