album

Album Review – Throw Another Fife on the Fire

I’ve been waiting for an album like this for a long time. In the music industry they say that the best records have great performances of great material, with great engineering. If you nail those three things, you’ve got a winner. Throw Another Fife on the Fire, an album by a group called Confluence, checks off all these boxes masterfully.

I received my copy today, rushed home from work, and queued it up in my studio, where I can hear every glorious detail sparkling through the monitors.

The album is centered around the alluring fifing of Billy White, Kara Loyal, Emily Barone, and Troy Paolantonio. Anyone who has ever heard a fife knows how harsh an instrument it can be in the hands of the less experienced. Fortunatley the fifing on this album is not being performed by the less experienced. Instead, they are professionals in the truest sense, and the tonal quality of every track is lush and beautiful. Sometimes it is bright and happy, other times it is haunting and dark, but alway smooth, clean, and effortlessly performed. And for recording geeks like me, it is impeccably engineered.

The first track, which includes the classic Hey! Johnnie Cope Are You Waukin’ Yet?, might lead you to believe that this will be a traditional fife and drum album, something you might expect from the United States Army Old Guard Fife & Drum Corps. But I believe it is a well placed trap, as the performers are all present or past members of the illustrious aforementioned organization.

One measure into the fife duet of track two, performed by the very talented Billy White and Kara Loyal, will quickly have you rethinking what you thought this album was going to be. The track, entitled A Team, and many others, were written by Billy White. The duet, which starts off lively and in a minor key, has three movements, including a lovely melancholy second movement. The structure of the melodies, harmonies and movements immediately sets it apart from the traditional structures of fife music.

Track three takes another left turn down a moss covered cobble stone street leading you to a cozy pub, maybe in County Clare, where a guitar provides a heartbeat intro for a slow jig called Home Alone. The guitar, performed by Josh Dukes, who is one of the few Americans to win an All-Ireland championship on the instrument, compliments the jig with a perfectly understated rhythm. Josh’s talents appear throughout the album, including a swift reel where the tonal quality of his guitar is reminiscent of the great guitarist, John Doyal.

The space that is carved out in the first three tracks allows the musicians to explore a vast array of musical styles from Celtic, to Bluegrass, to Classical, and even a mixed meter Jazz oriented tune, that I admittedly wrote twenty-five years ago.  The performers deftly weave these styles together into a mesmerising tapestry that anyone would want to hang on their wall. Each track has its unique charm, and new musicians and new instruments are introduced throughout, all anchored by the fife. Have you heard a five string banjo or mandolin on a fife album before? You will on this album, and they’re performed by a seasoned master, Ryan Mullins. The color that his bluegrass-style playing brings to the album is undeniably gorgeous. His playing on The Eighteenth of December compliments the fife like a warm summer day.

Are there drums, you might be wondering? Yes, and they are brilliant. Dave Loyal and Mark Reilly have created beautiful tension, in a tune called Evil Olive, which loops back onto itself like a palindrome. Each track they are on is flawless, crisp, and well crafted.

In addition to Kara and Billy on the fifes, there is Emily Barone and Troy Paolantonio, who come to the fife through years of classical training the flute. Both are incredibly accomplished musicians with a long string of accolades, and both bring a sensibility to the fife that is essential for the complex material presented on this album. Their energy shines through on every duet, trio, and quartet they perform.

The album rounds out the way it began, with a nod to tradition. But this album also builds on the tradition of fifing and illustrates how a well placed guitar, banjo, or mandolin can bring something new to a musical form that is hundreds of years old. It is a grand addition to the catalog of fife and drum albums. It makes me happy, as good music should, and will get many rotations in my house.

You can find Throw Another Fife on the Fire on CD Baby.

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Sudbury Colonial Faire

Every fall, as the air becomes crisp and the leaves begin to turn, there is a wonderful event that takes place on the grounds of the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts.
 
Colonial Sudbury
 
On the last Saturday of September the Sudbury Companies of Militia and Minute and the Sudbury Ancient Fyfe and Drum Companie host a colonial faire, which features twenty or so fife and drum groups from all over New England and beyond.
 
