Joe Pattison - Dobro 
Julie Grice - Mandolin & Vocals
Mikki Barry - Banjo & Vocals
Thad Hausmann - Sound Engineering

Traveler Mc on the freedom we seek !!! Recorded strait from the roadside !!! 
Pure homegrown !

Pete Dunne is a political artist and singer songwriter from Dublin, living in London.

A Hard Road To Travel 

- The Mikko Tapes

These recordings come, as far as we know, from two sources. Some were made by a European (Scandinavian?) admirer of Mikko's music who often came to record Mikko with his Walkman cassette recorder - at that time (probably in the mid-1990s) a piece of quite high-tech gear. He recorded Mikko on weekend busking pitches at London's Camden Lock market and apparently also at Portobello Market. Some recordings appear to have also been made on Underground pitches at London tube stations. 
The other source is recordings made on similar equipment by his friend Max in the small mid-Wales town of Llandrindod Wells when Mikko was visiting his daughter Sara and local friends. (Max also plays flute on one or two songs.) Mikko would busk pitches in the local shopping arcade. These recordings benefit from a much quieter, more laid back environment with none of the traffic noise heard on the London recordings. The subtleties of his music emerge more here with him not having to try to out-roar the city noise.
There are also one or two recordings here that may have been made indoors in someone's home. Possibly in the flat of Mikko's friend and periodic busking partner, the guy playing the hot lead guitar and singing harmony on many songs; I think his name  was  Chris? (If you're reading this, let us know...)
Busking was Mikko's trade - he'd sustained himself by it (with some breaks for other diversions) for 25 years or so and had taken his music over much of Europe; across the UK, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain etc. But the busking was more a means to other ends. Many people will remember the pleasure of sitting round a fire somewhere - at a free festival or camped up somewhere on the road, in the kitchen of a squat or wherever - listening to Mikko play for hours for his own (and our) pleasure through his repertoire of hundreds of songs.
We are making this music freely available here (for listening and for download) as we know there are others who will be glad to access it. Mikko died in 2003 and is fondly remembered by many of us for the warmth and generosity of both his music and his personality. There were some great scenes, some good times and some fine music... 

Cheers Mikko, 

Pete

PS - thanks; to Max for the recording and encouragement, and to the other recorder(s) and musician(s) who contributed. And if anyone has more Mikko recordings let us know...

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