A parody using the melody from the old country song, ´Ashes of Love´I recorded it using an electronic vocal harmonizer layering two tracks above the melody.
was originally titled Avatar. Later, the title Just a Game seemed more appropriate and I reinterpreted it in a sort of "graphic novel" format. Kate Khosla supplied several harmony vocals.
was originally a song-writing exercise from Linda McRay´s songwriting workshop at Centrum in 2022. I decided it was worth keeping.
Another song-writing exercise that turned out to be worth keeping. Also occasioned by Linda McRae´s workshop.
pays homage to the old Johnson Smith mail-order catalog from the 1950s. I started doing this song with Brownsville Road (where Jay Finkelstein and Elizabeth Gale contributed some ideas about sound effects), then recorded it on the Smoke Creek "Range Fire" album. I later found a digital copy of the old Johnson-Smith catalog on the Internet.
is mostly a true story. Co-written with Susan Adamson many years ago and appearing on the first Smoke Creek album. After a bit of lyric rewriting years later, I recorded it acapella in 2022 with Kate Khosla singing harmony, bookending the vocals with instrumentals from the original cut (where Sue played fiddle and Leah Kaufmann guitar) . The revised version was a Tumbleweed Songwriting finalist a few years ago.
You don´t always get to find out. I like the "graphic novel" treatment in preference to a video or image of me singing. Kate Khosla does harmony vocals. This one took a long time to write. I "tuned it up" during Linda McRae´s workshop, got a lot of great suggestions from other participants.
Song inspired by the research of Dr Stella Emmanuel, a Trump administration medical official who made the astonishing discovery that endometritis is caused by sex with demons. Who knew? I recorded it using an electronic vocal harmonizer layering two tracks above the melody.
This was part of the closing concert at the 2022 Tumbleweed Festival in Richland, Washington. The song was written by Canadian songwriter, Jenny Lester. I learned it in one of her Centrum workshops at Fort Worden years ago.
A live version of this song from over a decade ago, performed on the stage at Fort Worden´s Wheeler Theater in Port Townsend, Washington.
Songwriter Jimmy Driftwood wrote lyrics to the old fiddle tune, "The Eighth of January". It was part of the "Homemade Jam" project, recorded live at the Cantina at Suquamish, WA. I´m on banjo (but not the one in the picture), Elizabeth Gale on fiddle, Emily Groth on harmony vocals, Larry Dewey on guitar, various other musicians playing.
Song written by my brother, Jim, who does guitar and lead vocals. I´m on harmony and banjo. Peggy Sullivan is on harmony and guitar. Ted Briggs-Comstock does bass harmony and Dobro, Elizabeth Gale is on Fiddle.
A country-folk treatment of actual history -- a Tumbleweed Contest Winner about risks one takes when "burning bridges". Google Cicero and Asma bint Marwan for the historical background of this song.
Joe Prater´s song. He sings lead, backed up by Brownsville Road (Elizabeth Gale, Jay Finkelstein, and Mike Murray). Joe reserved the Seabold Community Center for the recording session. Eddy Jay Williams was the sound engineer. We did it live.
The Kingston Trio version of my song, from the Groves Dougherty Zorn configuration´s last album, "Bloodlines Hold the Key". George Grove sings lead and does the fancy banjo licks. I flew down to Chandler, Arizona when they recorded it, and they let me play along when George Grove recorded the lead. Most of what I played didn´t survive the editing, but you can still hear me playing clawhammer banjo on the second verse. This song was another Tumbleweed Songwriting Contest winner.
Smoke Creek´s Version, where I sing lead and play banjo, Jim Murray, Peggy Sullivan and Ted Briggs-Comstock do harmony, Ted plays dobro, Jim and Peggy guitar and Elizabeth Gale fiddle.
One of Matt Price´s many fine songs. Some years ago, Jennifer Laurence, his significant other, organized a tribute album of his original songs, all performed by other songwriters, as a surprise birthday gift for him. I did this as part of that tribute. Eddy Williams did the recording for the two tracks I contributed.(Photo by Scott Katz.)
Joe Prater´s rewrite of an old folksong. He sings lead, backed up by Brownsville Road (Elizabeth Gale, Jay Finkelstein, and Mike Murray).
One of the two cuts I contributed to the Matt Price tribute album mentioned earlier.(Photo by Scott Katz.)
Written by Si Kahn. I learned this song from an album by Dry Branch Fire Squad.