Written a long time ago with John, Charles, Rebecca, Keith and friends, but never recorded/finished, so decided to follow the flow with the words and record it, as its kind of about rivers, although not specifically the Etherow...

Etherow

Memory of Touch

Valehouse was a mill village in Longdendale, drowned around 1869 as a consequence of construction of the Longdendale reservoirs to supply much needed water to Manchester. The song pictures a displaced life-long resident looking into the waters of Valehouse, it is to them, a reservoir of memories.

Valehouse Rock

Bleaklow is the bleak harsh beauty of the Dark Peak, close to the source of the River Etherow.

Bleaklow

A favorite Irish melody, that reminds me of Vincent Rosinach, we used to play this together many years ago. Just me here on a Corsican chetera.

None

Si Bheag Si Mhor

Thinking about the cotton mills along our river Etherow and the people that maybe lived in our houses before us. Inspired by the "New Railroad" by Chris Sherburn & Denny Bartley, drawing on the words and sentiment of Elizabeth Barratt Browning's "Cry of the Children" and Elizabeth Hodgates' "The Factory Child's Trouble", and "The Cotton Mill" by a Bolton cotton mill operative.
Image detail from Elizabeth Hodgates' sampler, copyright Salford Museum & Art Gallery. Is that too much information?
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43725/the-cry-of-the-children
https://sites.baylor.edu/rhymeandreform/2018/08/20/iv-the-cotton-mill/
https://ageofrevolution.org/200-object/the-factory-childs-trouble-sampler/

Working in the Cotton Mill

Inspired by the springtime in Tom Wood, by the River Etherow, between Charlesworth and Broadbottom, and Paul Bowles, Joni Mitchell, Bonnie Bramlett & Leon Russell.

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