acoustic – Page 2

Sharon Shannon | Bag of Cats

“Irish President Michael D Higgins called her ‘A National Treasure’ and after 20 of her own albums, countless DVDs, filmed concerts, musical collaborations and a career that has spanned 40 years, Sharon Shannon in 2024 is still breaking new musical ground,” (artist website).

“… Sharon continues to redefine and re-imagine the boundaries of Irish traditional music, elevating the genre through her experimental collaborations with reggae, rap and classical musicians. Her list of collaborators is as extensive as her musical repertoire. She has recorded and toured with Bono, Willie Nelson, La Bottine Souriante, Shane Mc Gowan, Nigel Kennedy, Steve Earle, Justin Adams, Johnny Depp, Linton Kwesi Johnston, The Waterboys and Dessie O’Halloran, and the RTE Symphony Orchestra, to mention just a few.

… The genre-defying star has achieved multi-platinum album sales and has had several chart topping albums, singles and DVDs in her home country. Her album Galway Girl went 4x platinum in Ireland, with the title track winning her the Meteor award two years running for the most downloaded song. She also celebrates being the youngest ever recipient of the Meteor Lifetime Achievement Award.”

MotD regular JB adds: “Irish dance tunes are often played in sets of two or three tunes, where each tune is in a different key. Because each tune is distinct, however, these mixed-key sets don’t really qualify as modulations. This tune has a very similar feel to a mixed-key set, but because it was composed as a single tune, the mods are fair game.”

Starting in D major, “Bag of Cats” (1997) by Shannon’s Big Band shifts nearly seamlessly to A minor at 1:07, A major at 2:43, then finally E major after a measure’s pause (3:47).

Dougie MacLean | Ca’ the Yowes

“Technically, Dougie MacLean is a ‘Scottish singer-songwriter.’ But that minimal moniker doesn’t tell half the tale … the Perthshire native can look back on a hugely successful recording career with more than 15 albums,” (Seven Days). “MacLean toured as a member of the rocking Scottish folk supergroup the Tannahill Weavers in the 1970s and was briefly a member of Silly Wizard, another legendary traditional band from Scotland. But his popularity was assured in the early 1980s with his solo album, Craigie Dhu. This recording contains MacLean’s ballad ‘Caledonia,’ a love song to his homeland that has become a veritable Scottish national anthem.

… MacLean sings and plays his own pretty compositions as if each song were a lullaby for a loved one, or for his own pleasure, as if he doesn’t have a care in the world. His vocals are silky and crystal-clear, his guitar work unhurried and graceful. His is not music for the cynical. If you dislike the texture and sentiment of, say, James Taylor’s ‘Sweet Baby James’ or Cindy Kallet’s ‘Working on Wings to Fly,’ MacLean’s sound may not be for you. He has a deep sentimental streak, which seems indigenous in Scotsmen who write folk songs — or folk ballads, or something more acoustic-music specific than just ‘songs.’ But to his fans, that sweetness is one of the reasons so much of his work is memorable. His recordings could also function as master classes in how to accompany a voice with acoustic guitar.”

“Ca’ the Yowes,” from 1995’s Tribute, indeed features a gentle lullaby feel, starting in C minor. At 1:59, the tonality shifts to D minor underneath an instrumental interlude. At 2:58, the tune passes back into C minor in advance of more vocal verses; the beginning of the D minor section seems more difficult to discern than its end. According to the Scottish Country Dancing Dictionary, ca’ the yowes tae the knowes means ‘drive the ewes to the knolls.’ The tune was based on a poem written by Robert Burns in 1789.

Stan Freberg | The Yellow Rose of Texas

Bandleader Mitch Miller (“follow the bouncing ball!”) scored a #1 hit with “The Yellow Rose of Texas” in 1955. Actor and comedian Stan Freberg couldn’t resist taking aim at such a plump and corny target and released his own parody version soon thereafter. Freberg wrote many such goofy song parodies, and recorded comedy albums lampooning American culture. To this writer, his crowning achievement was the “Great American Soups” commercial for Heinz, done up as a Busby Berkeley-styled extravaganza, featuring dancer Ann Miller.

In Freberg’s parody, also released in 1955, the “Yankee drummer” drowns out the rest of the band and his singing. In fact, the session drummer was Alvin Stoller, who played on Mitch Miller’s hit version. Stoller was primarily a jazz drummer, playing with many prominent artists during his career; in particular, he backed Frank Sinatra for much of the 1950s. The session banjo player also gets in on the overplaying. There is a half-step upward modulation at 0:40.

