We had each other at hello, and at bonjour and hey. At aha and Wow. At you-want-me-to-do-what?…well, I’ll give it a go…hey, that was amazing! We “worked from can to can’t” (an old expression from the American South)—and then from can’t to can. And we can’t wait to do it all again. The Old Doors/New Worlds project began in 2009, bringing together musicians and dancers from different traditions to create, perform, and find new ways of passing on our treasures to coming generations. The project holds values that appear, on the surface, to be contradictory: we cherish the particular of each tradition, honoring its depth and integrity, and we celebrate our commonalities by inviting each other in, giving permission and encouragement to take creative chances. People come and go on the project, and that’s as should be—it’s like making soup with a good base and the daily harvest. Swedish/American fiddler Andrea Hoag, Cajun fiddler and singer David Greely, and Appalachian ballad singer and fiddler Daron Douglas initiated the project. Contemporary dancer Carson Reiners joined soon after. Cellists Mike Block and Emma Beaton and pianist Linda Handelsman took some turns in the dance. In 2011 our numbers doubled with the additions of percussive dancer Nic Gareiss, composer/guitarist Owen Morrison, barocketonal cellist Jodi Beder, and jazz saxophonist/bass clarinetist Leigh Pilzer. As we go to press, we bid David Greely a fond farewell, with gratitude for his dedication and brilliance; we’re delighted to welcome blues master Phil Wiggins, who joins us just in time to add a solo to this album; and we have adopted a new name as a performing troupe: Dovetail. This album is both a retrospective of the project and a harbinger of adventures to come. One of the roots of the endeavor also became something of a side project. When Andrea Hoag and David Greely met at Swannanoa Fiddle Week in 2009, they noticed some surprising similarities in their geographically and culturally distant traditions. Andrea proposed a question: what would happen if we met as though it was 1908 and we had no preconceptions of each other’s music? Explorations of that question led to five duo tracks on this recording. At their first meeting, Daron and David discovered a ballad melody in common, telling two stories in two languages. This became another way to work, letting connections emerge between seemingly disparate pieces—as you hear in Ayoù t’etait mercredi passé/The Sunny South and Daybreak/Eylulu/Maz’l, among others. Sharing our own compositions was also a natural way to let each other in on our musical souls—and sometimes new compositions arose from working together. For the September 2011 session, with new members yet to meet each other, we’d posted tunes and rhythms for each other in an online dropbox so we could begin to hear each other’s likes and suggestions. As we listened, ideas sparked. Once we met in person and began to work together, some things just didn’t fly, while others fairly pulsed with synergy. New pieces were added to fill in a hole or make a bridge. For four days we worked like crazy, each of us woodshedding in the few hours between our group sessions. On the fifth day we presented a concert, and on the sixth day we recorded in the studio. Most of the big-group pieces here are from the studio session, while the Polka Nueva set and the My Mule set are live recordings from the premiere concert. (The full concert is presented on the DVD, as well as a short documentary about the project.) Phil Wiggins joined us in 2012 and once again the bar was raised—we spent a wonderful week adding new pieces to our repertoire and reimagining the old ones. You’ll be hearing plenty more about that, and meanwhile Phil’s solo, Linin’ Hymns, is here to tease your imagination about our collaboration, and to stand tall on its own. We’re proud to present this work to you. It’s as much about process as it is about product, and we look forward to interacting in live performances and workshops. Thank you for lending your ear and eye. May our work encourage you in your own creative risks and revels. I was stunned, absolutely floored, by the talent and creativity with which I was surrounded…As I joined in with their cultures as well, my world became at once larger and smaller, as I was transported again and again by what I saw and heard, and felt in my hands and my heart. — David Greely Play/say what you really think. That is what we have a chance to do here now. But we have to trust each other to do it. We have to say, “This is my tradition.” It is more than a comfortable place for us. It is us. We have to know that about each other. And then we can see right through the door into each other’s ways of thinking. — Daron Douglas THE MUSICIANS Jodi Beder, vocal (11), baroque cello Daron Douglas, fiddle and vocals Nic Gareiss, percussive dance David Greely, fiddle and vocals Andrea Hoag, fiddle Owen Morrison, guitar Leigh Pilzer, soprano saxophone, bass clarinet Phil Wiggins, harmonica Emma Beaton, cello (2) Linda Handelsman, piano (2, 14) TUNE NOTES 1 Hambleton’s Round O • The Flat Cap • 3/2 Hornpipe Owen, Jodi, Nic, Andrea, Daron / Daron, David, Leigh, Nic Hambleton’s Round O is an English country dance tune we called “prickly” and “alien-like.” In 1713, the year it was published in The Dancing Master, it may have had a more stately interpretation. We paired it with two 3/2 hornpipes from the playing of Eliza Carthy and Martin Green. – Daron When I first heard these hornpipes, I was immediately fascinated by the use of big triple and alternatively, duple time. This type of hornpipe is traditionally used for clog dancing in Lancashire in the north of England but here, I opted to interpret them using step dance vocabulary from other geographies, weaving together a percussive part in service of the tunes’ incessant rhythm and ornamentation. In arranging the tunes, Leigh, David, Daron, and I were interested in accentuating the contrasting long lines and short rhythmic phrases. What you hear here is a sketch of that endeavor. – Nic 2 Gelée David, Andrea, Daron, Emma, Linda Gelée was learned from a lovely young fiddler and luthier from Lyons, France named Charline Dequincey. She learned this song from her grandmother, who was from Poitou, in Central-Western France, the cradle of the Acadian culture. – David 3 Hemfärden från timmerskogen • Kaffelåten Andrea, David Two tunes from the part of Swedish tradition closest to my heart, the tradition of Bingsjö village. Tunes from Bingsjö, an isolated village in eastern Dalarna settled by Finns in the 16th century, are temperamental, empassioned, and full of highly individual rubato and ornamentation. I was privileged to learn from Päkkos Gustaf, who grew up in the village and learned from the great fiddlers who spanned the turn of the 20th century. Gustaf’s playing was informed by a unique personality, strong and whimsical with an ålderdomlig sätt (to translate with a bit of poetic license: a stance—or rather, a place to sit—that is from the kingdom of elder). David’s playing of these tunes captures the aesthetic I value in the Bingsjö tradition, and brings me home to a new place. – Andrea 4 A Dream for Dorothea (Owen Morrison, Oak Union Music BMI) Daron, Jodi, Leigh, Owen I wrote “A Dream for Dorothea” for my grandmother who was a lifelong music lover. It was inspired by Brahms’ “Intermezzo in A” although no one would ever guess it from the little the music has in common. In the past I have played “Dorothea” as a piano solo, which gives lots of room for expression and rubato phrases, or with a trio playing for waltzers. Playing for dancing demands that one forfeit the rhythmic leniency I find alluring in this piece, but the focus shifts to the interaction between instruments. The Dovetail version keeps the best of both worlds, leaving space for expression, while still letting the instrumental conversation stand central. Daron, Jodi and Leigh did a great job invoking warmth, sorrow and longing at the same time. – Owen 5 Abe’s Waltz • Andy’s Waltz David, Andrea Abe’s Waltz and Andy’s Waltz are rare Cajun tunes from the repertoire of Varise Conner. His lumberjack frame would gently embrace a fiddle and produce lovely lilting tunes like these at family gatherings at his home in Lake Arthur LA. This piece was a perfect opportunity to explore the concept of two old masters from our respective cultures encountering each other through music. – David 6 Ayoù t’était mercredi passé • The Sunny South David, Daron Ayoù t’était mercredi passé comes front the singing of Edius Naquin, a fiddler and ballad master from Mamou LA, as collected by Ralph Rinzler in the 1960s. The theme is of a soldier about to catch the train for his war deployment and leaving his love behind. Its melody strikes us as very similar to “The Sunny South” with which we have paired it. It is a rare and sweet opportunity to share an ancient ballad with its melodic counterpart from the Appalachians. – David A song about wanting what we remember as the good part of the past. Collected by Cecil Sharp from Lucy Cannady in Endicott, Virginia, in 1918. I sang this ballad for David and he echoed with a song….different story in a different language, much the same melody. – Daron 7 Struttin’ with Some Barbecue (Lillian Hardin Armstrong, Universal-MCA Music Publishing ASCAP) Leigh, David, Daron, Jodi, Nic, Owen When I started thinking about tunes to propose for the Old Doors / New Worlds project I considered how my tradition did or did not overlap with everyone else’s. Perhaps the most significant difference is that I usually play in ensembles with a rhythm section of two to four instruments comprising some combination of piano, guitar, bass, and drums. I knew that would not be the case with ODNW, so I started thinking along the lines of a genre of jazz that did not historically include the traditional rhythm section: Dixieland. Once I thought of Dixieland it occurred to me that there were a number of connections that made it the “right” choice. Some of the musicians I associate with that era are the soprano saxophonist Sidney Bechet, guitarist Django Reinhardt, and violinist Stephane Grapelli. Not only would we have all of those instruments, but the Louisiana-flavored fiddling of Daron and David would be perfect to evoke New Orleans, the place generally accepted as the birthplace of jazz. Owen on guitar and Jodi and I sharing bass duties on cello and bass clarinet would be a nice twist on the traditional