“…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 entitled “…that’s an Irish Lullaby”.

Perfect background music for a child’s bedtime, the stressed-out parent, the candle-lit dinner.

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 fits into the kind of genre that the studio is built for (using the word ‘built’ loosely- with full soundproofing still a few weeks away from completion, the occasional gull can be heard in the distance).

Great work, lads,and a great way to start the music flowing at Mill Pond!

(A note here to D-28 players: the AKG C460 mics, with audio upgrade by Jim Williams, made magic with Pete’s guitar-proving that D-28s don’t have to be boomy!)

Brendan Taaffe

Brendan’s exquisite, delicate guitar playing, sweet vocals can be heard on the four tracks he recorded here.  Follow this link to his website and click ‘listen’  on his his website.   The two B & K 4011 mics, with ruler-flat response, did a nice job of capturing the brilliant sound of his small-bodied guitar.

The solid workhorse Neumann U87 (with a substantial audio upgrade by Nashville’s legendary Bill Bradley) did its velvety work on Brendan’s subtle vocals. Looking forward to more!