recorded @ F.Í.H. in Reykjavík, Iceland, Jan. 2000 for CBC & Rúv (Cdn & Icelandic Nat'l)radio broadcasts of Cdn./ Íslandic poetry set to music by KANDÍS - composer/performers: Justin Haynes, Tena Palmer, Hilmar Jensson, Pétur Grétarsson

Stories of Snow

Parenthood - poem: Dorothy Livesay music: Tena Palmer & Justin Haynes, piano

While touring this music in Europe with flat picker, Slavek Hanzlik, his introduction went, " Tena co-wrote this tune with Ralph Stanley when they were lovers in the '60's" .... that give you an idea of the style?
Image: Our fiddler, Keith Snider at Hugh's Room, Toronto with the legendary Darrell Scott! 


Little Clear Star - Tena Palmer, Vince Halfhide & Keith Snider

gravel box percussion locks with vocals & sparse guitar and electronics to brighten the day 

Wishbone Stew

Written on a 5 day freighter voyage from Reykjavik to Rotterdam. At 1 AM on the 4th night, a phone call from my father - whom I hadn't heard from in 14 years - asked, 'where was I?'. Out the porthole tiny lights from a far off shore; I hollered in Icelandic to ask the first mate in the next cabin. "Skotlandi!

02 North Atlantic Ocean

relationships / guitar solo / growth / value

03 Marble

traditional Ozark hymn for the dying with electronics

04 Angel Band

getting through the dark Icelandic winter... or life... light abounds  just breathe, dance....

05 Wishbone Stew

wisdom of the child in nursery rhyme with sousaphone, concertina, glockenspiel, drum and unadorned voice and whistle. 

07 Holy Heart Of Me

slow praise of safe places and the value of love / guitar beauty

08 Asylum

simple voice and guitar complex emotions of family history.

09 Snowshoes For Sisyphus

tune by Justin Haynes from our duo cd,  not drowning ...waving
the title is from a car advertisement. 
the lyric is about getting over yourself...a very breezy feeling of  being on the road.  
Justin and I toured the East Coast in his parent's old station wagon, with my dog Fanny Mae. Good good times. 

Tena Palmer

Popular tracks