America | I Need You

“The first half of the 1970s was the heyday of introspective songwriting and close-harmony singing,” (AllMusic). “The band America lay at the commercial end of this movement, releasing a string of singles that earned radio play for years.”

“Gerry Beckley, Dewey Bunnell and Dan Peek formed the band America in 1970 when two of them were still in their late teens,” (EntertainmentFocus.com). “Their eponymously-titled debut studio album was released the following year, and they were immediately established as a highly popular and successful folk band. Their acoustic sound captures the spirit and time of the early 1970s, and their soft, soulful vocals and haunting harmonies give them an output a little similar to Simon and Garfunkel, but more rural to their urban.”

After a start in A major, a quick and compelling cycle into C major (and back) happens twice during the the chorus (0:12 and 0:26). The chorus, first heard at 0:37, is in G major. At 1:09, we’ve moved on to verse 2, where the pattern repeats. The contrast of the verses’ wistful solo vocal with the tight three-part vocal harmony of the choruses is central to the enduring appeal of this track.

Deb Talan | To the Bone

“The Weepies’ Deb Talan … has been writing songs since she was 14 years old,” (MountBakerTheatre.com). “Granted, her style has changed a bit since writing the forever-unknown song, ‘Through the Window’ about feeling numb, like life was going on somewhere out there but not accessible to her. Talan learned to play the clarinet, wrote songs on piano, and later taught herself to play guitar in college.

I Thought I Saw You, Talan’s newest album released in February 2025, maps her journey into a new life, love, longing, and letting go. The collection of lush, folk-pop gems is enriched by Iowa musicians Dan Padley on the keys and guitar and Jay Foote on the bass. Talan’s voice and writing urge the listener to lean into the whole range of feelings involved in making and accepting big life changes. Talan’s voice has been described as ‘intoxicating’ by NPR, ‘sugary and sultry’ by Paste Magazine, and ‘inimitable’ by the Boston Globe. Her songwriting, whether as half of the folk-pop duo The Weepies or as a solo artist, has earned her recognition on multiple ‘Best Of’ lists over the years and numerous placements in movies, TV shows, and commercials.”

Starting in F minor, Talan’s “To the Bone” features a lyric-dense chorus (2001) which shifts to Eb minor for the more spacious chorus (0:38) before reverting to the original key for the next verse (0:54). The pattern continues from there.

Bob Kelly | I Had You In the Night

“Bob Kelly is a composer, pianist, and music director. His EP Open Road was released on streaming services in January 2021,” (artist website). “Works of musical theatre include gilgamesh & the mosquito (with Sam Chanse); Waiting… a song cycle (with Kelly Pomeroy); Truth or Lie (with Jonathan Keebler); and the short musical film A Most Average Musical (with Talia Berger and Jonathan Keebler) … Bob is a member of the TNNY Musical Writers Lab, and his work has been supported by the National Alliance for Musical Theatre, the Yale Institute for Music Theatre, The Gallery Players, Prospect Theater Company, Leviathan Lab, NY Theatre Barn, NYU CDP Series, New Musicals Inc., and the Festival of New American Musicals in Los Angeles.

Bob was the 2013 recipient of the ASCAP Foundation Max Dreyfus Scholarship for musical theatre composition, and in 2020 he was a finalist for the Johnny Mercer Foundation’s Songwriters Project. His work as a music director includes musical theatre productions and educational programs throughout NYC and across the country.”

“I Had You In the Night,” from Kelly’s 2024 EP It Begins, It Begins, features the composer/pianist on vocals as well. After the tune is established in E minor, there are many departures from the key throughout, but with a return to the initial key each time. At 2:53, we pass into an interlude and then a vocal bridge. 3:48 brings a clear shift which leads to the tune’s conclusion — perched on a knife’s edge between B major and its relative G# minor.

Jason Robert Brown | Sanctuary

“Coming From Inside the House (A Virtual SubCulture Concert), Jason Robert Brown’s first-ever album to be released on vinyl, was originally recorded for a one-night video streaming event on April 27, 2020. The concert was originally presented as a benefit for the SubCulture staff and musicians from the Jason Robert Brown Artist-in-Residence concerts during the COVID-19 pandemic,” (Concord.com). The musical theatre composer’s lyrics show the absolute depths of the worldwide crisis, at that time still in its opening stages.

