Reminds me of Elliot Smith. Very nice. 👌

Grayling Motion

A Wisconsin anthem...sort of....
Are you addicted to cheese curds? Crave whitefish livers and a cold Leinie's? Spend hours sitting on a bucket, ice fishing at twenty below zero, but release all the fish cause you'd rather have a burger?
Another single from the upcoming Penelope's Thrill album, "Twilight on Tunnel Road," due out on April 26, 2021. 
Main guitars on this are a Vintage Modified Strat playing the fast-picking melodic riff and my '66 Guild Starfire XII filling things out and playing the lead. They are joined by my Gretsch 5622T and '78 Guild S-60.

“Clockwork Clouds”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh

Nothing I say gives you a clue.
You just want me singing the blues.
But I don’t know how to choose—
too many things jostling my mind like leaves in the wind.

And this corn looks so fine, but I’m losing my mind,
living out here in the countryside
with these cows and this corn—
never forlorn—some say it’s paradise
and I guess that’s maybe true but….

CHORUS: Take me through the skies
above the world we know,
looking at these clockwork clouds from so far below.
Take me past the stars, somewhere far away.
Looking at these clockwork clouds for so many days.

Tell me again, why am I here?
Looking at clouds in the stratosphere.
I don’t feel so alone cause I’ve got this here phone,
the Packers on the tele, a sixpack on ice.

When I’m walking the fields calculating the yields,
the clouds are floating by like cottony shields.
There’s manure and milk, soybeans and corn silk,
Bears fans down in Janesville but I don’t mix with that ilk, so….

CHORUS

Wisconsin’s my home so I’m never alone.
There’s cows and curds and cheese and birds
and whitetails in the woods.
And there’s wolves and black bears,
our meatpackers shares,
the green of spring and gold of fall really tell it all.

We harvest ginseng roots, trim Christmas tree shoots,
grow fine leaf tobacco for your big cheroots.
Red tail on the wing, it just makes you sing.
Turkey vultures circling like angels in the sky.

And there’s cows and there’s corn, whitefish livers and porn,
Northwoods hair salons where no one lives but the trees.
And there’s trout streams and hills, Lake Superior’s thrills—
ice fishing in winter, sitting on a bucket in the wind.

Words & music by Timothy Walsh
Timothy Walsh: Vocals, guitars, bass
Recorded and mixed by Timothy Walsh at Yew Tree Studios
(that is, a tiny upstairs room in my house nestled amid century-old yew trees)
©2021 by Timothy Walsh. This recording ©2021 Timothy Walsh
All rights reserved.

Twilight on Tunnel Road

Clockwork Clouds

Download

Harmony Path EP

THE PEACE ACCORD - Range Life

Here is the title track from the debut album from Penelope's Thrill, just released on Bandcamp (and Spotify, etc.). This album has been a labor of love, recorded and mixed over the past lockdown year in my tiny home studio (Yew Tree Studios).
You can find the complete 18-track album now on Bandcamp:
https://penelopesthrill.bandcamp.com/album/twilight-on-tunnel-road

The inspiration for the album actually came from the accidental necessities of the pandemic: On my regular trips down to my 88-year-old mother, who lives about an hour south of Madison, to bring groceries and supplies, I'd always drive home on the winding backroads, usually hitting Tunnel Road at sunset (see album photo). That route is now engraved on my mind: Marshall Bluff Road to Exeter Crossing Road, to Tunnel Road to Argue Road. This route roughly follows the very edge of the "Driftless" Region of Wisconsin, that is the area that was not covered by the glaciers during the last Ice Age 10,000 years ago. So along this route there are all sorts of rock outcroppings, drumlins, and other glacial artifacts, and you can often see the actual line where the glacier stopped. The area has a charged spiritual feeling, especially at twilight--a "thin place," as the Irish would say.
Anyway, week after week, month after month, the songs came to me as I drove back along this stretch and imagined the lives of Lonnie and Chloe (the focus of the album). I even picked out the exact farms where they lived....

For more about the album, including dozens of stunning photos of the region, check out the new Penelope's Thrill website, just launched in concert with the album:
https://www.penelopesthrill.com/

Main guitars on this track are a Gretsch 5422T with a custom made solid brass bridge (which gives it a pretty unique tone) and a Gretsch 5622T (hitting the Bigsby).
LYRICS:
“Twilight on Tunnel Road”	
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh

She was walking just to clear her head one night—
the sun was setting in the west.
She felt something in her soul was just not right.
She kept on walking on a quest.

She was walking and she…she was breathing and she…
looked at the sky, it was aflame.

Took her shoes off and walked barefoot through the grass.
The air it tasted like champagne.
Felt the wind run its fingers through her hair.
She wasn’t felling any pain.

She was walking and she…she was breathing and she…
realized she’d never be the same.

Walking out in twilight on Tunnel Road—
she don’t know it, but she’s walking into dreamtime 
in the night.
Walking out in twilight on Tunnel Road—
She can’t see it, but she’s walking toward the light.

She smells something that smells just like gingerbread.
She tastes nutmeg on her tongue.
It reminds her of the Christmasses she’s fled,
the innocence when she was young.

