The fiddle playing that tune had a mute on its bridge, substantially reducing the volume of the music, but it was still loud enough for the woman to lift her head and smile when she heard it. She knew that tune, if not the fiddler, and yet she had a sense of the fiddler as well. There was something — an echo of familiarity — that let her guess who it was, because she knew from whom he’d learned to play. — Charles de Lint’s Drink Down the Moon
Well, this is Gary, the music editor … I wandered into the Editor’s office and found it empty and quiet, so somehow the job of putting a bow on this edition fell to me! It’s one of the busiest times of year here at the Estate. The harvest — or rather multiple harvests — are wrapping up in the fields, forests and orchards, while others in the pantries and the winery and the brewery and of course the Kitchen itself are busy processing all that fine produce for the Winter whose breath has begun to tickle the fine hair on our necks. And to be quite honest, some are still recovering from Samhain. So this time I’ve a potpourri of book and music reviews from the Archives, as well as a few new music reviews for your perusal.
From the archives, April reviewed Jodie Forrest’s The Rhymer and the Ravens: The Book of Fate, the first of a four book series. ‘Although Forrest’s prose drags a bit in places, on the whole, The Rhymer and the Ravens is an enjoyable, easy read. There is good attention paid to historical accuracy and to the blending of divergent mythologies (Celtic and Norse, in particular).’
I reviewed some noted books about the collectors of American folk songs that are back in print: John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax’s American Ballads and Folk Songs, and Our Singing Country: Folk Songs and Ballads; and John W. Work’s American Negro Songs. To have them back in print, I noted, ‘… is an occasion for celebration. One has but to thumb through any one of these tree volumes to find the roots, trunks and branches of all manner of American music that’s still being made today.’
Grey wrote an omnibus review on a big stack of books about folk tales and fables from cultures as different as Mexico, Mongolia, and Vietnam. ‘The six collections described in this review were assembled by markedly different authors and published at unrelated times, by unrelated publishers. Yet the similarities between some of the stories in them are striking.’
Jayme could put down The Wicked Day, book four of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian saga, which deals with Mordred’s rise and fall. ‘Mordred, to my great shock, was not portrayed as the black-hearted villain legend remembers him as. Indeed, as he grows, he becomes Arthur’s most trusted knight, and staunchest supporter. Stewart approaches the story demanding logic and consistency in her characters’ actions and motivations.’
Rebecca had slightly mixed feelings about Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak’s Brundibar. ‘Reading the book, and especially looking at Sendak’s wonderful drawings, it’s easy to see that this was originally an opera. The story is much concerned with singing, and all of the characters seem to dance on the page. Each vendor in the square has his or her song, and there’s Brundibar’s, and the children get two.’
In new music reviews, I was intrigued by a “jazz guitar” album that defies easy categorization. ‘New Age, trance, World, ambient, tone poems … Steve Tibbetts’ Close slips and slides around and through any attempt at categorization or description or genre.’
Next I listened to a bigger ensemble on the Chris Byars Sextet’s The Dark Forest. ‘Chris Byars’ sextet combines the best of two jazz worlds, the sophisticated sonic palette of the big band and the nimble nature of the smaller bop combo that leaves more room for soloists to shine. Leader and composer Byars, who here plays tenor sax, clarinet and flute, is perhaps strongest as an arranger, giving each of these tunes its own character and drawing on the many colorations possible from a mid-sized ensemble.’
Then there is an album of through composed music for a jazz quintet plus a string quartet plus a DJ and electronic music artist, built around a formula that involves the circle of fifths and constellations in our night sky. ‘The origin story, many of the technical details and some of the music on this album flummox me. But that doesn’t stop me from recognizing Patricia Brennan’s Of The Near And Far as an astonishing work of art, and indeed some of this music is among my favorite of 2025.’
