The Quarantine Chronicles
Our debut album, Dream of Me, was released on April 3rd, but because NYC was already in lockdown due to the COVID-19 outbreak, our CD release show at Rockwood Music Hall was canceled, along with several other appearances. So, we’ve had to get a little creative about promoting the album! Enter The Quarantine Chronicles! Each week we'll post a video that we’ve recorded remotely from our respective Brooklyn apartments. You may hear some street noise, some chirping birds, or a barking dog here or there. That’s all part of the charm of our new reality!
THIS WEEK: Has anyone notices how popular Sea Shanties are at the moment? Well Liz and Fiona have so this week we bring you a great one.⚓️ "Farewell to Carlingford" was written by celebrated Irish musician Tommy Makem who was born in Northern Ireland but in 1955 he emigrated to the United States at age 23. He was perhaps best known as a member of "The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem" and we learned this song from their 1968 record "Sing of the Sea". We chose this one because Fiona's parents had their first home on Carlingford Rd in Sydney, Australia and the suburb of Carlingford was a big part of her childhood (though not the actual Carlingford to which the song refers).
Also, St Paddy's Day is around the corner of this near-year anniversary of the Covid-19 pandemic so Fiona and Liz are back on course to bring you more songs throughout the spring.
So stay safe, stay sane, and sing sea shanties!
-Fiona and Liz
↡Scroll to the bottom of the page to see a round up of our previous QC songs↡
Quarantine Chronicles Round Up
Our first offering was The Velvet Underground's "Sunday Morning," followed by one from Dream of Me,“Midnight Blues," by the great Charlie Rich. Next up was the beautiful "To Love Somebody" by The Bee Gees. Then another from our album, E.C.Ball's haunting "Trials, Troubles, Tribulations". Our special Mother's Day tribute was Blondie's 1980 hit, "Call Me," followed by a week of feeling that things may never get back to "normal" so we covered the Bonnie Tyler hit, "it's a Heartache". As Memorial Day 2020 was marked by the inability to spend it with our loved ones, we covered Al Green's "Tired of Being Alone". Then we all bore witness to the video of the horrific murder of George Floyd. We were torn whether or not to post, but it felt right to sing the hymnal "When I Can Read My Titles Clear," written in 1707 by Isaac Watts and which we learned from mountain singer, Ola Belle Reed. Fiona wrote "Dark Days" as a direct response after witnessing the video of George Floyd's murder and the cry he made for his mama with his last breaths. June's second offering was a song to lift your spirits, Jerry Lee Lewis' "Crazy Arms," followed by Echo &The Bunnymen's dark-calm "Ocean Rain". The hurricane of powerful protest affecting change is here and we hope the calm of this song brings a chance to breathe, pause and get ready to keep on. On June 28th, we sang the classic song "All you need is love” by The Beatles to celebrate LGBTQ Pride 🏳️🌈. July's first QC song was "I'll Fly Away" a song that both Fiona and Liz have sung together and apart, on both happy and sad occasions. Somehow this song still brings comfort with the idea that there is a better world than this one, where we can meet again in joy and happiness. July 12th, we brought you a classic song from Australian band The Go-Betweens . "Streets of Your Town” might be one of their best known songs. It was the first single from the classic 1988 album 16 Lovers Lane. "Am I Still Your Demon" was the selection from July 19th. This song was written by Liz Tormes. The album version features a wonderful trombone arrangement by J. Walter Hawkes, as well as Glenn Patshca on keys, but this version is how we've always played it live - with just 2 voices and 2 guitars. At the end of July, we took a little field trip to New Jersey to visit a bona fide fallout shelter ☢️courtesy of string-master musician David Mansfield for his new live music series “The Fallout Shelter”! This Facebook Live session was recorded by Dae Bennett and includes a bonus track at the end recorded live in the actual Fallout Shelter! Aug 23 we decided to Let The Good Times Roll with the Sam Cooke classic and followed it up with a tune we learned from Buck Owens called "Above and Beyond." October's first QC was our version of the Irish/ Appalchian murder ballad "Down in the Willow Garden", Sombre times are sometimes strangely soothed with sad stories. Next, right in time for Halloween, came the haunting song "Walls of Time" written by the Father of Bluegrass, Mr Bill Monroe and Peter Rowan who was a bluegrass boy at the time. 🌅 For the 24th installment of the QC we briought you a calming version of the beautiful song "Waterloo Sunset" by Ray Davies to counteract the crazy and keeps you warm during the "chilly chilly evening times" in November.