She was running and she…she was thinking and she…
never realized her name.

She was walking and she…she was breathing and she…
she knew that darkness was her name.

Twilight On Tunnel Road

Can you plumb the secrets of the universe through a guitar string? Channel the electromagnetism of guitar pickups to heighten your senses? Lonnie thinks you can! Every time he picks up that red guitar, gets those P90 pickups screaming through an overdriven amp, tubes glowing like coals, he knows he's there.... This song is Lonnie's anthem.
Another track from the "Twilight on Tunnel Road" album. On the album, it is preceded by the short instrumental "Lonnie Interlude," which presents Lonnie's more introspective side.
All guitar tracks are played on a Gretsch 2622TG with P90 pickups...and, yes, it is red (see photo of actual guitar).

For more about the album, including dozens of stunning photos of the region, check out the new Penelope's Thrill website, just launched in concert with the album:
www.penelopesthrill.com/

You can find the complete 18-track album now on Bandcamp:
penelopesthrill.bandcamp.com/album/twil…unnel-road

Vocals, guitars, bass: Timothy Walsh
Words and music by Timothy Walsh
Recorded and mixed by Timothy Walsh at Yew Tree Studios (that is, a small upstairs room in my house nestled amid century-old yew trees)
©2021 Timothy Walsh All rights reserved

LYRICS:
“Lonnie’s Red Guitar”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh

He don’t ever smile—just does his thing.
Smells just like oil—the sweet, sweet smell of gasoline.
When he’s working on cars, he loves the engine’s purr.
And when he’s playing guitar, he travels up beyond the stars.

He don’t ever say the secrets he knows.
He goes walking out at noontime where the river flows.
And they whisper all about him, and they think that they know,
and they go, “Say hey, Lonnie, how’d you learn to play that guitar?”

Chorus: Go, Lonnie, go! Play that red guitar.
Go, Lonnie, go! Burning like a shooting star.

He’s at home with the night—the moon tangled in the trees.
Like an owl in flight, he rides the wind on silent wings.
Dreams of liquid chords—his soul’s vibrating strings.
Flesh is so hot-wired, his fingertips tap sacred springs.

When he’s playing lead his mind’s all aglow—
sees the flickers of the future flash in stereo,
and they’re cheering all around him and they think that they know,
and they go….

Chorus

When he’s sleeping his guitar’s by his side.
His six-string dreams are always amplified.
With his fingers on the fretboard, she seems like his bride…
and they go…

Chorus

Lonnie's Red Guitar

A short instrumental interlude specifically composed to lead into "Lonnie's Red Guitar" on the "Twilight on Tunnel Road" album. It introduces Lonnie's more introspective side. From the album notes: "Not particularly talkative, Lonnie can speak volumes through his guitar. Walking along Tunnel Road at dusk, he hears intimations in the sky that he'll later coax from his guitar...."

Played on a Gretsch 2622TG with P90 pickups.
For more about the album, including dozens of stunning photos of the region, check out the new Penelope's Thrill website, just launched in concert with the album:
www.penelopesthrill.com/

You can find the complete 18-track album now on Bandcamp:
penelopesthrill.bandcamp.com/album/twil…unnel-road

Vocals, guitars, bass: Timothy Walsh
Music by Timothy Walsh
Recorded and mixed by Timothy Walsh at Yew Tree Studios (that is, a small upstairs room in my house nestled amid century-old yew trees)
©2021 Timothy Walsh All rights reserved

Lonnie Interlude

This story is short,
is there more I can add?
Raise him up from the grave,
we'll all get chilblains.
'God', written shorthand,
I say's a smudge on the page,
we'll all get chilblains. 
Been dead, comes back.
Look, it's tough giving odds on when.
But our boy appeared to the woman,
if God said he did.
Ok!
They swore he performed,
yet was mortal as man.
Raises much to debate,
we'll all get chilblains.
He walked on water but can't,
save himself from his fate.
We'll all get chilblains.
Killed then, comes back,
he's, 'the first born of the dead'.
Guess carpentry weren't his only extraordinary gift.
We're saved!
This story is short,
is there more I can add?
Raise him up from the grave,
we'll all get chilblains.
He walked on water but can't,
save himself from his fate.
We'll all get chilblains.

Chilblains

Bandcamp

Waves Cannot Be Cushed Into (part 1)

Stream on Spotify/Apple Music: https://ffm.to/callumpitt-mayfly

Lyrics:
'Cause I am a black dog howling at the moon,
A long winter in a cocoon, 
A dying man in a living room, and I know it well

Can I be more than a deer in the road?
Same clothes, same postcode, 
I don’t deserve the love that I am shown, 
But someday I will

'Cause I, I need time, so I can be, who you need me to be, so hold out please

I am the river, you’re the mayflies falling, 
It covers all like a pink sky morning, 
You’re shouting out into a vacuum miles away

Love towers above me like a tidal wave,
Reminder of the friends we couldn’t save,
So comes the day of reckoning like a parade

'Cause I, I need time, so I can be, who you need me to be
I, I need time

Mayfly

Hey fellow SoundClouders!
I wrote this song last year at Christmas with my brain addled with egg nog and sugar plum fairies. Finally recorded it to get it out there for this Christmas.
Guitars on this song are a Gretsch 2622TG with P90s, a vintage modified Stratocaster, and a classic 60s Telecaster...plus sleigh bells, of course.
LYRICS:
"Christmas on the Moon"
words & music by Timothy Walsh

Try to take a picture in your heart and file it away.
Try to take a picture I don’t know any other way
to keep your smile in my heart and savor it all day
until we meet in winter’s dark and light each other’s way.

