Lean-To

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Cover of Richard Thomson's "End of the Rainbow"

End Of The Rainbow (Richard Thompson)

Solitary Rider written by Bryan and Henri Ciliberto 
The first couplet comes from William Shakespeare's poem "A Song"

Bryan Ciliberto - bass, guitar, organ, electric piano, vocal
Henri Ciliberto - drums
Jon Ciliberto - guitar
Joe Drzewiecki - saxophone

In a dream it did seem
but alas, dreams do pass
as do shadows

wide awake what’s at stake
eyes are shut in a rut
like stuck windows

Solitary rider, how long have you been hunted and pursued
Solitary rider, don’t despair the light will get you through

wrote a verse not a curse
wicked duty to kill  beauty
not so clever

but the voice like a chose 
not erased or defaced
lives forever

Solitary rider, how long have you been hunted and pursued
Solitary rider, don’t despair the light will get you through

1000 lashes, knife gashes
all this violence meant to silence
human voices

but if you wept don’t accept
don’t allow hide or cower
to these choices

Solitary rider, how long have you been hunted and pursued
Solitary rider, don’t despair the light will get you through

Solitary Rider

Recorded in March, 2015, with (and by) Bill Brady also on guitar. First solo is Bill; second one is me. 

There are a quite a number of songs about John Henry. This one/version was written - as far as I can tell - by Doc Watson, though it resembles other songs about JH. 

This image is of the sculpture, "John Henry," by Charles O. Cooper. 1972. Washington, DC

Walk On, Boy (Doc Watson cover)

Zac Denton - Piano
John Heinrich - Dobro
Willy Bitter, Matt Vincent, Jordan Hamm - Harmony Vocals

All Broke Down

improvisation
baritone ukulele, 12 string guitar

Conversation pt. 1 JON DUNCAN

Washing of the Water

We've been away for a while and this episode exists to fill in the gap. Catch up with us as we discuss what we've been up to, a small state of the world, and the big question of where do we go from here?

We hope you've been healthy, happy, and working towards a better future because we've certainly been (well - maybe we haven't been totally happy).

 and The Next

The Then, The Now, and The Next

Ep 102 - The Then, The Now, and The Next

This recording is the flip side of "Country Blues," which Harry Smith included on the 1952 compilation, "The Anthology of American Folk Music."

Both songs were recorded for Brunswick Records in New York City on March 10, 1927. Each song features Dock Boggs on vocal and banjo with G.H. Mahaffey adding guitar accompaniment on "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long."

"The Harry Smith B-Sides" will be released by Dust-to-Digital on October 16, 2020. For more info, visit dust-digital.com/shop/harry-smith-b-sides

Dock Boggs - "Sammie, Where Have You Been So Long"

Written by Bryan Ciliberto with some musical/lyrical elements in the bridge taken from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" music composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Yip Harburg. Video link: https://youtu.be/g5719puz-3c

1939 (someday someway somehow)

Like Hamlet as a fat man
his face was pale and lean
a suit of lights transformed him
into the greatest hero Spain had seen
into the greatest hero Spain had seen

Someday, someway, somehow
on a stairway to the stars
the awkward well endowed the cowardly and proud
all the things you are

he really was a no-one
it was as if he wasn’t even there
but from a heart of darkness
the manitou appeared from nowhere
the manitou appeared from nowhere

Someday, someway, somehow
on a stairway to the stars
the bully and kowtowed the standout in the crowd
all the things you are

somewhere over the rainbow
across the Curzon line
birds fly too high or too low
but, we’ll all get there in time

someday someway somehow
all the things you are
all the things you are
someday someway somehow
all the things you are
all the the things we are

1939 (Someday Someway Somehow)

My folk/country album, "Movement Ungilded," is now available on your favorite online platforms (except for the one that you are currently on). 

As an instrumentalist, songwriter, and composer, my music is rooted in the American folk tradition(s) and early country music,  as well as in various strands of the jazz idiom, and with a strong ear to (modern) classical music and the avant-garde.  

Recently I have been mostly performing with a jazz trio (on piano), with folk/country musicians (on gtr, fiddle, and voice), and in improvisational contexts (various instruments). 

For some context or info for each track, please click on the titles.

Thanks for listening.

Walk On, Boy (Doc Watson cover)

zac denton

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