We were talking about this arrangement the other day, I thought you might like to hear it. The song is one I learned from the singing of Cooper, Nelson and Early. Normally sung as a slow, pretty waltz, I noticed that the words scanned beautifully when played in that loopy, skipping way that I tend to play a jig. I was enjoying wandering through it in the key of F, and as luck would have it I remembered a jig in that same key that I’d learned during my time playing with Ken Perlman. The jig is called ‘Light and Airy’, one of the tunes collected from Prince Edward Island. I enjoyed the way it fell under the fingers on my flute, made even happier by how it fit with the song as it had evolved.
I enjoy singing songs as much as I do playing tunes. This kind of arrangement is a natural extension of that love. I enjoy the way the tune serves as a counterpoint to the story. I’ve put together quite a few of these over the years. Never really had much much opportunity to perform them. I did take the time to rehearse a fiddler and Irish piper through a whole evening’s worth of that kind of thing a few years ago. It was a great sound. Sadly the musicians moved on before we were able to get any of it out in front of people more than once or twice. Since then I’ve continued to work out arrangements like this, might sit down and record them one day. In the meantime I still like the way this came together.
the song –>Indian Lass–from the CD ‘letters from home’, 1997 (NHC 401)