the cabin door ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, drum program, percussion home ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, keyboard, drum program come on ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, drum program DONOVAN EPP - bass guitar all for a dream ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, harmonica, mandolin, drum program, percussion DONOVAN EPP - bass guitar lying to myself ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, harmonica, keyboard DAVE CYCA ~ harmony vocals love came to town ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, harmonica, keyboard, drum program, percussion PAULA MCGUIGAN - upright bass DONOVAN EPP - harmony vocals plowman ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, harmonica, drum program, percussion PAULA MCGUIGAN - upright bass sweet mary's ma ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitar, harmonica, percussion PAULA MCGUIGAN - upright bass, harmony vocals DAVE CYCA - lead guitar, guitar, harmony vocals a wonderful cowboy* ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, resonator guitar, harmonica, percussion PAULA MCGUIGAN - upright bass, harmony vocals DAVE CYCA - guitar, harmony vocals where did it go ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitar, percussion DONOVAN EPP - bass guitar DAVE CYCA - harmony vocals GLENNA SWITZER - keyboard strings give it up ~ MARK PENNER - vocals, guitars, drum program, percussion GLENNA SWITZER - piano, organ all songs written by MARK PENNER except (*) lyric by BETTY WRIGHT recorded, mixed, and mastered at THE SOUTH HILL STUDIO cover art by J & D CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS cover and portrait photos by MARK PENNER back cover photo by HENRY B. PENNER thanks to paula, glenna, donovan, dave and jon for going the extra miles for this project (i guess just one mile for jon!) thank you to betty for a wonderful poem and to anne hines for getting it to me! produced by mark penner copyright 2012 (SOCAN) all rights reserved manufactured in canada by precision media group REASONS FOR THE RHYME THE CABIN DOOR ~ it was the early 1950's and my father (to be) was assisting his sister and her husband in a move from her hometown to the couple's newly purchased farm some 400 km away. They packed their possessions into a steam train box car and he rode along with it to their new home. They were greeted by a friendly neighboring family who invited the weary travelers into their home. the aroma of fresh baking filled the log cabin and by the stove stood their lovely, shy daughter with a slight dusting of flour on her nose. Immediately, my father was smitten. Their courtship was mostly by letter but he must have been convincing with a pen! After two long years, she agreed to marry him. At the time of this writing, they've been together for 59 years and still going strong. Here's to long term lovin'!! HOME ~ during the time that I lived in Vancouver, I happened to meet an Iraqi immigrant who gave an account of his escape from his homeland during the gulf war. That conversation was the inspiration for this song. COME ON ~ my grandfather fled from Russia in 1926 after the Russian Revolution. He had been conscripted into the White Army, captured and forced to work in a Russian gulag. Miraculously, he was released and able to get his wife and eight children, including a new born out of the country. They journeyed by train through Eastern Europe and then sailed from Southampton England to Quebec City Canada. From there, they eventually settled near Foam Lake Saskatchewan and began farming. The account of their journey has always been an inspiration to me. ALL FOR A DREAM ~ this song was chosen to be included in Swift Current, Saskatchewan's Lyric Theater's compilation CD "A Living Legacy" as part of their 100th year anniversary celebration. For some reason, I've always been drawn to the personalities of those in the vocations of this song. LYING TO MYSELF ~ the older I get, the harder it is to be vulnerable. Cynicism is king and innocence is the hitchhiker you left in the dust as you look back in the rear view mirror of remorse. Now and again, when nobody's looking or listening, there's a moment of truth. I guess the alternate title to this could be "Ode to Infatuation". LOVE CAME TO TOWN ~ one winter's evening, as I was watching my sister load her kids in the car for another hockey practice, my mind went back to some of our more "spirited" times in days gone by and I began to marvel at the power of love and domestication! That moment in time sparked the inspiration for this song. PLOWMAN ~ this is one of the first songs that I ever wrote, sometime in the early/ mid eighties. It had about five or six verses to it so I took the highlights from it and came up with this version. It still seems relevant today so I decided to put it on the album. SWEET MARY'S MA ~ I started writing this with the idea of doing an inspirational song similar to an old standard that I had heard in the past. I put it down and finished writing it on a Halloween night. That's when it went a little "Stephen King" on me! What started as inspirational ended as a hillbilly murder ballad. These things will happen! A WONDERFUL COWBOY ~ a retired school teacher by the name of Betty Wright sent me a poem that was inspired by one of her students who had other ambitions than academic! I added the chorus and the music to it and this is what came out of our collaboration. WHERE DID IT GO ~ this song is the result of a long, hard look in the mirror and a conversation I had with a friend. My first struggle with middle aged angst! GIVE IT UP ~ I wrote this in my farm house on the Saskatchewan prairie during a holiday away from Vancouver. I recall feeling very stressed and suffocated by city life at the time. It was one of those still prairie nights, 30 below, full moon shining, coyotes calling and the sound of a midnight train rolling in the distance. It's here on the prairies where I feel the most connected to the "grand design".