Sudbury Fife and Drum
 
This years line up includes such perennial favorites as the Middlesex County Volunteers, who have just returned from a month long trip to Scottland where they had the great honor of playing at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. Beyond that, they play some of the pertiest fife and drum arrangements you’ll ever hear.
 
MCV at Edinburgh Castle
 
Additionally, all the way from Fort Myer, Virginia comes the United States 3rd Infantry, otherwise known as The Old Guard Fife & Drum. The Old Guard, being an official ceremonial unit for the President of the United States, has also played the wide world over. Imagine having this on your resume; They were asked, by Jackie Kennedy, to play at JFK’s Funeral Parade. You can see them in red at the bottom right of the picture below, which was published in Life Magazine. They are truly classy and put on a great show.
 
Old Guard at JFK Funeral

 
The Ancient Mariners, also recently returning from a European tour, will bring their own unique brand of fife and drum entertainment to the colonial faire, which takes place in what, many years ago, was a corn field across from the Wayside Inn.
 
Mariners and the Prisoner
 
Incidentally, many of the Ancient Mariners are actually Old Guard alumni and, in fact, there is one Mariner that has recently joined. I, myself, auditioned for the Old Guard in 1988 but was rejected on the grounds that I was too short. Basta’ds. A year later I joined the Ancient Mariners to receive my floggings…but I digress.

In any case, the faire really is a great day full of music, apple cider, riotous children’s games such as Soak the Bloke, and a variety of colonial vendors that sell everything from fifes to flapjacks.

Don’t miss it.

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We Are the Mariners – Wettsteinmarsch

Swiss Drum
 
People often wonder why we travel all the way to Switzerland to play music. Incredibly, Switzerland, and I am speaking most specifically about Basel, has an amazingly rich tradition of piccolo and snare drum, which can be seen annually in their colorful festival called Fasnacht.
 
Fasnacht
 
To an outsider the music may seem similar to American fife and drum. The literature, style and instruments, however, are all different. They are different sort of like how jazz is different from the rock’n roll. Throw a rock guitarist into a jazz band and without the proper experience he will likely flounder. Yet, there are enough similarities that will make the jazz-rock crossover intriguing. The same is true for American fife and drum and Basel piccolo and drum.

In addition, just about everyone I’ve met in Basel plays either the drum or piccolo. It is serious business. Consequently, many people from Basel are interested in hearing American fife and drum music. As a result, American fife and drum corps have been sprouting up in Switzerland over the last couple of decades. Likewise, we love to hear their style of music.

Fortunately for me, there was a piccolo and drum band, or clique, performing on the evening of our arrival. Incidentally, one of their piccolo players is also a member of the Swiss Mariners. So, the first bit of music I heard in Switzerland was actually Basel style music. It was a nice way to start the trip. The final piece the clique played is called the Wettsteinmarsch, which is a very well known tune in Basel, named after one of the main city bridges that crosses the Rhine. If you listen closely you will notice that they do not have bass drums, as they are not part of their tradition. Instead, you will notice, their snare style shifts abruptly between very soft and very loud much more so than our style of drumming. Also, I love hearing the high piccolo harmony that plays above the melody. Our American fifing very rarely has harmonizes in such a way.

So, the recording that I captured here is of the clique named 1884, which is an offshoot of another famous clique named VKB.

Let me warn you; I took some liberties with this recording. Hours after we heard the Swiss perform, the Mariners were in the Baggenstos cleaning their mugs with beer. My buddy Joe thought it would be a good idea to play the Wettsteinmarsch. Problem is, he does not know how to play it. So, as an intro to the Swiss playing on their native instruments, I’ve merged in the results of Joe’s attempt at playing this Swiss classic for our Swiss friends. I love how relentless the Swiss drummers are here. Joe played all of eight notes and the drummers jumped on his lead and continued on without him and, ultimately, the entire Baggenstos continued without him. What fun.

Wettsteinmarsch by baconworks