"…William Pint and Felicia Dale elevate the humble sea chanty to unexpected heights."**
Settled in Seattle for now!
Some folks have been wondering just when we will be returning to the east coast, or the west coast or the mid west or The United Kingdom.
For the last year or so, we've been staying close to Seattle in order to help care for Felicia's mother, Annette, and see her through her last days.
Annette passed away in August, at home, peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.
At the moment we are taking care of many family details.
We are also returning to the recording studio to make up for the long gap since our last recording.
We are looking forward to seeing many of our far-flung friends in 2012 with some new music.
Being full time folk musicians you can rest assured that we often find ourselves with far more music in our hearts than dollars in our wallet. It has been pointed out that some people out there are in just the opposite situation. If anyone feels moved to make a financial donation to help us continue making this music, that donation, be it large or small, will be gratefully accepted.
Simply click the donation jar picture on the left to take you to a PayPal donation form.
We're very pleased to have had Go From My Window from The Set of the Sail selected for inclusion in America's number one Folk and World Music magazine Dirty Linen's special sampler CD alongside such wonderful musical dignitaries as Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Blowzabella, and The Battlefield Band to name but a few. We're pleased to be in such good company.
They were kind enough to provide us with yet another lovely quote:
"…William Pint and Felicia Dale elevate the humble sea chanty to unexpected heights."
The CDs are being sent to all Dirty Linen Subscribers.
We were oddly pleased to get an invitation from the decidedly insane poet Les Barker to record a version of Sensodyne, his parody of the classic traditional song, Reynardine for his new Mrs Ackroyd Band CD, Dark Side of the Mongrel. We're in very good company there including such folk legends as June Tabor, Jez Lowe, John Tams, Coope, Boyes & Simpson, Australia's Cloudstreet and Artisan's Hilary Spencer. You can find more than you probably need to know about Les and his poetry at: http://www.mrsackroyd.com/
A New Pirate CD -- for a great cause
Pirates for the Preservation of New Orleans Music (PPNOM.org) and ModernBard.org are pleased to announce the release of the first of a two CD release, Lafitte's Return - Volume 1.
Lafitte's Return is a who's who of the top names in pirate and maritime entertainment including yours truly (playing High Barbaree), Skip Henderson & the Starboard Watch, the Pyrates Royale, Tom Lewis and many others who volunteered their music to this project.
The proceeds from this CD benefit the New Orleans school music programs. PPNOM is dedicated to replacing the musical instruments destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, especially now when spending on New Orleans music programs is at an all time low. By purchasing Lafitte's Return for yourself (or as a gift for that pirate lover in your life) you are helping the pirate community ensure that the musical soul of New Orleans lives on for generations to come.
With the largest gathering of seadogs since Morgan sacked Panama, Lafitte's Return (along with its soon to be released companion album) covers a wide range of styles from traditional shanties, to pirate ska and pirate metal.
There is something for everyone on this CD.
My Space
We now have a page on MySpace.com -- with a few mp3 song files. Check it out by clicking here . You will find sample mp3 songs, pictures, a blog, calendar of upcoming gigs, links to many of our musical friends, and comments from listeners.
Folkworks Article
Check out this article about us and our music in the Southern California Folk publication FolkWorks written by Audrey Coleman. Click Here!
A new way to order CDs
We have signed up with PayPal, a safe and easy way
to purchase items online. With Paypal you can also send money
to anyone with an e mail address.
Click here to go to our PayPal
Ordering Page
In Print! Click
here to read about Felicia's published short stories and
a major novel featuring quotes from many of our songs.
What is that strange instrument?
Since you asked - The unusual (some might say bizarre)
device Felicia plays is a hurdy-gurdy --an instrument
that dates back to at least the 12th Century. It may sound a
bit like the bagpipes but is actually a type of mechanical violin.
The crank on the end rotates a wooden wheel which causes the
strings to vibrate. Keys press the melody strings to sound different
notes while other strings play drone notes. Controversy remains
over it today. Was it developed first for music or as an instrument
of torture? Follow the links on our Folk Friends
page and learn more about these mysterious music makers.
Check out our upcoming performance
calendar -- we may be coming to the proverbial theater (festival,folk
club) near you.
Lyrics to all our recordings can still be found by
following the “Recordings”links.
If you would like ALL the lyrics in one text file sent to you
- please drop us a line via e mail and we will send it along.
If you are looking for the words to a particular song, try following
this new link to our “list
of recorded songs.”
