NH’s Lynda Nelson ‘Forever in a Song’: New England to Nashville and back!

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 …

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 …

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 …

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 …

Fall update

Lots happening this past summer into fall:  new CDs by John Carew, Skip Gorman, Annie Eastman Young, Gus LaCasse, song demos by Abbi White, Greg Lull, Brandon Harris, Brin Banta,  Portland Irish flutist Nicole Rabata‘s trio, a recent production trip to Nashville, and more- I’ll try to post some music and photos soon. Nashville’s Studio 19, one of my favorite places …

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 …

“…that’s an Irish Lullaby”

The challenge: to produce an instrumental CD without calling attention to the instruments, without distracting the listener from the beauty of the melody, to create an ambience of soothing relaxation for adults and children alike. I think that Bill Verdier, John Mock and I rose to the occasion in this collection of Irish melodies played as sparse, gentle lullabies we’ve …

‘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 …

Mudhook: ‘First Home’ CD

Just in time for the Portsmouth Maritime Folk Festival, Dave Hallowell, Peter Hale, Mike Jenneau and Alan Eaton, collectively known as Mudhook, have completed the special ‘collector’s edition’ of their new CD, here at Mill Pond Music. With charming, mostly traditional material, ringing guitars and bouzoukis, sweet fiddles, haunting low whistle and vocals sometimes rowdy, sometimes plaintive, this project exactly …