What a blast making this music was! When Lynda Nelson of Concord NH came to my studio to start working on recordings of her songs, it became immediately apparent that putting her music in the hands of the legendary ‘Nashville Cats’ would be the way to go. I knew Lynda’s exuberant positivity would bring out the best in Music City’s …
Josephine County- Celtic/American fusion
Those who know me and my eclectic and far-ranging musical tastes know that there’s usually one bridge I rarely cross: the fusion of idioms and styles. All of that conservatism is shattered with this new project from 4 of my absolute favorite musicians/singers: Hanz Araki, Colleen Raney, Matt Shipman and Erica Brown. I must say that I’ve always found that …
Liz and Dan Faiella
These are two of the finest young New England Celtic musicians I know, and it’s been an absolute delight to work with them on what was essentially a ‘live in the studio’ project. Liz’s fiddle tone posed absolutely no challenges to the microphone, Dan’s guitar is so good it almost makes this aging guitar player a little mad! …
Catching up, May 2017
Here’s a problem with a blog-type website: I get so busy making music with all the wonderful people who come through my studio doors that I have no time to chronicle it all. I promise I’ll catch up soon with more formal postings with pics and clips, but here’s a brief look at what’s been happening: Carrigan and Blair are …
Lindsay Straw: Traditional Folk with fresh expertise!
Superb instrumental skills on guitar and bouzouki, a keen ear for repertoire selection, new takes on centuries-old stories and a clear, sparkling voice make this project everything a folk audience can hope for. Music from the past has a bright future! Lindsay‘s thoughtful preparation prior to the recording dates ensured an efficient use of time, keeping costs low and energy levels …
Chris Vaughan: Portsmouth’s ‘Great Scot’!
One of the first projects that came to me at Mill Pond Music about five years ago involved my adding a few guitar parts to and mixing the Dave Hallowell-produced CD by Portsmouth’s Scot-about-town, bon vivant Chris Vaughan. There’s now a new collection of his songs, ‘Americana 1974’. The production is in a folk-country vein, yours truly playing all the instruments, with bluesy …
Carrigan & Blair
Full disclosure: I know Mike Blair and Steve Carrigan well, having played many a gig and concert with them as a part of Portsmouth’s Maritime/Celtic Folk ensemble Great Bay Sailor. Great fun it was to blast through some of the songs we love on this new collection entitled O Chroi. Thanks, Mike for giving me free rein to do all the instrumental …
Cathy Wilson: Celtic Folk in Cookeville TN
Out of the blue, while waiting for a plane at the Nashville airport, I got a call from Cathy. She had found the Mill Pond Music Studio website on line, had seen all the Celtic Tribute Series CDs I’d produced and had read about all the wonderful Celtic acts that have found their way to my workspace, but had just realized I …
John Carew: Boston’s Celtic Folk troubador
John is one of the first musicians I met when I started exploring the idea of moving back to New England from Nashville. I think it was in 2005, just after spending a wonderful week in upstate NY accompanying world-renowned fiddler Craig Duncan, a long-time colleague who was being inducted into the Northeast Fiddler’s Hall of Fame. I stepped into a …
Fodhla- Fine Irish music trio
I’ve known Nicole Rabata for 5 years and had many a lovely Irish tune session in her company. She’s a fine flute payer and true pro, and I‘m very grateful that she chose to bring in her companions in this lovely 6-tune project, Ellery Klein on fiddle and Bethany Waickman on DADGAD guitar to record here at MPM Studio. Here’s a …
Riptide: America’s Contra Dance Band!
Something about the unselfconsciousness of making music purely for dancing has brought out the best in this group of stellar Portland ME based traditional musicians: Alden Robinson, Owen Marshall and Glen Loper, joined by the Contradance world’s leading percussionist Mark ‘Pokey’ Hellenberg. Contra dance aficionados will instantly recognize that this collection represents the apex of the genre’s musicianship. Those who have …
Eric McDonald & Ryan McKasson- Scottish fiddle and guitar
Eric‘s brought several projects to the studio in the last few months. This latest, with stellar West Coast Scottish/Cape Breton-style fiddler Ryan McKasson is just sweet. Listen!
Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki Trio: High-Energy Celtic
It’s here! Jordan’s new trio CD release party packed the legendary Stone Church in Newmarket NH. I got there for the last few songs after a grueling run of St. Pat’s gigs and was knocked out by their larger-than-life sound. I immediately started to wonder-did the CD manage to capture that energy in the recording process? A quick reference to …
‘Celtic Tribute’ Series on CMH
“You look like you could play Irish music” said the agent, who had known me for many years, “there’s a new Irish Pub opening at the Opryland Hotel, and we’d like you to put together an acoustic trio to play there.” Thus, in 2003, was born ‘The Boys of County Nashville‘. Jeff Taylor and I became totally besotted with …
New Mic!!
I try not to get too excited about new equipment. While the search for the utmost transparency between the heart of the music maker and the heart of the listener is a constant here at MPM Studio, the focus is always on the music. But this new mic!! The Neumann U 47 is the holy grail of microphones-every instrument and voice on …