Some songs were written with banjo in mind but I didn't have a banjo at the time. Some other songs turned out to be a good suit to be played on the banjo. Added bass track brings these songs to their final version. The banjo is a six string non-guitar banjo. It's strung up and tuned like a 5-string banjo in E with an extra bass string. 

For The Love Of Megan

Joe the p0zz0

James, 18, was a student at the Seattle interagency Academy.

Ballad of James

Nina has toured the world as a refugee, settling in Seattle in 2001. Originally a classical guitarist, playing weddings, funerals and rich men’s dwellings, she transitioned an octave lower to join acts like Black Cat Orchestra, Sahel and Kane Mathis, Mirah, Ensemble Sub Masa and others. But, aside two backup vocal tracks of which one was a joke that led to the other, Nina has never given her voice a serious thought in more than twenty years of her stage presence. Until now, that is. Since three years ago she has been writing poetry and making arrangements of the same for guitar, banjo and voice. Probably subconsciously inspired by the great Robin Dale Ford of Fairbanks, Alaska. Have a sneak peak:

Once in a great while one runs into a possible soulmate but the circumstances of the connection won't allow for anything more than longing and desire. To avoid the pain one must walk away even though the heart screams to go towards it.

Impossible Romance

Burned (out) Banjo

Impossible Romance (Banjo)

Bakersfield Blues

Born and raised in Newton, Kansas
By Santa Fe railroad tracks
He headed on westward
Following tracks to NW 

He dared diving under sea
Getting stuck in the mud to his waste
But always kept his head above
Nowhere near ready to rest

Born and raised in Newton, Kansas
Old fashion ran through his veins
He knelt down before his sweetheart
Holding up a ring to her face

And Jennie said, “Yes”
Where ocean touches Seabrook sands 
And so began their spring
In the midst of NW fall

But, sands or time erode
Beneath Matthew’s feet
Who saw long shadows 
Where no one stood at all
St. Joseph couldn’t help
So they went to St. Peter
Who left his gates wide open
For him to take a breather

Mathew tried to hide
But, he could only run
His eyes were running out of light
He still saw more than meets the eye

Matthew ran a relay
With his son in tow
A week was all they got together
Matthew had to go
Then, sands or time erode
Beneath Matthew’s feet
Who saw long shadows 
Where no one stood at all
Matthew tried to hide
But he could only run
So he ascended to heaven 
Before they put him underground

Mathew

The theme is 20 years old. It doesn't represent my current emotional state but writing the song did help me express the lingering feelings and promote healing. It is a bit of an overly dramatic song, but what's a barely 20-year old other than dramatic, emotionally speaking?

A Pit Stop

I listened to an interview with Don Cabana who was a prison warden and state executioner in Mississippi. I then watched a two part documentary called "An interview with an executioner" on his experience and felt strongly about it. It reinforced my feeling of lack of humanity and kindness and the appreciation for life in general within the justice system and Don Cabana is a witness of that from my perspective. One could see him as a questionable character as he is after all an executioner, participating in the justice system that is not so just as it wants to be, but he is exercising really strong critic and his view and experience is heavy to say at least. 
Interestingly it was not the execution of a presumably innocent man that struck me the most but the execution of another man who, without doubt, did commit his crime.

The Warden and his Inmate

This is a growing list of songs written after braking my silence. Silence in a sense that I've never written anything personal prior to the poems that were used for these song arrangements. This creative outlet came out bursting under pressure as a form of therapy.

Nina deWolf

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