In archival reviews, I noted that The Decemberists drew heavily on their love for and knowledge of progressive English folk rock in their 2016 album The Hazards of Love, which I reviewed that year. ‘This album tells, in its own winding way, the story of Margaret and her doomed love affair with a shape-shifting lover, William, whose mother is the forest queen. There’s also a subplot involving a character known only as The Rake, who does away with his children after their mother dies in childbirth.’
The songs and the musicians are all superb on one of my favorites, I note in my archival review of Bert Jansch’s Moonshine. ‘Another key factor that elevates this record to classic status is Jansch himself. He has a vocal style that is distinctive, heavily accented and very nasal. And of course his percussive guitar playing is even more distinctive and was highly influential on artists from Nick Drake to Jimmy Page to Neil Young.’
I was intrigued by Makam’s Almanach, an album of Hungarian music that also shows influences from U.K. and U.S. folk and rock. ‘This music is as different as can be from the more traditional Hungarian folk music that other groups have popularized in Western Europe and the U.S., but it springs from the same earthy roots.’
Kim reviewed the scene, the food, and especially the music at Toronto’s famous Nora Keogh Irish Pub. ‘Dora’s is usually packed on session nights, and the Sunday session (from 6:30 p.m. – my observation) often includes younger players — sometimes as young as early teens out with their parents. The Thursday session begins around 9:30 p.m., and goes to whenever the musicians get tired.’
Mike Stiles was ensorcelled by Herne’s Apprentice, an album from the Welsh musician who performs as Damh the Bard. ‘I could write pages about this album but I’ll keep things in as much focus as I can. Damh draws deeply from Cymric myth and legend as found in primary sources like the Mabinogion. This is not just a tribute to that material, it rebirths it and creates a wonderful gateway for those who should explore it.’
‘These two CDs benchmark the glorious growth of the guitar in Celtic music,’ he said of Steve Reel’s Celtic Knights and The Unfortunate Rakes’ Rakes Alive! Of the former, he notes, ‘Steve’s guitar playing draws from many sources, but to give you a rough idea, its foundation rests on the flat-picking styles pioneered in the Bluegrass tradition by Doc Watson and cohorts. You will also hear more than a passing strain of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.’
Mike Wilson liked Darren Black’s Thinkers & Fools from some English folk heavyweights. ‘Everything about Thinkers & Fools is likeable. Black’s lyrics are thought provoking and reflective; the instrumental arrangements are accomplished but never intrusive.’
Naomi reviewed a nifty record of Cape Breton Island fiddling, The Lighthouse by fiddler and lighthouse keeper Paul Cranford & Friends. ‘Should you like good Cape Breton fiddling and original compositions, then this is the disc for you. Paul Cranford is a talented fiddler with sensitive fingers and impassioned playing.’
Fortunately, for our Coda, Iain left the following note:
I’ve been reading Charles de Lint‘s ‘The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep’ story, which is collected in Dreams Underfoot which has the following lovely passage about old hag tunes: ‘She looks like the wizened old crone in that painting Jilly did for Geordie when he got into this kick of learning fiddle tunes with the word ‘hag’ in the title: ‘the Hag in the Kiln,’ ‘Old Hag You Have Killed Me,’ ‘The Hag With the Money,’ and god knows how many more. Just like in the painting, she’s wizened and small and bent over and … dry. Like kindling, like the pages of an old book. Like she’s almost all used up. Hair thin, body thinner. but then you look into her eyes and they’re so alive it makes you feel a little dizzy.’
Okay, let’s see if there’s any Old Hag tunes on the Infinite Jukebox, our digital media server. I’ve got one by the Bothy Band whose Old Hag You Have Killed Me is one of best Irish trad albums ever done, and we’ve audio of them performing ‘Old Hag You Have Killed Me’ which we’ll share with you as it’s very splendid.
No idea when it was done, though about fifty years ago is the most common guess among those who speculate about such things, or where it was recorded for that matter. But here it is for your listening pleasure.
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider.
