"ABOUT TIME TWO"
(Track listing, additional informational and times)
1. Hound Dog (Leiber/Stoller) 2.30
This is a Two Time Polkaization of the 1956 Elvis Presley hit.
It's always handy to have an Elvis song in your repertoire. Our
take on the song is pretty much substituting accordions and fiddles
for electric gu itars. The intro is deceptive and it kind of
sneaks up on you hopefully bringing a smile.
Tomas - Vocals, guitar and
washboard; Ray -; Fiddles; Geraldine -; Accordion;
Liam -; Acoustic guitar; James -; Bass guitar and vocals;
Des -; Drums and triangle.
2. Roanoke (B. Monroe) 2.03
Bill Monroe recorded this tune of his in 1954. The name comes
from the town of Roanoke in Virginia. The story goes that he
wrote the tune in a Roanoke hotel room while suffering from a
severe toothache as the rest of the band went to eat. When the
band returned he had this great tune completed.
Ray -; Mandolins; Liam - Acoustic guitar, jews-harp and
didgeridoo; Tomas - Acoustic rhythm guitar; Geraldine -; Concertina;
Mick -; Dobro guitar; James -; Bass guitar;
Des -; Drums.
3. Bayou Pompon (Trad. Arr. R. Barron) 3.10
This is a traditional song from South Louisiana. It's Jason O'Driscoll's
favourite song in the whole world and he makes his banjo-playing
debut here. It's strange the stuff you get mixed up in when you
play with Two Time Polka!
Geraldine -; Accordion; Ray -; Mandolin; Tomas -; Vocals, acoustic guitar and washboard; Noel -; Bass guitar; Des -; Drums and triangle; Liam -; Vocals and electric guitar; Jason -; Vocals and 5 string banjo.
4. Another Lonely Night (B. Richard) 4.14
The tune for this song was knocking around with us for quite
a while but the words eluded us until one night after a gig a
friend of the band gave us a video, which contained a film on
Cajun music. Lo and behold half way through the film this song
popped up with subtitles. The video itself has long since been
borrowed!
Tomas -; Vocals and guitar; Liam -; Electric guitar;
Geraldine -; Accordion;
Ray -; Mandolin; Noel -; Bass; Des -; Drums.
5. The Promised Land (C. Berry) 3.58
Hank Wedel calls this the perfect rock 'n' roll song as it was
written by Chuck Berry and recorded by Elvis Presley. Our take
on the song is based on a version by Louisiana hellraiser Johnnie
Allen.
Tomas -; Vocals and guitar; Liam -; Electric guitar
and piano; Geraldine -; Accordion;
Ray -; Mandolin; James -; Bass; Des -; Drums; Leon -;
Electric guitar.
6. Jerusalem Ridge (B. Monroe) 3.30
Bill Monroe called this tune after the area where he grew up.
Jerusalem Ridge is just outside Rosnie, Kentucky. He wrote it
in the mid eighties. This ve rsion comes from multi instrumentalist
Robert Bowlin.
Ray -; Mandolins; Liam -; Acoustic electric and slide
guitars, keyboards;
Tomas - Acoustic rhythm guitar; Jason -; Bass guitar and
open tuned acoustic guitar;
Des -; Drums and percussion.
7. Blind Willie McTell (B. Dylan) 5.13
Back in 1993 Rick Danko played two nights in the Lobby Bar in
Cork. They were incredible concerts. Ray was asked to do the
sound for the gigs and couldn't believe his luck when Rick's
road manager requested that the gigs be recorded. On the first
night Rick opened his set with this great Bob Dylan song. Tomas'
version of the song is a mixture of this recording and a Bob
Dylan bootleg recording, which we got from Ger Barron in Kilmacthomas,
Co. Waterford. Six years later the sad news came through of Ricks
untimely death. In February of 2000 Two Time Polka came together
with Hank Wedel and Open Kitchen, The Lynch Mob and several other
local musicians to pay tribute to Rick and the music of The Band.
The gig was staged in The Lobby Bar and all proceeds from the
night along with a signed poster were later sent to the Danko
family.
Tomas -; Vocals and guitar; Liam -; Electric and acoustic
guitars, Hammond organ;
Ray -; Mandolin; Geraldine -; Accordion; James -; Bass; Des
-; Drums and percussion.
8 Roxanna Waltz (B. Monroe) 2.34
We used to play this tune when the band first started but then
it got dropped from the set list. Over the last year or so it
made a comeback as the first tune in a set with Roanoke. We thought
it best for the CD to keep them as separate tracks. When researching
these sleeve notes we found it difficult to find out any background
about the tune. Kenny Baker, fiddle player and occasional Blue
Grass Boys member when asked about who wrote the tune said, "Yeah,
Bill composed that waltz, but I never knew who Roxanna was".
Ray -; Mandola; Geraldine -; Concertina; Eileen -; Fiddles;
Mick -; Dobro;
Tomas -; Acoustic guitar; Liam -; Guitar; James -; Bass
guitar; Des -; Drums.
9. Eunice Two-Step (Trad. Arr. R. Barron)
We first got this tune from The Boat Band and it has been a mainstay
of our set since then. The tune itself goes back to some of the
earliest recordings of Cajun music. Legendary Cajun musician
Amede Ardion recorded the tune back in 1929 as Two-Step de Eunice.
Geraldine -; Accordion; Ray -; Mandolin; Tomas -; Vocals, acoustic guitar and washboard; James -; Bass guitar; Des -; Drums; Liam -; Vocals and electric guitar.