From Brown’s website: “… And so began a feverish two weeks of singing, playing, recording, mixing, and editing, all of us learning how to turn our apartments into television studios and soundstages, moving lamps, hiding laundry, shooing the dogs out of the shot, getting our kids to hold the iPhone while we played, sweating through takes because the air conditioning was too loud, getting yelled at by neighbors for playing the drums all afternoon, frantically re-recording when we had to change one song’s key after everyone had already finished, apologizing to our wives and husbands and children for being lost in GarageBand and ProTools and Final Cut sessions, culminating in the broadcast on April 27th.”

“Sanctuary” features a first section that flips between E minor and its relative major, G — tied together by a constant, insistent G ostinato throughout all sections other than the choruses. 3:21 brings a feverish bridge in G. A new chorus, introduced at first by an a cappella choral section, this time in Bb major, enters at 4:04.

Spiers + Boden | Bluey Brink

“Spiers + Boden have been at the forefront of the English traditional folk scene for 25 years both as a ground breaking duo and as founder members of folk phenomenon Bellowhead,” (Bristol Beacon). “After a seven-year hiatus to concentrate on their Universal Records-signed big band Bellowhead, Spiers + Boden returned in 2021 with the critically acclaimed album Fallow Ground and have been taking their brand of high octane, no nonsense acoustic folk song and music to packed UK venues ever since.

Spiers + Boden first rocketed onto the music scene in 2001, quickly winning a clutch of BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and went on to become one of the best loved duos on the English folk scene and beyond.”

Starting in D major, “Bluey Brink” (2024) transitions to E minor at 0:25 before the first verse starts. 2:26 – 2:36 brings an interlude in G minor, where a return to E minor drops. 4:10 brings a return to D major, with the outro mostly mirroring the intro.

Judy Collins | The Moon Is a Harsh Mistress

Judy Collins “has inspired audiences with sublime vocals, boldly vulnerable songwriting, personal life triumphs, and a firm commitment to social activism,” (JudyCollins.com). “In the 1960s, she evoked both the idealism and steely determination of a generation united against social and environmental injustices. Five decades later, her luminescent presence shines brightly as new generations bask in the glow of her iconic 55-album body of work, and heed inspiration from her spiritual discipline to thrive in the music industry for half a century.”

Collins is likely best known for her distinctive cover versions of Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” and Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clowns” and for inspiring artists including Rufus Wainwright, Shawn Colvin, Dolly Parton, Joan Baez, and Leonard Cohen (who highlighted her legacy with the 2008 album Born to the Breed: A Tribute to Judy Collins). But her versatile musicality and flawless soprano have also supported memorable performances of scores of lesser-known songs.

One example of such a song is Jimmy Webb’s “The Moon is a Harsh Mistress.” The legendary “Wichita Lineman” is likely the songwriter’s most prominent creation, but “Moon” features the same level of songcraft. Webb recalls ” … (it) became a standard without ever becoming a hit and was symbiotic of that decade of my life, my struggle, my failure, my angst, my pride and even scorn,” (Songfacts) ” … recorded by Judy Collins, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez, Linda Ronstadt, Shawn Colvin, Pat Metheny, Glen Campbell. A list of people who got it.” Starting in Bb major, the 1975 track transitions upward to Db major via a tiny yet assiduous instrumental bridge (1:41 – 1:45). Once in the new key, the gorgeous melody and haunting lyrics are at center stage.

Manfred Mann | Fox On the Run

The bluegrass standard ‘Fox On the Run’ “… (was) written by Tony Hazzard in 1968,” (Bluegrass Today) ” … Having been raised in the country on the outskirts of Liverpool as a young boy, Tony had a lot of inspiration to draw from for the imagery in the song. ‘The main source was an imagined scene, described in the chorus, of a hot summer’s day, a field of wheat sloping down to a river in the sunshine, and a blonde woman walking through the wheat field towards the river … The second source was really just the feel of the music. I was a fan of The Band in the late 60s, and their style was running through me at the time.’

… Tony played the song for British rockers Manfred Mann’s Earth Band and in 1968, ‘Fox on the Run’ became a hit song for them in the UK … In 1976, Tom T. Hall took ‘Fox On the Run’ to #9 on the US Billboard Charts and to #12 in Canada. The song went on to be recorded many more times by bluegrass and country bands all over the US. You can hardly walk past a festival jam without hearing a version of this beloved chestnut … (Tony adds) ‘I eventually realized it had become a standard, and I’m very proud of that fact; the song will remain long after I’m gone, and if people think it’s an old folk song, that’s fine by me!’”

After a start in C major, a surprising shift to Bb major hits at 0:33, ushered in by an odd time signature. At 0:57, the tune reverts to the original key. These sections alternate until 2:08, when a half-step key change to Db major unfolds and remains in effect for the balance of the tune.