I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
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What’s New for the 9th of November: rhymers and ravens, folk songs and folk tales, jazz guitar and dark forests and constellations put to music, Hungarian tunes and knights and rakes and tinkers and fools, and more
Well, this is Gary, the music editor … I wandered into the Editor’s office and found it empty and quiet, so somehow the job of putting a bow on this edition fell to me! It’s one of the busiest times of year here at the Estate. The harvest — or rather multiple harvests — are wrapping up in the fields, forests and orchards, while others in the pantries and the winery and the brewery and of course the Kitchen itself are busy processing all that fine produce for the Winter whose breath has begun to tickle the fine hair on our necks. And to be quite honest, some are still recovering from Samhain. So this time I’ve a potpourri of book and music reviews from the Archives, as well as a few new music reviews for your perusal.
From the archives, April reviewed Jodie Forrest’s The Rhymer and the Ravens: The Book of Fate, the first of a four book series. ‘Although Forrest’s prose drags a bit in places, on the whole, The Rhymer and the Ravens is an enjoyable, easy read. There is good attention paid to historical accuracy and to the blending of divergent mythologies (Celtic and Norse, in particular).’
I reviewed some noted books about the collectors of American folk songs that are back in print: John A. Lomax and Alan Lomax’s American Ballads and Folk Songs, and Our Singing Country: Folk Songs and Ballads; and John W. Work’s American Negro Songs. To have them back in print, I noted, ‘… is an occasion for celebration. One has but to thumb through any one of these tree volumes to find the roots, trunks and branches of all manner of American music that’s still being made today.’
Grey wrote an omnibus review on a big stack of books about folk tales and fables from cultures as different as Mexico, Mongolia, and Vietnam. ‘The six collections described in this review were assembled by markedly different authors and published at unrelated times, by unrelated publishers. Yet the similarities between some of the stories in them are striking.’
Jayme could put down The Wicked Day, book four of Mary Stewart’s Arthurian saga, which deals with Mordred’s rise and fall. ‘Mordred, to my great shock, was not portrayed as the black-hearted villain legend remembers him as. Indeed, as he grows, he becomes Arthur’s most trusted knight, and staunchest supporter. Stewart approaches the story demanding logic and consistency in her characters’ actions and motivations.’
Rebecca had slightly mixed feelings about Tony Kushner and Maurice Sendak’s Brundibar. ‘Reading the book, and especially looking at Sendak’s wonderful drawings, it’s easy to see that this was originally an opera. The story is much concerned with singing, and all of the characters seem to dance on the page. Each vendor in the square has his or her song, and there’s Brundibar’s, and the children get two.’
Next I listened to a bigger ensemble on the Chris Byars Sextet’s The Dark Forest. ‘Chris Byars’ sextet combines the best of two jazz worlds, the sophisticated sonic palette of the big band and the nimble nature of the smaller bop combo that leaves more room for soloists to shine. Leader and composer Byars, who here plays tenor sax, clarinet and flute, is perhaps strongest as an arranger, giving each of these tunes its own character and drawing on the many colorations possible from a mid-sized ensemble.’
Then there is an album of through composed music for a jazz quintet plus a string quartet plus a DJ and electronic music artist, built around a formula that involves the circle of fifths and constellations in our night sky. ‘The origin story, many of the technical details and some of the music on this album flummox me. But that doesn’t stop me from recognizing Patricia Brennan’s Of The Near And Far as an astonishing work of art, and indeed some of this music is among my favorite of 2025.’
In archival reviews, I noted that The Decemberists drew heavily on their love for and knowledge of progressive English folk rock in their 2016 album The Hazards of Love, which I reviewed that year. ‘This album tells, in its own winding way, the story of Margaret and her doomed love affair with a shape-shifting lover, William, whose mother is the forest queen. There’s also a subplot involving a character known only as The Rake, who does away with his children after their mother dies in childbirth.’
