LYRICS

I am a quiet hillside
one that takes a name
from a giant laying down upon the moor

I am a gentle daughter
brought here by a flame
and I don't need your direction anymore

CHORUS
let me discover
what I'm for
let me uncover
if I am more

so when the tide recedes
and leaves the salty clams
in the sun where they begin to rot and dry
will I be gasping with them
there upon the sand
or will I be given better ways to die

CHORUS
let me discover
what I'm for
let me uncover
if I am more

What I'm For

I have been watching the continued conspiracy of seeing cleanliness as being a quality of the highest order - even transcendent!  How this odd linkage of the holy and the neat came about escapes me.  Some are distracted by conspiracies of world domination by the Trilateral Commission or the Knights Templar, or that family down the street who are never out in their front yard and who don't decorate for Hallowe'en.  But I think we should be concerned about the conspiracy of cleanliness - due to the nefarious actions of the Multinational Industrial Soap Powder Complex!  Beware their tactics.  However, that warning aside, today on Routes & Branches & Beyond I'm cleaning off a shelf of CDs that I've been meaning to play for awhile.  But I don't expect that this will make me any more holy!

I'll have indispensible instrumentalists, swirling border pipes, raging fiddles, Shetland hurricanes, dances for feeder mice, vintage swing with a grin, Cape Verdean morna legends, shady newgrass explorations, songs radio doesn't like, Scottish introspection, and Portuguese jazz waltzes from Newfoundland.  From musicians like JP Cormier, Cantrip, Failte, the Old-Time Liberation Front, My Sweet Patootie, The Warblers, Cesaria Evora, Jerry Garcia & David Grisman & Tony Rice, Kathleen Edwards, Michael McGovern, and Duane Andrews.  Put down that soap powder and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 344 2024 11 07

[Verse 1]
Stars above the prairie, gleam and glow
Cowboy waiting by the fire, nice and slow
Santa's on his way, gifts in tow
Sipping cider, where winds blow
The night is calm, with a gentle flow
On Christmas Eve, his heart aglow

[Chorus]
Looking up to the starlit sky
Hoping to see that sleigh fly by
Promises twinkle, with all their might
Christmas dreams in the silent night

[Verse 2]
Boots on the ground, heart to the skies
Whispers of sleigh bells, in the night that sighs
Moonlit shadows, where wishes arise
Every cowboy's dream, Santa realizes
Patience, wrapped like a bow on ties
The gift of Christmas, through hopeful eyes

[Chorus]
Looking up to the starlit sky
Hoping to see that sleigh fly by
Promises twinkle, with all their might
Christmas dreams in the silent night

[Bridge]
Every twinkle speaks his dreams
Magic on winter's gentle streams
In the quiet, his heart beams
Waiting for Santa's gifted schemes

[Chorus]
Looking up to the starlit sky
Hoping to see that sleigh fly by
Promises twinkle, with all their might
Christmas dreams in the silent night

Starlit Christmas Dreams

Episode LVIII is a spotlight on the Appalachian region of the USA, based around an interview with the one and only Andy the Doorbum and focusing on the relief work that he is currently carrying out there. If you would like to support him in his efforts you can do so here - https://campsite.bio/andythedoorbum The episode also features an unreleased track from Andy, namely Young Emily / Edmund in the Lowlands Low

Tracklist

Andy the Doorbum - Young Emily / Edmund in the Lowlands Low
Maggie Hammons - When this World Comes to an End
Michael and Carrie Cline - Bangum and the Wild Boar
Margaret Winter - Cockle Shells and Silver Bells Riddle Song
Harold and Margaret Winter - Loving Henry
Hazel Dickens - Black Lung
Sarah Ogan Gunning - Dreadful Memories
John Snipes - Going Where I've Never Been Before
Cherokee Singers - One Drop of Blood (Trail of Tears Song #2)
Frank Proffitt - Tom Dooley
Frank Proffitt - I'm Going Back to North Carolina

https://campsite.bio/firedrawnear

FDN LVIII

Ceux qui sèment dans les larmes moissonneront dans la joie.

Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.

Old MacDonald is a traditional children's song and nursery rhyme about a farmer and the various animals he keeps. The Appalachian dulcimer is a fretted string instrument of the zither family, originally played in the Appalachian region of the United States. 

Old McDonalds Had a Farm

My arrangement of this hauntingly beautiful American folk/gospel song was recorded with Helder Evo tenor recorder, violin, 7-string bass viola da gamba, a mixture of piano samples, and a Yamaha DX-11 FM synth (E. Piano 1 patch), and deliberately produced to sound warm but lo-fi.  Enjoy!