banjo-tuba Dixieland rhythm section. And adding Nic to the mix honored the historical aspect of jazz as dance music. As for the specific tunes, well, how could I resist bringing in a composition from Lillian Hardin Armstrong, the first woman jazz instrumentalist? Plus, “Struttin’ With Some Barbecue” is just a fun song, and I love Nic’s stop-time solo. – Leigh 8 Linin’ Hymns Phil I was trying to recreate the feeling of being in my grandmother’s church, not on Sunday but on a Thursday night for prayer meeting, which would be just the elder women of the church singing prayers and praises. One person would sing out the call and then the whole congregation would sing back the response. – Phil 9 Lady Franklin’s Lament • Gudmunds Kalles polska Daron, Andrea, Jodi, Owen In 1845 Sir John Franklin set off on his fourth and final Arctic expedition. His mission: to sail the last unnavigated section of the northwest passage, connecting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. All 129 of the crew perished and their ships were abandoned in the ice. The expedition failed but with enough intrigue and unknown to create stories and songs and many many searches. – Daron The polskas from Rättvik have a special, unique quality among the many local variants of Swedish polska (a venerable tune/dance type in 3/4 time). Rättvikspolskor are both broad and tender, powerful and kind. Without knowing anything about the musical culture or how to parse its unobvious rhythms, Jodi and Owen picked up immediately on the emotional qualities of the tune. The melody has long reminded me of Lady Franklin’s Lament. When I asked Daron if she sang the ballad, she said “Sure I do!” We built on the story of the song in our interpretation. – Andrea 10 Redbud (Andrea Hoag, Wonders Crossroads Music BMI) Daron, Andrea, Leigh I composed this tune as a birthday gift for Daron, in redbud season 2010. Thinking of her, three things emerged—a buoyant melody, an improvised chorus, and a playful challenge: while the tune is mainly in 3/4 time, the verse begins with a measure of 7/8 and includes a measure where the number of beats is determined on the spot by the leader. The followers must be alert and attuned, and the leader must have carefree confidence in her partners—all qualities I’ve come to admire in Daron. – Andrea 11 Daybreak • Eylulu/Maz’l (Abraham Ellstein, Music Sales Corporation ASCAP) Leigh, Daron, Jodi, Owen, Andrea, David “Daybreak” came to me at the end of a year-long period during which everything I composed was excessively complex. This very simple waltz practically wrote itself on the piano I was playing, and it proved to be the antidote. I view it as a reminder that it’s often best to let the melody take us where it wants to go, in music and in life. In this version, Leigh masterfully follows it places I had never imagined. – Owen This is an arrangement of the lullaby my Jewish-Russian-American grandmother sang to all of us. The words varied, but always started with “Eylulu” (a soothing Yiddish lullaby word) and included phrases like “very special angel” and “sweetest baby.” I found out as an adult that my grandmother got the tune from Maz’l (“Luck”), a popular song by Abraham Ellstein and Molly Picon, written for a 1930s Yiddish movie called Mamele (“Little Mother”), in which the “little mother,” a young woman who must take care of her abusive father and younger siblings, wonders if life will always pass her by, if luck will always belong to other people. Deep thanks to Carson for interpreting the song in movement, and to my musician colleagues for joining me in its harmonies. – Jodi 12 Polska från Vrigstad Andrea, David I’ve always loved this crooked-within-straight tune I learned from Mats and Sabina Thiger many years ago at their Småland home in the south of Sweden. More Swedes immigrated to the U.S. from Småland than from any other Swedish county, so it’s perhaps appropriate that we’ve given this tune a new twist. Early in our “play like it’s 1908” project, it became obvious that both David and I had formed indelible musical personalities of our own over years of playing. Part of mine is incorrigible playfulness. Part of his is love of a good melody. Both found scope in this tune. – Andrea 13 Threesquare (Andrea Hoag, Wonders Crossroads Music BMI) Andrea, David Three days of rain, my kitchen windows steamed by simmering chickpeas that wouldn’t get tender, as David and I grappled with how to make good music from two different sources— and then, breakthrough! (“I’m out of the egg!” David exclaimed as things began to click.) Somewhere in the process, this tune emerged of its own accord, as if to give us a key to a common language. Its name, besides saying something about a personality trait I perceive in both of us, is also a nod to a “threesquare meal” I’d had with Rachel Fichtenbaum that summer, in which we shared dishes of ice cream in Porter, Davis, and Inman Squares. – Andrea 14 Anakeesta (Daron Douglas, Daron Douglas Music ASCAP) Daron, Andrea, Linda A waltz named for a mountain ridge in the Smokies. Once I asked a man in a bait shop if the trail I needed was marked. Only as he looked at the river and back at me did I realize I’d asked, “Has a white man made a wooden sign and stuck it in