"The Willow" genre: Acoustic
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	A traditional Celtic tune with unique instrumentation, voices and a superb arrangement.
	MP3.com CD: Surface Tension - buy it! CD: Surface Tension Credits: Michael Earhart - Taylor 414CE and 514CE acoustic guitars, Parker Fly electric guitar, Ebow Alan Davis - keyboards Brandon Bumpas - udu, djembe, drums, iced tea Eleanor Bissell - Voices
	Story Behind the Song This is my interpretation of a traditional Celtic tune entitled 'The Willow Tree'. I first heard this tune on a cd collection of Irish and Celtic melodies for Celtic harp and fiddle. I found that cd for $1.50 in a discount cutout bin at a local record store. I've never seen a Celtic harp, but it sure sounds pretty. This song is in 3/4 time, and written in a minor key. I found the lyrics on the Internet, and it is such a sad song. Irish melodies and themes really tug at the heart strings like no others can. The juxtaposition of the minor key and a waltz time signature help support the overall feeling of heartbreak this song conveys. I wanted to learn this song for solo guitar, but I couldn't make it sound right in standard tuning, or any other tuning for that matter. The day before I went into the studio I just started turning the tuners on my guitar while attempting to play the melody. Frustration can sometimes force the creative muse. I ended up with DADGAE, low to high, and the song finally came together for me, though it is still a difficult piece for me to play. The left hand fingerings are weird and some of the right hand intervals and chord jumps are uncomfortably spaced, but nothing else I tried sounds as good. You purists out there will probably hear a 'wrong' note in the next to the last bar of each verse. Chalk it up to interpretive indulgence, because it sounds right to me. Also, the harp like arpeggios in the intro and outro are mine, as well as the chord progressions in the middle part of the song when Eleanor's voice comes in. It is different enough from the version I heard, but obviously not my composition. So, I call my interpretation 'The Willow'. The 'Willow' sessions began on August 13, just the guitars. We recorded all of the guitar parts in about 4 hours, including the middle section which was an impromptu inspiration. The Taylor is featured prominently throughout this song, but I also pulled out the Parker Fly for the Ebow at the intro of the song. I've been playing with the Ebow since late 1977, and I have a small collection of them. Anyway, when all was said and done the guitars alone occupied 11 of the 24 tracks. I took copies of the tune to Eleanor, Alan and Brandon. I asked Eleanor to attempt a vocal expression of terrible heartbreak without any lyrics; I asked Alan to arrange piano and synthesizer parts. I then asked Brandon if he would attempt percussion for the song. All agreed immediately. August 22, Eleanor arrived at the studio. We ran tape and she began to sing, ad-libbing her lines. We recorded five separate vocal tracks, intending to edit them down to one. Out of curiosity, I asked Nick to play back all five tracks simultaneously, and I got chills listening to it. We actually did do a tiny bit of editing on two of the tracks, and of course we washed it in reverb. Aside from that, there is no studio trickery on her tracks. I wish I could say the final results of her performance is what I originally envisioned. But the truth is, what we got from Eleanor far exceeded anything I imagined, and it affected everything else we did for the tune from that point forward. I hope you enjoy her part of the song as much as I do. It sounds like angels weeping. When Brandon arrived for the percussion session, he was mixing some sugar into a large styrofoam cup of tea during playback. The iced tea sounded so good we recorded him stirring it with a drum stick, and used it as sound effect for the intro to the song. One of my fondest memories of the entire recording process is watching Brandon through the glass door, stirring his tea and trying to laugh quietly. Creative recording at it's best.

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