Folk Compilation

Happy Day to All Mothers! My new Gristle cigar-box "Kat 330" guitar is featured here, whee! With its fret spacing and neck length, there are a limited number of tunes I can cover with any "panache," but this old repertory chestnut is one of them. I recorded the guitar first, continuing it on to the 3:30 mark or so. When I started fitting in the verse sections, I realized I had played six total, but Beddoe's lyrics only stretch to three plus a repeat of the first. I could have cut out two sections, but decided instead to write two new verses myself. Now, other than portraying Daisy Mae in a Lake George resort's production of "L'il Abner," I have no experience with moonshiners nor the culture of that era's area; but I know the hills here and of Appalachia are alive with the sounds of music and morel mushrooms. So hopefully I incorporated both in the 'shinin' spirit of A.F.'s lyrical intent. Layers include harmony (ending in my ™ trio to finish), tambourine (too loud when mastered, but had recorded it along with main vocal and not worth redoing all vocal layers); a banjo pluck and jug blow here and there, a brief entrance and exit of fiddle (recognize the musical allusion?); and effects of crickets, pouring liquid, a frog and a single owl hoot. I certainly had a hoot assembling the parts of this production and hope you have one when listening! xxx <-- for kisses AND the iconic markings of a moonshine jug ☼:) [John Laurence remastered this and it can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/john-poletti/copper-kettle-jl-remaster Lyrics by Beddoe (+ Martin) Get you a copper kettle Get you some copper coil Cover with new-made corn mash And never more you'll toil CHORUS: You just lay there by the juniper While the moon is bright Watch them jugs a-fillin' In the pale moonlight Build your fires of hickory Hickory or ash or oak Don't use no green or rotten wood It'll choke you by the smoke My daddy he made whiskey My granddaddy did too We ain't paid no whiskey tax Since seventeen ninety-two [Next two verses by K.A. Martin] Our cabin's in a holler Nestled by wooded hills Momma can fetch top dollar For a mess of wild morels Ol' Beaufort bows the fiddle Bobby Joe blows the jug I tap my toes and whittle As June cuts a jitterbug

July 11, 2014 The back story to creating this tale of woe -- as in how I totally backed into it -- is worth the price of admission alone. Recently I'd found myself with a long and sturdy thumbnail, rare enough given gardening, housework, etc., and took the opportunity to record a guitar part remembered from my youth. I adopted this self-taught playing style of plucking down the strings of a chord with my thumbnail when that and strumming were all I had in my teen trick bag. (A few years still until a fellow Chattertock at Brown U. showed me how to include my fingers in a rolling pick style.) For some of you I suspect it's Child's play to recognize the source tune here -- which shall remain unnamed just to see who's bothered to actually read these notes and also knows his/her traditional folk music ;) -- but I could only recall the first lines of lyrics in 209's refrain. This is not often the case with my old repertory, rarely having to look up lyrics except for a word or two here and there. I would like to say it's because they were too morbid to remain in memory, but my own version below clearly belies that as any excuse! No, I think it's that the original words didn't speak to me well enough, as is usually the case when I encounter a problem with memorization. So I thought, why not pen my own story to the mournful melody? I'd already had "Lady-in-waiting" as a working title for something else original, but those words were present day, personal to me and didn't fit the song structure. The title, however, led me to briefly looking up some background info on historical ladies-in-waiting, which led me to a glossary of heraldry terms, and so on. My imagination latched onto "mistress of the robes," "lese majesty" and "jessant-de-lis" (cf. JT's cover design), and therein this tragic tale was formed. I was tempted to write several more verses -- to expose more fully notre dame's betrayers and their plot to seize the throne -- but unlike our Mistress of the Robes here, I kept my head about me. xxxooo LADY-IN-WAITING REFRAIN: [echo] A Lady-in-waiting is her lot in life, [A Lady-in-waiting] And likely all she'll ever be, [and all she'll ever be] Longing for an end to her strife. She is eager for delivery. Whilst the Queen's loyal Mistress of the Robes She's falsely linked to treachery, A foiled plot against the throne, And stands accused of lese majesty. REFRAIN: [...] At the hands of wicked knavery. She knows not the villains who sealed her fate But for a glimpsed escutcheon Blazoned with a leopard's face As she's led to the castle dungeon. REFRAIN: [...] By the knight who bears jessant-de-lis. Three days passed of pacing her cell, Not a morsel partaken she. Her only thought was "Why, pray tell, Has my dearest Queen forsaken me?" REFRAIN: [echo] A Lady-in-waiting no more in this life, [No longer waiting] Her execution has started. [She's at the guillotine] It has come to the end of her strife. Head and soul from her heart have parted. Written, arranged, performed, recorded and produced by Kathleen Martin Cover design by JT Lindroos

Nov. 25, 2013 [recorded piecemeal amidst our alleyway cacophony] Another cover of Mother (Superior) Mitchell off her sublime "Blue" album. I make it a point never to revisit any song I cover before recording my own spin on it. This usually means I miss a lot of the original musical boat -- often lyrics as well -- but it also can help ensure a more unique version as opposed to a merely faithful cover. For e.g., I know my intro / outro dissonance sections are way off from what Joni does, but I had a lot of fun finding a variety of synthstrument sounds to layer for my take on my aural memory of it. Her lyrics here (and everywhere) resonated with me as a young girl and still do today. Even if I no longer "wreck my stockings in some jukebox dive," I still "wanna be strong" "wanna have fun" "wanna laugh along" "wanna shine like the sun" "wanna belong to the living" and "wanna be the one that you want to" hear. Warm Thanksgiving wishes to all U.S.ers! :)

Sept. 30, 2013 I always heard my cover of this Newman gem with a cello part in my head, and now I can achieve that with the Yamaha keyboard. Sort of, anyway. The blown bottle and ending organ and bass sounds are also new additions to my early rep version of harpsichord-only accompaniment. The 1970 photograph I've chosen for a visual is one I snapped as a teen of a "Brussels sprout" hard at work on a sidewalk in that city on my first backpacking trip to Europe. Our plane was diverted from Luxembourg to Brussels due to dense fog and, come to think of it, it did rain that day.

In the absence of feedback on those Dylan echoes I layered into my first cover of "Walking on a Wire," here is the Thompson song without any shades of Dylan. Contrast and compare and let me know your thoughts, thanks!

The Arsenal here: two vocal tracks, Korg piano, classical + electric guitars, melodica, and harmonica (newly added to The Arsenal after I co-opted my recent present to JT of a 3-harmonica set :) This is a cover of Richard Thompson's poignant "Walking on a Wire" interwoven with shades and echoes of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice" for sort of a she says/he says mash-up of two great songs about relationship breakdown. If you're familiar with "Wire" (from Richard and Linda Thompson's superior "Shoot Out the Lights" album), you know there's a typically prodigious guitar part and solo by Richard. (You truly MUST hear it if you have not, even though it makes my version pale to nothingness in comparison.) The acoustic guitar here is often just a slower tempo of my "Don't Think Twice" guitar part, and the electric is mainly functioning as my bass per usual. As for the original piano arrangement: After much experimentation, I found the only Korg mode to minimize any hiss noise is the harpsichord. I suspect some noise is still underlying, but the lack of legato in this mode somehow masks it best. At this point then, I'm recording all future piano tracks in that mode only. It's a shame since dynamics along with any smooth, connective phrasing so effective in many of my arrangements will be forfeited as a result. Finally, I might upload a version minus all the shades of Dylan depending on reaction and recommendations to this one, so please let me know your thoughts. Thanks!