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| Special thanks to Eldridge Goins for the great drum-work on this piece: we imagined Mary standing inside her cell, awaiting the guards to take her to the place of her execution, their drums drawing ever nearer and nearer, the tension mounting as the song draws to a close and the axe begins to fall ... sshhhk! |
CD: Moonflower
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Traditional; Zoe Alexander, lead vocals and guitar ; Eldridge Goins, field drums |
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| The genius of Brian McNeill just keeps surprising and delighting. Of course, he never expected a "Celtokee" to get hold of it -- thanks for the loan of your song, dear friend! |
CD: Moonflower
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Brian McNeill. Zoe Alexander, lead vocals and guitar; Laura Leom harmony vocals; James (Cedric Fithiliere) Hazlerig fiddle and mandola; Scott Boswell, flute; Tree Leom, bass drum |
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| One of the two songs I wrote that I was told were "nice, but not mainstream enough to sell." (Uh huh ...) Another one of my beloved, if infamous "dirges", I rarely do this one in my shows, but have been known to stand out on our back deck that hangs high above the oaks and pine trees spreading as far as the eye can see toward Austin, and roll it out across the Central Texas Highlands when I think no one else is around--! |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong -  buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: words Traditional; music Zoé Alexander |
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| Now my boots are at rest on the midden and I have nae a plack, and my breeks are nae dandy in front and they're worn at the back ... don't worry if you can't understand a word of this song, it took me ages to figure it out and I'm still not sure I've got it right. But it's a fun little song and it makes me feel good to sing it. |
CD: Moonflower
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Traditional. Zoe Alexander, lead vocals and guitar; Scott Boswell, flute; Tree Leom, tambourine and bass drum; James "Cedric" Hazlerig, fiddle |
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| To me this song is really about the "Piper of the Alamo," John McGregor, who died with the other heroes defending the Mission that cold March day over a century ago. Not a far stretch to imagine the "Green Hills of Bexar ... ('Bay-har')" |
CD: Moonflower
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Traditional; Zoe Alexander, lead vocals; Eldridge Goins, drums |
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| During the mix, Kevin snuck up behind me with his fiddle and mandolin when I wasn't looking and kicked it in its bluegrass ass. I was skeptical, but he said I wasn't gonna know it next time I heard it anyway, once others got their hands on it, that it just begged for mandolin and a bluegrass twang, that no one could stop it, and we were just beating them to the punch. Right, Kev! |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Zoé Alexander |
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| A true story here. Might as well change the name to the "Spoon Song," since it's one of my most-requested songs and that's what everyone calls it. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Zoé Alexander |
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| Dating from the 5th Century, translated from the Scots Gaelic, this is one of the oldest songs I do -- it certainly speaks of an older time, when musical instruments were scarce and costly, when bards, heroes and harpists ruled, and percussion was free. I hear a bodhran beating tempo, instead of a guitar, as that old rascal pirate, Kismuil/Kisimuil, sails his galley up the bleak, grey, rainy Scottish coast toward his now-ruined castle by the sea. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: traditional |
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| "It's a steep hill to climb, when there's no one there waiting, It's a long long way down, when you stand all alone. It's a hard road to travel, without a companion, to wind your way onward, a figure alone, to wind your way onward, a figure alone." |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
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| My version of this classic by Lady Carolina Nairn. I think she meant it to be played a little slower and a bit more dignified. Oh, well, she's dead now,isn't she? Someone said, "Zoé rocks!" The audience surely does when I play it. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Lady Carolina Nairn |
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| This song makes me feel so good, and I'll often start my sets with it. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Traditional |
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| When I say I sing the Celtic "Oldies," I ain't kidding. This one is so old, they say it was written by the fairies. Who's to say otherwise...? |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studioes
Credits: Traditional |
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| This song was written for the 1996 International Gathering of the MacGregor clan in Scotland and is built around the original "MacGregor's Gathering," written by Sir Walter Scott; from the true story of the MacGregors. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Zoé Alexander |
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| Robert Burns at his best. The Scots, a perverse and melancholy race, who would "fecht tae the deid" for a cause, no matter the cost, love nothing better than a "sad auld sang what brings a teardrap tae the e'e." This song has it all. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Robert Burns |
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| My "Scottish ' Torch Song '," this was the other of the two songs "not mainstream enough to sell", I took it from a poem called "The Tryst" by William Soutar. Didn't know it had already been done, the words went with a melody I had written, it was a perfect fit. |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: From The Tryst by William Soutar, Music Zoe Alexander |
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| Robert Burns strikes again with this glorious anthem! |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Robert Burns |
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| (Words and Music: Zoe Alexander) is one of those UFO's (Unexplainable Fantasy Odysseys) that I am forever taking. No story here, but we like to killed ourselves recording it. The Devil surely was delighted with that! |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Zoe Alexander |
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| My Ricky Nelson "Garden Party" song. Friend of mine told me my songs were "nice, but not mainstream enough to sell." I thought (fumed!) about that for a few days, then wrote this song. "If you gotta play a Celtic Ceilidh, I wish you a lot of luck, but if Danny Boy was all I sang ...!" |
MP3.com CD: Bardsong - buy it!
CD: Bardsong
Label: Zoetrope Studios
Credits: Zoé Alexander |
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Zoe Alexander, Bard of Glen Lyon
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