The songs and the musicians are all superb on one of my favorites, I note in my archival review of Bert Jansch’s Moonshine. ‘Another key factor that elevates this record to classic status is Jansch himself. He has a vocal style that is distinctive, heavily accented and very nasal. And of course his percussive guitar playing is even more distinctive and was highly influential on artists from Nick Drake to Jimmy Page to Neil Young.’
I was intrigued by Makam’s Almanach, an album of Hungarian music that also shows influences from U.K. and U.S. folk and rock. ‘This music is as different as can be from the more traditional Hungarian folk music that other groups have popularized in Western Europe and the U.S., but it springs from the same earthy roots.’
Kim reviewed the scene, the food, and especially the music at Toronto’s famous Nora Keogh Irish Pub. ‘Dora’s is usually packed on session nights, and the Sunday session (from 6:30 p.m. – my observation) often includes younger players — sometimes as young as early teens out with their parents. The Thursday session begins around 9:30 p.m., and goes to whenever the musicians get tired.’
Mike Stiles was ensorcelled by Herne’s Apprentice, an album from the Welsh musician who performs as Damh the Bard. ‘I could write pages about this album but I’ll keep things in as much focus as I can. Damh draws deeply from Cymric myth and legend as found in primary sources like the Mabinogion. This is not just a tribute to that material, it rebirths it and creates a wonderful gateway for those who should explore it.’
‘These two CDs benchmark the glorious growth of the guitar in Celtic music,’ he said of Steve Reel’s Celtic Knights and The Unfortunate Rakes’ Rakes Alive! Of the former, he notes, ‘Steve’s guitar playing draws from many sources, but to give you a rough idea, its foundation rests on the flat-picking styles pioneered in the Bluegrass tradition by Doc Watson and cohorts. You will also hear more than a passing strain of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull.’
Mike Wilson liked Darren Black’s Thinkers & Fools from some English folk heavyweights. ‘Everything about Thinkers & Fools is likeable. Black’s lyrics are thought provoking and reflective; the instrumental arrangements are accomplished but never intrusive.’
Naomi reviewed a nifty record of Cape Breton Island fiddling, The Lighthouse by fiddler and lighthouse keeper Paul Cranford & Friends. ‘Should you like good Cape Breton fiddling and original compositions, then this is the disc for you. Paul Cranford is a talented fiddler with sensitive fingers and impassioned playing.’
I’ve been reading Charles de Lint‘s ‘The Moon is Drowning While I Sleep’ story, which is collected in Dreams Underfoot which has the following lovely passage about old hag tunes: ‘She looks like the wizened old crone in that painting Jilly did for Geordie when he got into this kick of learning fiddle tunes with the word ‘hag’ in the title: ‘the Hag in the Kiln,’ ‘Old Hag You Have Killed Me,’ ‘The Hag With the Money,’ and god knows how many more. Just like in the painting, she’s wizened and small and bent over and … dry. Like kindling, like the pages of an old book. Like she’s almost all used up. Hair thin, body thinner. but then you look into her eyes and they’re so alive it makes you feel a little dizzy.’
Okay, let’s see if there’s any Old Hag tunes on the Infinite Jukebox, our digital media server. I’ve got one by the Bothy Band whose Old Hag You Have Killed Me is one of best Irish trad albums ever done, and we’ve audio of them performing ‘Old Hag You Have Killed Me’ which we’ll share with you as it’s very splendid.
No idea when it was done, though about fifty years ago is the most common guess among those who speculate about such things, or where it was recorded for that matter. But here it is for your listening pleasure.
Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!
More Posts
About Reynard
I'm the Pub Manager for the Green Man Pub which is located at the KInrowan Estate. I'm married to Ingrid, our Steward who's also the Estate Buyer. If I'm off duty and in a mood for a drink, it'll be a single malt, either Irish or Scottish, no water or ice, or possibly an Estate ale or cider. I'm a concertina player, and unlike my wife who has a fine singing voice, I do not have anything of a singing voice anyone want to hear!