10. Tokyo Rose (J. Dolan) 3.38
We learned this song from our good friend Johnny Moynihan. It
was written by Johnny's friend Joe Dolan who along with Andy
Irvine and Johnny made up the original Sweeney's Men back in
the sixties. Joe has written many great songs such as The Foxy
Devil and Trip To Jerusalem both recorded by Christy Moore. Johnny
has long been a champion of Joe's songs and usually includes
one or two of them in his set. The Tokyo Rose referred to in
this song was a Japanese American woman who became famous during
World War II. She broadcast propaganda from Radio Tokyo directed
at American troops in the South Pacific. She used to play popular
American music in an effort to make the troops homesick, as well
as telling them what their wives/girlfriends were up to at home!
She was brought back to the States after the war, and imprisoned
after trial for treason. She served 6 years of her 10 year sentence,
and was last known to be living in the Chicago area. We're not
sure if she's still in the radio
business!
Tomas -; Vocals and guitar; Aine -; Vocals; Ray -;
Mandolin; Liam -; Acoustic Guitar;
Mel -; Percussion; Noel -; Bass.
11. Lacassine Special (I. LeJeune) 2.15
Back in the late seventies Ray spent some time busking in London
just about the time that punk was starting to happen. The bands
of the day had a novel way of self-promotion by writing the name
of their bands as graffiti on the tubes and subways. Ray had
a busking pitch in Marble Arch in front of a piece of graffiti
that declared the 'Balham Alligators Rules'. The name stuck with
him for a few decades until one day he came across a CD called
'Cajun Dance Party' in a bargain bin. Down at the very bottom
it said in small print "17 Sizzlers From The Swamp Performed
by the Balham Alligators". When he listened to the CD this
tune jumped out at him. Tomas sourced the words and somewhere
along the way train noises became part of it.
Geraldine -; Accordion; Ray -; Mandolin; Tomas -;
Vocals and acoustic guitar;
Noel -; Bass guitar; Des -; Drums; Liam -; Electric
guitar; James -; Vocals;
Hank -; Slide guitar;
12. Azalea Waltz (K. Chiavola) 3.10
We learnt this tune from bluegrass mandolin player Butch Baldassari.
It was written by Kathy Chiavola, an American singer and guitarist.
We've played this tune live only a handful of times but it look
s like it could be making a comeback
Geraldine -; Concertina; Aisling =; Cello; Tomas -;
Guitar; Ray =; Mandolin;
Liam -; Guitar and chimes; Noel -; Bass.
About Time Two album credits
Musicians:
Tomas Dunne (Vocals, acoustic guitar, washboard)
Ray Barron (Mandolins, fiddle, mandola)
Geraldine Barron (Accordion, concertina)
Des Field (Drums, percussion)
James O'Sullivan (Bass guitar, vocals)
Liam Murphy (Vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, keyboards,
Hammond organ and jews-harp)
Guest Musicians:
Jason O'Driscoll (Bass guitar and acoustic guitar ; track
6: Vocals and 5 string banjo ; track 3)
Noel Barrett (Bass guitar ; track 3, 4, 10, 11 & 12)
Aisling Fitzpatrick (Cello ; track 12)
Eileen Healy (Fiddles ; track 8)
Mick Power (Dobro guitar ; track 2 & 8)
Mel Mercier ( track 10)
Aine Whelan (Vocals ; track 10)
Hank Wedel (Slide guitar ; track 11)
Leon Barron (Electric guitar ; final "Thank you and
Good Night.solo on 'The Promised Land')
Produced by Liam Murphy.
Engineered by Liam Murphy and Ray Barron.
Mixed by Liam Murphy and Ray Barron *
Mastered by Robin Robyns at Mid Atlantic Digital, Enniskillen.
Recorded at Ray Barrons Studio, Douglas, Cork **
* (excep t track 10 mixed by Mel Mercier and Ray)
** (initial drum and bass recordings for tracks 3, 4, 6 and
11 engineered by John
O'Donoghue at Spector Studios, Cork City.)
Special Thanks for the musical helping hand to:
Leon, Jason, Noel, Eileen, Aisling, Aine, Mel, Mick, Hank.
Thanks for the gracious loan of instruments and amplifiers
to:
Robbie Barron, Mo O'Connor, Jennifer Lomansey, Don Buckley, Jimmy
Crowley, Noel Curran and Shane Scanlon.
Thanks for all the help along the way to:
Senan Quinlan, Dave Barry, Roy O'Driscoll, Trevor Kiely, Nigel
Cahill, Des McCullough, Senan O'Reilly, Tom Stapleton, Paddy
and Sandra McGrath, Dan Fitzgerald, Reggie McCrohan, Pat Costelloe,
Austin Durack, Ita Kane, John Creedon, Aine Hensey, P.J. Curtis,
Carrie Crowley, Kieran Hurley, Pat Aherne, Paul Dromey, Roger
Ryan, Ruairi and Tony O'Flaherty from The Living Tradition, Therese
from Osssian Publications, Michael Dower, Ger Barron, Declan
McCarthy, Johnny Moynihan, Finian O'Sullivan, Niall Toner, William
Hammond, John O'Regan, Rob the Bones, Alan Alcock, Harry Moore,
Andreas Del Favero (Italy), Mike Considine (Chicago), Carmina
Escardo (Spain), The Boat Band, Dave Martin, Neil Conway, Dave
Cunningham, Alan Sheehan, Andrew Tuite, John O'Donoghue, Martin
Bohane, Kevin and Brenda, Sonny and Anne, Paul and Ursula, William
Barrett, Josephine and Denis O'Regan.
AND FINALLY.. heartfelt thanks to all the people who have supported us at our gigs down through the years. We really hope you enjoy this CD as we had you in mind when recording it. See you down the road