Our latest recording is called "Tribe". Released in July 2011, it is a collection of traditional and original tunes and is about connection. It celebrates the ways tradition connects us to our past, to our present and to each other. It includes eight original tunes by James Spalink that honor the ways different people touch our lives. We wanted to open up this project so we invited our friends Michael Gunn and Cara Lieurance to each do a song. Other friends and family members make brief appearances also. This is our "tribe" - that to which we belong. On a larger scale everyone who hears and enjoys the music shares in the music. If that is you, welcome to our tribe.

1.  Breton March (traditional)

This track sets the tone for the CD.  It’s a traditional Breton tune from Brittany in the north of France.  Distinctly Celtic, it has a very Old World quality.  We don’t know the name of it. We call it the Breton March.

2.  The Moving Cloud (traditional)

Fred learned this tune from bagpiper, Joe Barrett.  Originally a fiddle tune adapted for the bagpipe, Fred arranged it for guitar.  He originally performed this arrangement with the Celtic group “Amadaun”.  This version with An Dro has a nice swing to it.

3.  Dante’s Daughter (James Spalink)

Jim composed this tune in honor of Michele.  He says, “I never got the pleasure of meeting Michele’s father, Dante Venegas, before his passing, but as I got to know her I was touched by a daughter’s love and devotion to her father, and his to her.  This tune is just a simple tribute to both of them and their relationship to each other.”

4.  A Bruxa/Galician Jigs (traditional)

These tunes are from Galicia, the Celtic region of Spain.  The first is a waltz with a very distinctive feel characteristic of the music from that part of the Celtic world.  The jigs are ones that Fred learned from bagpiper, Joe Barrett, although he changed the key and set them in a minor mode giving them a certain dark urgency.  They’re fun to play.

5.  Iiten Tiltu/Ellin Polka/Finnish Polka (traditional)

This set of Polkas is inspired by the music played on Beaver Island.   The first two tunes are Finnish and come from a book called “Michigan Jamboree “.  The final tune, called the Finnish Polka, shows up in so many collections of Irish music that we actually believe it might be of Irish origin.

6.  Terror Time (Ewan MacCall)

Our great friend Michael Gunn sings this haunting song about the life of migrant gypsies in the British Isles. 

7.  Riki (James Spalink)

Jim dedicates this tune to his grandmother, Riki Swank. 

8.  Catharina Jackson (James Spalink)

Of this tune Jim says, “According to some yellowed old papers unceremoniously ‘filed’ in a shoebox at my parents’ house, the ship Catharina Jackson set sail from the Netherlands in 1847, bringing the first of my maternal ancestors to America.”

9.  Boston Jimmy/Temporal Reel (James Spalink/Fred Willson)

Of Boston Jimmy, Jim says, “A Celtic band that I was in previously (Puck Faire) played regularly for a pub in Kalamazoo, MI for years.  Boston Jimmy was one of the regular characters (and I do mean character) who became one of our friends.  He lived a full and robust life, and last I heard he got a big boat and sailed off to ports unknown with his love.  This is for you, Jimmy, wherever you are.”

10. Mon Chapeau Rouge “My Red Hat”/Whiskey and Tuna (James Spalink)

Jim says, “My friend, Nancy Wanha, knowing of my love for cross-country skiing and for local history made for me the perfect gift – she knitted a red chapeau from a 17^th century pattern that the early French voyageurs, the first intrepid European explorers of the Michigan Territories, would have worn (although some might argue the Vikings were here before).  At any rate, it struck me how something so simple can bring such exuberance.  I love that hat.  And I swear it makes me ski better.” 

11. An Dros/Wind That Shakes the Barley (traditional)

This track starts off with three An Dros from Brittany and then morphs into a song beautifully rendered by our friend Cara Lieurance.  “Wind That Shakes the Barley”, written by Robert Dwyer Joyce, is a rich Irish ballad about Ireland’s struggle against British rule.

12. The Slender, Dark-Haired Boy/Tatiana’s Dance (traditional/James Spalink)

Featuring the Celtic harp, this track begins with a traditional tune followed by an original tune by Jim.  “Tatiana is the queen of the faeries in William Shakespeare’s “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream”.  This tune is taken from a collection of harp tunes written several years ago for my granddaughter, Rylee.  The beautiful personal touches that the band adds are a perfect example of how ‘my’ tunes become ‘our’ tunes.”

13. Happi (James Spalink)

The title of this tune pretty much says it all.  In the end, Carolyn plays nearly every percussion instrument that she keeps in her van, plus some that she found for the occasion.