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image attribution:  Appalachian Trail at Kuwohi (Clingman's Dome), own work

WAYFARING STRANGER (American folk/gospel/hymn tune)

wabash canonball - banjo and fiddle

AC & HIS MASON JARS -CHASING THAT AMERICAN DREAM
TAXES TOO DAMN HIGH, FOOD IS WAY TOO  MUCH. 

AC & HIS MASON JARS -CHASING THAT AMERICAN DREAM

Bury Me Under the Willow tree (old appalachian folk song) in spanish

Entiérrame Bajo el Sauce

Order and organization are clearly over-rated in today's culture.  That is one sign of the sad and impoverished state of our social world - the obsession with planning and the suspicion about trusting random processes to work their magic.  But, as we learn from the success of evolution, we rely on random processes for beauty and diversity and even life itself.  Can you imagine a planned world created by a committee?  I've seen hints of that, and I don't want to live in such a place.  No, today on Routes & Branches & Beyond we continue to celebrate the creativity and beauty of randomly choosing tracks off random shelves to create a show of meaningful musical diversity.  And who knows what patterns of brilliance we'll find by putting our faith in randomness.  

We'll hear old-soul music with grit and abandon, anti-colonial African anthems, Cajun hiphop slamgrass, Finnish 5-row button accordion polskas, fiery je ne sais quoi, classical prog-folk, prairie roots with Appalachian tendencies, the merry sisters of fate, dusty songs from the distant past, multicultural Canadian joy, misty-eyed songs about animals, and Macedonian 4-tuba wedding bands.  From musicians like The Lonesome Ace Stringband, Tony Bird, The Paperboys, Maria Kalaniemi, Andre Marchand & Lisa Ornstein & Normand Miron, Jethro Tull, Oh my Darling, Lúnasa, The Joyful Hour, Garnet Rogers, Donné Roberts, Tara Nevins, and Kočani Orkestar.  Throw away that "Best Practices Grid" and join me.

Routes & Branches & Beyond show # 353 2025 01 09

2012

GHOSTS
AC & HIS MASON JARS

WELL I'M CONVINCED THERE IS GHOSTS.
BECAUSE THIS HOUSE STILL RATTLES
AND THIS HOUSE STILL CREAKS
EVEN THOUGH THAT YOU'RE GONE.

AND NO ONE IS AT HOME.
SO I'M CONVINCED THERE IS GHOSTS.

BECAUSE I WAKE UP IN COLD SWEAT.
AND I FEEL YOU ALL WARM
AS IF YOUR SLEEPING BESIDE ME
BUT I KNOW THERE IS NO ONE HERE.

SO I AM CONVINCED THERE IS GHOSTS
SO I AM CONVINCED THERE IS GHOSTS

BECAUSE THIS OLD HOUSE STILL CREAKS
STILL THE WRITING ON THE WALL
EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE GONE
EVEN THOUGH THERE IS NO ONE HOME.

<SMALL BR > 

I'VE BEEN DRINKING THESE NIGHTS
TRYING TO WARD OFF THESE DEMONS
BUT I CAN'T RID MYSELF
WHEN THAT'S ALL I GOT LEFT 

<BR>

WELL I'VE BEEN UP MOST NIGHTS
I'VE BEEN TRYING TO SLEEP
BUT THIS HOUSE WONT LET ME BE...

SO I'M CONVINCED THERE IS GHOSTS
BECAUSE THIS HOUSE RATTLES 
AND THE FLOORS CREAK

EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE GONE
EVEN THOUGH YOU ARE GONE
AND NO ONE IS HOME.

GHOSTS
AC & HIS MASON JARS
2012 


AC & HIS MASON JARS - GHOSTS - V1

And brought them out, and said, Sirs, what must I do to be saved?
And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house.

Beagle Music Labs = Simon Zaleski

*More synthwave/synth-pop in the pipeline!  Subscribe and stay tuned!  Thanks for listening.*

I am a classically-trained keyboardist, baroque multi-instrumentalist, and composer based in the USA, making classical, soundtrack, and electronic music.  I especially enjoy synthwave (outrun, retrowave, and chillwave included), and am available for hire to write music for video games and other projects.

Don't be fooled by all the ai shit box music

I am of this Earth.  "The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to correlate all its contents. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age."
-Lovecraft

If you like my work please subscribe to my YouTube channel here - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaHz2fvnOuYqw9BnRdZfe4A

Folk improv - recorded once with one mic.

Fire Draw Near is a monthly podcast and radio show which investigates Irish traditional music and song in all of its myriad forms.

https://campsite.bio/firedrawnear

New tracks tagged #Appalachian