Above the Din:
Douglas Clegg: Fiddle/Violin, Electric Violin, Guitar, Mandolin, Accordion
Aaron Clegg: Wooden Flute, Concert Flute, Tin Whistle, Low Whistle
Billbobizzo: Bassoon
David West: Mandolin on ‘The Fernwood”
Rebecca Troon: Bodhran
Adam Phillips: Scottish Small Pipes
Recorded at Studio Z, Santa Barbara, California
David West, Recording Engineer
Mixed at Beagle Studios, Carpinteria, California
Emmet R. Sargeant III, Mixing Engineer
Produced and arranged by Douglas Clegg
What They Are Saying About Above the Din
“Greetings from County Kerry. I received your latest album. Just brilliant. Well done. I could listen to this for hours on end. My brother Dermot works as a presenter for Radio Kerry; I will pass the album to him so as he can give it a spin. Congrats again! Kind regards from Ireland!”
Patrick Moriarty, County Kerry, Ireland
I am wrapping myself in the flowing notes of this incredibly beautiful CD – Above the Din. So lovely, wonderfully produced…just weepy, letting it soothe and sing to me. Stunningly evocative and haunting; ancient and yet current. You captured the spirit of fiddle playing: the art of personal storytelling!
Dirje Childs, Cellist and Composer, Texas
“I just wanted to say thanks again for sending a copy of your new fiddle cd. Really nice stuff. It’s stuck in my car cd player : ) keeps me peaceful. Good luck with sharing it with the world.”
John Smith, Singer/Songwriter, Wisconsin
“A couple of weeks ago my talented friend Doug sent me a copy of his new album, and I haven’t taken it out of my car CD player. Doug’s a multi-instrumentalist and fine singer-songwriter who can cover an amazing amount of musical ground… and with “Above the Din” he’s spun a truly wonderful musical web of his own top-notch fiddle tunes woven together with traditional numbers from Ireland, Scotland, and England. Wonderfully performed and recorded… and highly recommended.”
Tom Kimmel, Singer/Songwriter/Poet, Nashville, TN
“Love your album. What with the social distancing and lack of sessions, I’ve found time to play along with the tunes. The trad ones I already knew are fun and the originals are fun and challenging! GoodOnYa!
Bob Frost, Traditional Musician, Maine
“I want you to know how much I’ve enjoyed your CD. The music at times evokes wonderful memories and feelings for me going back to Buffy and my trip to Ireland to play music many years ago. Such pleasure in listening – such beautiful melodies and musicianship. As my son, Josh [an adept organist], would say, ‘strong work’.”
Richard Berman, Songwriter, Massachusetts
“I love the original tunes…Great compositions. Beautifully played and very fine arrangements!”
Steve Gillette, Singer, Songwriter, and Folk Musician, Vermont
“I just listened to “Above the Din” for the first time and now find myself not only above the din but also a wee tad beyond belief! What a lovely set of tunes this is.
The music within you is truly inspiring as is that of your cohorts. Thank you for the most welcome respite from the current maelstrom.”
Michael Hanson, Musician, Texas
“What a fabulous CD! I love it. Absolutely beautiful. Everything about it is really wonderful. I’m listening tonight again!”
Barbara Coventry, Violinist, California
“Every song is a unique jewel – whether jig or ballad – and before long, you find you have a relationship with each tune that you can’t wait to renew over and over again. The craft and composition of this work are completely compelling.”
Kate Wallace, Singer/Songwriter, California
All tunes composed by Douglas Clegg, except titles in italics, which are traditional, or as noted.
- Cran Ull / The Banks of the Piscataquog / Hills of Killorglin
- Crossing Over / The Maids of Mitchellstown
- Tahoe Trees / Montcaron / Les Marronniers
- Ghosts of Carnac / Cooley’s Reel
- Laird’s Castle / Montana Air
- Grainne Ni M’Haille / Dorian Green / The Blarney Pilgrim
- Toby’s Fancy / Wand’ring Rick
- Planxty George Barabazon / The Fernwood
- All Work and No Play / Off To California / The Banshee
- Costa Vasca
- The End of Time
Liner Notes: Making Above the Din
This record is dedicated to the music and the memory of Rick Lee.
I have had the great fortune to travel and live in places that have inspired this music in me, including Ireland and the British Isles, the Coast of Spain, France, the woods of New Hampshire, Montana, Coastal California, and Lake Tahoe. And I’ve shared many a session with great players who, with their musical generosity and friendship, have taught me much: Rick Lee, Allan Block, Aaron Clegg, Bob McQuillen, Kate Wallace, Han Soo Kim, Tommy O’Sullivan, Peter Gallway, James McVay, Annie Gallup, Joel Andrews, and the players at The Press Room in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
One of the most enjoyable things for me is to play in sessions with this music, and I am fortunate “sit in” on this recording with guitar, second fiddle, mandolin, and even accordion. And I am thrilled to be able to share my love for traditional music with my son Aaron, who sits in with Irish whistles and flutes.
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Crann Ull is a tune that Rick Lee taught us after a trip to Ireland, where he had heard it in pubs. We found ourselves playing it endlessly for about four days one rainy weekend here. I still think of Rick every time I play it.
