Dancing in the Moonlight
Connie and Paul
Miramichi River Productions
2000
12 tracks
Folk music is one of those things in life that we hold to be constant and unchanging, one of those cultural rocks to which we cling as our world swirls evolving ever faster around us. A night at the folk club with the ancient songs [or new songs in ancient style] can for a while hold the world at bay. Yet this perception is at least partially mistaken. Played a selection of recordings from the Twentieth Century, most of us could place each as being from a specific decade. Performers' choice of instruments, of singing and playing style, even of the lyrical content chosen from the thousands of songs available, all give the music a certain flavour that ties it to its own time.
Connie & Paul's Dancing in the Moonlight is the wonderful anachronistic exception that proves the point. Here is music made in the year 2000 that sounds as though it belongs in the decade immediately preceding the first Peter, Paul and Mary album. Not the jingle jangle of the Byrds here but the plinkety banjo of the Seegers. Not the subtle chord progressions of folk rock but the elaborate, almost classical finger picking of the Fifties folk revival. Here are beautiful voices singing beautiful melodies in which the lyrics, while not incidental, are not the whole point of the song. Paul has the rich resonance of a Seeger or Brand, perhaps at times even Yarbrough. Connie is less Judy Collins and more Marg Osburne. The sound is full and rich, with a sentimental edge.
Most of the songs on this release were written by Connie and Paul. The exceptions are Michael Smith's wonderful "The Dutchman," a sweet love story I have admired for many years; "Nancy Whiskey," one of the more popular traditional tunes; and "The Miramichi Waltz," written by Terry Gadsden and given credit in the liner notes but not listed on the track list. This last is yet another instance of artists adding an extra, unlisted song for no apparent reason. Even though several songs show a definite Stan Rogers influence and some have decidedly contemporary referents, still the overall effect is of time travel to a simpler time when Camelot had taken root in the United States of America and the world basked in its light.
"america (the promise)" is a sweet, sad love story that sounds like it had been written at the time of the great Irish migration to the Americas. This is among the most pared down and the most powerful writing on this release. Both the lyrics and the simple melody carry the listener deep into the story of two lovers of long ago. This is the final song (official) on this release and ends in a moving violin based instrumental that leads naturally into the final (unannounced) track, probably "The Miramichi Waltz" mentioned in the liner notes. [One of several quirky things about this album is that "america (the promise)" is the only song whose title is given entirely in lower case.]
The final instrumental track is an evocative fiddle based piece that reminds me for some reason of the McGarrigle's recording of Wade Hemsworth's "Log Driver's Waltz" with which we've all been indoctrinated via the NFB. [For you non-Canadian readers, that would be our National Film Board, who made a wonderful, but over-exposed, animated film of this song.)
If there is one song that is weak on this release, it is "Whale Song." Perhaps it is because I Have been spoiled by hearing Paul Horn's wonderful work with whalesong so many years ago. Perhaps it is because I have listened so often to John Somerville's wonderful "Whale Song." Or maybe it is a result of hearing Raffi's "Baby Beluga" so often as my children were growing up. Whatever it is, it seems to me that just adding a bunch of [real?] whale voices to a peppy instrumental somehow doesn't quite make it. On the other hand, outside that admittedly personal context, the song is actually kind of neat.
Anachronistic or not, this is delightful music from Canada's east coast. It's well worth not just one but several listens. This is not the old sea shanty folk-country of Hank Snow and Burl Ives. It's not the new Celtic of Natalie McMaster and Ashley MacIsaac. It's not the mid-century trad of Don Messer and those who showed up weekly on his show. But it is a wonderful collection of gems from the cultural goldmine that is Canada's Maritimes.
Those wanting to know more about Connie and Paul will find information on the internet at www.connieandpaul.com.
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