The Peterboroughs

[Please delete my account]

I used to be in a short-lived  band called "The Peterboroughs" (the band name is an in-joke even I didn't understand). The line-up was vocals/ukulele, vocals/accordion (me), vocals/glockenspiel and vocals/banjo though none of us had ever played these instruments much before.

I just uploaded the only song we ever recorded as an active band to Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/ian-j-cockburn/the-peterboroughs-shine-my-1

And here's a song I wrote for the band that we never recorded at the time, but which I wanted to put on my next solo album so I recently got the other members back together to finally record it, augmented with two other friends on bass and drums.
https://soundcloud.com/ian-j-cockburn/the-peterboroughs-friends-of-the-governer

These are both home recordings by me and thus they sound fine to me but are probably unlistenable to audiophiles. If it's any consolation I have decided never to record my own music unsupervised ever again from now on.

[feelsflow]

The instrumentation on "Shine My Skull" is reminiscent of southern Appalachian folk music, not the fiddle foot-stompers, the simple ballads like Jean Ritchie - a vocalist/dulcimer player from Kentucky.  She is from a famous family who handed music down through time.  Look into her and the Hindman Settlement School, many of the Ritchies went there.  And Cecil Sharp, an Englishman, who came to America 1916-1918 to study English folk songs that had survived in the southern Appalachia.  He recorded much of what he heard, creating perhaps the best regional song collection ever made.  His travels took him through Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina and Tennessee.  I first heard some of these when I was a kid.

So, I like your tracks.  You should put up more.  If you want to check out Jean, you have to look no further than youtube (they have everything, it's amazing).  "L and N don't stop here anymore" "Hangman" and "One I Love" are a good start.  Might hear something you like.

[Please delete my account]

Thank you very much Will, and thanks for your recommendation of Jean Ritchie. I've liked every bit of folk music I've ever heard from the Appalachians, and this is no exception. Though we never used a dulcimer- I wish we had. I'll recommend her to my fellow ex-bandmates.

Since you ask, here's my main band: http://theseveninches.bandcamp.com/
and here's my heavily-assisted home recorded solo album: http://iancockburnandthewholeworld.bandcamp.com/
Thanks for the interest!

[feelsflow]

It's the combination of accordion, banjo and glockenspiel, and just the tune in general that sent me off in that direction.  The vocals are nice on your tune as well.  Appalachian folk uses other things, dulcimer was just Jean's instrument of choice.  Wonder if Joni Mitchell ever heard her.  Banjos, of course are very popular - as are accordions.

Growing up in the south, you hear a lot of this soft, wistful type of music, much of it brought over from Ireland, England and Europe in general.  It doesn't take an expert musician to do it.  My sister plays the accordion.  I came from a musical family.  I can play piano and guitar, but recording it is another story.  What you and others are doing on just a computer is amazing.  I did record stuff when I was young, I still have some of the old reel-to-reel tapes, but not a player.  If you read enough of my posts, I occasionally mention (try to get people to notice without pushing it too far down their throats) Sam Beam/Iron and Wine.  He is a great southern storyteller and musician.  I love it when he writes about his southern childhood and his travels through the south as an adult.  I'm also a big fan of Bobbie Gentry.

I will listen to your other stuff soon.  It's Saturday, and for me that means we will soon start spinning tunes and have some drinks.  Saturday and Sunday are about the only days I really get to take off.  Saturday is all about relaxing.  When I'm not working, I spend a lot of time researching music, often on the old threads here or out on the net.  That's how I found this place called Smiley.  Would like to post more, but days are short..

Hope you have a nice week-end too,  Will