the ground where I’m likely to find it?” I offer Anakeesta in honor of the mountains and the people who know them best. – Daron 15 Polka Nueva • Sjakvodivovodi vall vall vall Andrea, Daron, David, Jodi, Nic, Owen An aspect of the “1908″ project for me was digging more deeply into the old ways of playing “komp” (accompaniment), as I do in Abe’s and Andy’s Waltzes. One day I pulled out my Tillmanslåtar cd (tunes from Dala-Floda played by Lars Hökpers, Matts Arnberg, Sven and Sören Roos)to revisit their komp, and found Sjakvodi…, a delightful tune that’s as much fun to play as its name is to say. David, Daron, and I began to play around with it and put our own slant on it. Shortly before we all met in Sept. 2011, I learned Polka Nueva in a French music session and was taken with its similarities to Sjakvodivovodi. As we arranged Polka Nueva, someone came up with the idea of playing the crooked tune as an even more crooked canon: Owen and I would come in one beat after Daron and David. After we struggled, laughed, and finally succeeded with this, Jodi said, “Why don’t I come in between you?” “You mean…on the half-beat?” we said gapingly, as it dawned on us exactly what a force we were dealing with in Jodi! – Andrea 16 My Mule Has the Richest Blood • Give the Fiddler a Dram • Allons boire un coup Daron, Andrea, David, Jodi, Leigh, Nic, Owen I learned My Mule from the singing of my grandmother who heard it from her mother in the mountains of western North Carolina. Songs passed down in families told stories or news…or were plain nonsense like this fine song. My grandmother said growing up there was singing all the time. She and her brothers and sisters never had to call for their mother. They knew where she was by the sound of her voice. Of an evening there’d be more singing and some tales to keep everybody’s minds occupied as they did chores…usually picking burrs from wool against the next days carding. (Each child picked enough wool to fill his shoe and that way the work load was fair.) My great-grandmother sang as she worked; she sang for her children. And in the summers of 1916 and 1917 she sang for an Englishman named Cecil Sharp who came from England to collect songs he found well-preserved in the mountains throughout Appalachia. My great-grandmother’s name was Jane Hicks Gentry and she became one of Sharp’s most prolific informants. And I proudly sing My Mule Has the Richest Blood. – Daron Give the Fiddler a Dram, a version of Dance All Night, comes from a 1939 recording of Mississippi fiddlers. Herbert Halbert, a New York folklorist, refitted a used US Army ambulance with a cot and recording equipment, named it Sound Wagon, and came south to collect. Thanks to Jack Magee of Magee, Mississippi, for bringing me the tune and his wild energy to boot. (flossthefiddle.com) (Tell him Daron sent you.) – Daron Allons boire un coup (Let’s Drink a Shot) was recorded by a Cajun superstar from the 1930s, Leo Soileau, who made numerous 78 rpm discs and apparently enjoyed the carefree life of a professional musician in Depression-era South Louisiana. Replete with syncopation, it promoted mayhem and invited us to deconstruct it at the end until it fell to the floor with a resounding crash. – David 17 Mes enfants (David Greely, Give and Go Music BMI) David, Andrea Mes enfants is an original interpretation of an old Cajun waltz style, which employs slightly bitter suspensions and a melancholic sweetness to convey my feelings about my children and their happy transformation of a difficult start in life. Issues of trust arose while arranging it with Andrea, because I was sharing such a personal and emotional piece. I stuck to the melody and left all the embellishment to her. In addition to the beautiful arc of development she conceived, it is filled with the lovely accidents that became a constant source of joy throughout the project for me. – David Credits Produced by Dovetail and Charlie Pilzer Recorded, mixed and mastered by Charlie Pilzer at Airshow, Takoma Park, MD Anakeesta and The Sunny South recorded on location in Chevy Chase, MD Old Doors/New Worlds Concert recorded at Takoma Park Community Auditorium, Takoma Park, MD Gelée recorded by Joel Savoy on location in Breaux Bridge, LA Filming and film editing by Wilson Savoy, Almena Pictures, Lafayette, LA Second camera: Flawn Williams, Hyattsville, MD Graphic design: Ruth Logsdon Cover photo by Ross Schipper Artist photos by Michael G. Stewart Phil Wiggins photo by Laurie Brauneis DVD photo by Wilson Savoy DVD photo montage by Tracy Pilzer Old Doors/New Worlds is a project of Freyda’s Hands, a non-profit organization. www.FreydasHands.org Heartfelt thanks to our many generous supporters, who are acknowledged individually at www.freydashands.org/about/thanks. We’d especially like to thank Linda Brooks and Ross Schipper, Loretta Kelley, Gerry Pilzer, Anna Rain, and Doria Howe for the gifts of time and hospitality; Wilson Savoy, Ruthie Logsdon, and Tracy Pilzer for artistic vision and skill; and Charlie Pilzer for his Promethean, Herculean, and human work on the project. Thanks to our families. Thanks to the loved ones and mentors who’ve gone before and left us with hope for those to come. In memory of Freyda Epstein. Her joy lives on.