The Banks of the Piscataquog The Piscataquog River runs through New Hampshire, and the small town where I lived for a good while. I wrote this waltz back in those years, and still think of the friends with whom and dances where I have played it.
Hills of Killorglin came to me as I rode through County Kerry and this little town, remarkably untouched by time. Aaron joins with flute on this one.
Crossing Over As with many of these tunes, this came to me just as I was playing one day. The Mixolydian mode appeals greatly to my ear, and finds its way into lots of these tunes. I recorded this one on Tales Of Content, an album from 2007. The small pipes are played by Adam Phillips.
Maids of Mitchellstown is a tune that I heard on The Best of the Bothy Band, a record that came out in the ’seventies. Such an evocative melody, and I loved their version, which certainly became the seed for this arrangement.
Tahoe Trees came to me sitting under the tall spruce trees on the shore of Lake Tahoe at the cabin of some dear friends. There was a stately presence to the trees there. Perhaps, if one feels a somewhat mournful tone in this, it is a foreboding of a fire that took the cabin and trees a few years later.
Montcaron is a hill with a little farm in the south of France, and I sat in the garden there one morning, playing and listening, when this tune came to me. It’s a very old place, surrounded by woods and pastures, and the garden is full of flowers and fruit trees. Les Marronniers is the name of the estate there, and the same tune gets played up-tempo, with an additional “C” part to it. Back to Tahoe Trees to close out the set.
Ghosts of Carnac An ancient town in Brittany that has been part of the Celtic culture for thousands of years, Carnac is known for its megaliths, huge stones stood in rows that go on for great distances. It is a great mystery that they are there, and why; they seem to be part of an important ritual, as do the henges in Great Britain.
Cooley’s Reel is a traditional tune that I heard in sessions at The Press Room in Portsmouth, New Hampshire; and Bob Frost, a banjoist from that session, put up a tablature version online (a good one, too!), and a student of mine found it. I like the pairing with Ghosts.
Laird’s Castle I sat on the shore of Elbow Lake in Montana one afternoon playing the fiddle, when this tune seemed to come right up out of the water. It felt more like Scotland than anything, and I kept playing it until our friend who lives there put me in a canoe and paddled us around the lake while I played. Montana Air came out of the Swan Valley a year or two later, just the same way. It feels like settlers music to me, and is thematically almost a major-key bookend to Laird’s.
Grainne Ni M’Haille is the Irish name for Gracie O’Malley, the 16th Century “fearless leader, by land and by sea; a political pragmatist and politician; a ruthless plunderer; a mercenary, a rebel, and a shrewd and able negotiator….” (from her biography by Anne Chambers). The pub named after her in Newport has a great session, where we were fortunate to sit in one night, and we heard everything you can imagine, all played beautifully. This tune has a sound like the energy in Grainne Ni M’Haille’s that night.
Dorian Green is a jig, yet again with a very modal quality to it, swinging from minor to major key throughout. A bouncy little whimsical piece, I was working on this while travelling through the west of Ireland, and played it in Doolin, in Ennis at the Old Ground, and in Lisdoonvarna, all in County Clare.
The Blarney Pilgrim Taught to me by my son Aaron, this is a three-part tune that I heard years ago, and I finally had him show it to me; he does the fine flute work on it.
Toby’s Fancy was written as I walked on the Mesa at Toby Wilcox’s old property, which he generously gave to the town of Santa Barbara as a park. Toby was a long-lived gentleman with a fine sense of humor, and would have been honored to have this waltz made for him.
Wand’ring Rick The entire collection of tunes on this recording is dedicated to Rick Lee, for whom I wrote this jig. Just like Rick, it does wander, and it comes up with surprises and twists. Rick was capable of sitting in with almost any tune and accompanying it masterfully on the piano. He was also a brilliant claw-hammer banjo player and a songwriter with a huge voice.
Planxty George Barabazon was written by Turlough O’Carolan, who was an itinerant Irish harper who lived from 1670 to 1738 and wrote loads of tunes, many of them for friends or people that had been hospitable to him, for whom he used the title “Planxty.” It feels very Baroque, and to my ear sits alongside Vivaldi quite well.
The Fernwood is a camping place in Big Sur, California, where as I walked along with the river below, this tune came to me. Aaron on flute on this one.
All Work and No Play is an old hornpipe that was the first tune I ever wrote. I had forgotten it, and then it came to mind as I was putting together the tunes for this record. It goes remarkably well into Off To California, a traditional tune that I have loved for years. Accordion in the mix on these first two of the set, along with flute and mandolin.
The Banshee was another trad melody that I’d heard, and I sat in a little alcove in Westport, Ireland trying to put it together from memory. Lots of fun to play.
Costa Vasca is written for the Basque coastal region of Spain and France, and the people there. I sat in a park one dusky evening playing this tune in Biarritz. My friend Bilbo plays bassoon with me, and I play a counterpoint electric violin.
The End of Time This air is one of my favorite of the melodies I’ve put together. Certainly, it is the end of the record, for what would I play to follow it?