Too many miles separate us in the snow. It’s almost Christmas Day.
Too many smiles lost to Time’s uncertain ways. Will you come away?

Can we be a mixture of two souls and mingle in the night?
Can we be a fixture in the dark always burning bright?
Cast no shadow, cast no light—there is no other way
to banish darkness so we might enjoy this Christmas Day.

You stand there looking through the curtains at the moon
as if your home was really there.
You say you wonder if there’s Christmas on the moon,
and if it radiates from there?

Now we venture out into the winter dark to catch a glimpse of Santa’s sleigh,
feed his reindeer, make a wish upon a star that he can find his way.

Now we pin the stockings to the hearth, wrap presents for the tree,
fill our glasses with red wine, watch the fire flickering—
children sleeping lost in dreams in the bedroom dark
longing for the morning light when Christmas Day can start.

You look so beautiful in winter’s snowy light in our bedroom on the moon.
Can we linger here and savor our delight with winter coming soon?

Let’s have Christmas on the moon, can’t you see the morning light?
Rub the sleep from tired eyes, wake to a world of white.

Words & music by Timothy Walsh
Timothy Walsh: Vocals, guitars, bass, sleigh bells
Recorded and mixed by Timothy Walsh at Yew Tree Studios
(that is, a tiny upstairs room in my house nestled amid century-old yew trees)
©2022 by Timothy Walsh. This recording ©2022 Timothy Walsh
All rights reserved.

Christmas on the Moon

Christmas On The Moon

I've been away from SoundCloud for a while working on my new album and several writing projects, but the album's nearly done, so I thought I'd emerge from my cocoon and post this song, which means a lot to me. It features my good friend Akmaral Zykayeva on violin. For the past ten years, I've been doing a lot of consulting work in Kazakhstan. I met Akmaral in Almaty, Kazakhstan about six years ago. She is a hugely gifted composer, singer, and violinist who records as "Akmaral Mergen" and also as "Mergen" (Mergen means "woman warrior" in Kazakh).
For this song, Akmaral wrote a beautiful six-violin arrangement, playing all the parts herself.
The photo on the cover is the view from my hotel room in Almaty on one of my trips. In the foreground is Almaty Opera House and in the distance are the snowcapped Tien Shan Mountains (the "Celestial Mountains"). Beyond the mountains is Kyrgyzstan. 
Main guitars on this song are my Taylor GC-5 acoustic and my 1966 Guild Starfire XII (electric twelve-string).
The cricket and bird sounds at the beginning and end were recorded by me with a field recorder in a wild area of southern Wisconsin.
(This song can be found on my "Twilight on Tunnel Road" album, which I'm happy to say won the Alternative Album of the Year award from the Madison Area Music Association.)
LYRICS:
"Let Me Go”
Words & Music by Timothy Walsh

Nothing I say to you makes it untrue.
Let me go—I can’t say how much I love you.

Taking it all away, I can’t bear the day.
In the night I just see your face staring at me.
Let me go.

Seeing I don’t know why, why you must try
to go far away now, climb mountains so high.

Every single day, I’m making my way.
I can’t deal with you gone and I’m not okay.
Let me go.

I don’t say you should not go—closing off the future before you can know.
I just can’t get loose from your strings,
they’re wrapped around my heart entangling all things.

I remember how we used to play, how we used to dance, how we used to run,
dissolving in the moonlight as if we were one.
And all those days, all those times, all those nights we held to each other,
held so tight as if we might lose the one thing we love.

And I think that I can’t go on now,
without you I’m lost, I just don’t know how.
Now the light has gone out of my life,
nothing ahead but torment and strife.

Let Me Go

"Blissful Red brings the kind of beautiful energy a singer-songwriter with a poet's heart would."
lostinthemanor.co.uk

"Listening to this artist's work is an intriguing experience, as it combines elements that evoke the vibes of iconic acts like Simon & Garfunkel, Mazzy Star and Beck, while still maintaining a distinct and individual style."
edgarallanpoets.com

"Drenched in complicated emotion."
girlattherockshows.com

"Grungey, vibey, cool as shit." 
postcardelba.com

"Blissful Red captures a sensibility that came to the fore during that early to mid-90s period in Western culture......wilfully rough around the edges...... a more authentic and intimate song writing style."                                                       queencitysoundsandart.wordpress.com                                                        

"Blissful Red’s Tom Leaver draws the listener in, weaving melody and rhythm to create heartfelt reminiscences of an era that continues to never quite fit in."
fortheloveofbands.com 

"A voice reminiscent of Elliott Smith."
survivingthegoldenage.com

Chilblains

Blissful Red

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