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Listen

Click HERE to listen to a February Sky Live Performance recorded at the 3rd Friday Coffeehouse in Somerset, KY.  It is unedited, so the volume may be uneven in places, but it is a prime example of how we relate to an audience in performance.

From October 2014 CD "Goldenrod":

My Faithful Johnny

(Phil) A traditional song about a lover returning for a visit...

Goldenrod

(Susan) A song written for the wedding of some friends who are well beyond the age that we usually think of as when people find true love for the first time.  Much to our surprise, it works for general audiences as well! 

Beer Is Good for You

(Susan) A song about enjoying one of life's great pleasures, set to the melody of the traditional tune "Twinkle."

Spencer's March

(Instrumental Tune, Phil) A tune inspired by our very lively cat named Spencer.

From 2011 CD Time-Honored Pathways:

Slieve Gallen Braes (Trad. Arr)

(Phil) Our friend Brighid Malone used to sing this song a lot at sessions at her house.  It’s a song of Irish emigration 

Guenevere (S. Urban)

(Susan) A rewrite of the Arthurian Legend from King Arthur’s viewpoint, focusing on Guenevere.  The setting is around the 5th Century, when women were about to lose their civil rights. The prelude tune is Childgrove from the Playford Collection. 

A Blacksmith Courted Me (Trad)

(Phil) An English song.  We worked our version out from several we had heard.  We are using the tune that was also used for the tune “Our Captain Cried.” 

Inner Voice Shouting (S. Urban)

(Susan) - An argument between that part of you that wants to make tactless comments, and the Inner Voice who says you'd better not.

Rowing From Isla to Uist

(Instrumental Tune, Trad. Arr.) - Phil learned this  tune from the Simon Fraser Collection.  The tune is from the Hebrides Islands. 

From self-tiled 2008 CD February Sky:

Spencer the Rover (trad arr.)

(Phil) - Some of my first traditional singing heroes, John Roberts & Tony Barrand first exposed me to this song.  The song is from the repertoire of the great Copper Family.  I was more inspired to learn and perform the song from hearing it done by John Martyn, a great guitarist and song stylist. 

Blue As the Iowa Sky (S. Urban)

(Susan) - It took me five years to write a song dealing with the Iraq War, since I felt that everthing that could be said had been said before.  But then I realized that with women in combat, daughters were being lost as well as sons.  There are many new scenarios that are possible.  The story in this song is only one of them.

Billy Boy (trad arr.)

(Phil) - I learned this song from the singing of Martin Carthy, though I'm not sure if I sing all the verses in the same order he does.  I like the modal nature of the tune (a true "one chord flop") and the old symbolic imagery. 

If You Were In Hell (S. Urban)

You all know this person.  We just hope that you are not this person...  

King of the Faeries (trad arr.)

(Instrumental - Phil) - Every musician who plays this Irish set dance tune puts their own stamp on it.  It's been jazzed up by Alan Stivell, rocked up by Horslips, and played sinuously by Dave Swarbrick.  I like playing it at the moderate tempo we use. 

February Sky (S. Urban)

(Susan) - About a couple in love with the North Country.  Oddly enough, although they are like us in many ways, they are not us!  I'm not sure who they are - but I have some ideas...