Contra music by Boston's great fiddler, Frank Ferrel

17 MP3 Songs
FOLK: Traditional Folk, COUNTRY: Traditional Country



Details:
MOXIE with Frank Ferrel & Friends ---------------------------------------------------------
Moxie means energy, pep, know-how, expertise. That describes Frank Ferrel and friends, and it describes this recording. Franks fiddling, with a Celtic bent, makes these New England tunes sing!
-----------------------------------------------------------
Frank Ferrel â fiddle
Peter Barnes â keyboards
John McGann â guitar, mandolin
Joe Derrane â accordion (cuts 4, 11)
Janene Muise Randall, piano (cuts 8, 14, 15)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Moxie with Frank Ferrel & Friends
By Mary DesRosiers, Harrisville, NH

Moxie / âmak â sé / n [ fr. Moxie, a trademark for a New England soft drink] (1930) 1 ENERGY, PEP 2: COURAGE, DETERMINATION 3: KNOW-HOW, EXPERTISE

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Who knows where dance tunes come from? For a fiddler like Frank Ferrel they might come from his long acquaintance with old-time dance music, which began in the sounds he heard pouring out of the Irish and Canadian bars and dance halls in the remnants of Roxburyâs old Dudley Street neighborhood. They might come from further back: from the hungry and homesick immigrants from Cork and Cape Breton who immigrated to American cities in the nineteenth century. Or further back still: from the dances, churches and kitchens of the Old World.
The music on this recording comes from all those places, but, more directly, it comes from Frank Ferrel himself; and like the famous (or infamous) soft drink in the orange can, concocted by a doctor from Maine and bottled in Massachusetts, it can have a salubrious effect on the listener. As Ferrel himself says, âYou donât hear the word âmoxieâ used much anymore, except by the occasional old-timer referring to a ball player or a boxer as having âmoxie.â â¦â¦â¦â¦â¦..Like Moxie, all these tunes are from New England. I know. I wrote them. When certain musical bits and pieces, or melodic odds and ends start echoing in my head, I try to pay attention. Sometimes these bits and pieces come together in ways Iâve never heard before, so I write them down, not quite sure where they come from, but knowing all along what theyâre meant to be. Thatâs what this recording is all about: tunes that have found their way onto the fingerboard and wonât leave me alone. Theyâre about people and places, favorite things, fleeting glimpses, lingering tastes, memories and desires.â To bring those âbits and piecesâ to a wider audience, Ferrel has enlisted a trio of experienced accomplices.
Boston-born accordionist Joe Derrane is a National Endowment for the Arts National Heritage Fellowship recipient for 2004. He became enthralled by the music of the button accordion while still a child and got his earliest lessons from the legendary Irish master Jerry OâBrien. He credits his huge repertoire to Bostonâs Dudley Street dance clubs, at which he was a regular during the âforties and fifties. You can still hear the dance in the drive and ornamentation of his playing.
John McGann is equally skilled at melody and rhythm: whether adding a second voice to the tune on mandolin, or keeping the pulse solid under other instruments on guitar. Heâs a master at understanding, and enhancing the music. McGann has won national championships on both guitar and mandolin, and is the go-to guy in the Boston area for both his studio work and his meticulous transcriptions of traditional tunes.
Pianist Peter Barnes has defined the modern dance accompanist style, with his dazzling array of techniques and textures: ranging from basic to barrelhouse and everything in between. He has the rare ability to hear both the heart of the tune, and the possibilities for new story lines in the music.
But the Moxie here is in the playing. Listen to the snap and skirl on reels like âDudley Street,â and âMarch To The Maritimes:â and youâre in the bracing air of Maritime Canada. Ferrelâs homage to the great Canadian fiddler Jean Carignan has all the bounce and gaiety of the best Franco-Canadian music. And itâs here, too, that Joe Derraneâs accordion adds just the right touch. Ferrels delicate jig âThe Broken Butterflyâ recalls the famous Irish slip jig âThe Butterfly,â and Barnesâ arpeggiated chording evokes the steps of that old dance. John McGann percussive guitar rhythm drives the marching beat of âMoxie,â and lays the foundation for the energy that builds through the rest of the set. Listen, too, to his intricate playing on âThe Otterâs Waltz,â where the mandolin weaves a bit of playfulness in and around the melody.

All Music © 1994, Frank Ferrel Ethno Music/BMI
Produced by Frank Ferrel & Johnny Cunningham
Engineer: Jeff Whitehead
Photographs: Elise Ferrel
Graphics: Carolyn Isaak, Keene, NH.

Great Meadow Music â P.O.Box 4, Westmoreland, NH 03467
(603) 399-8361 http/www.greatmeadowmusic.com
Frank Ferrel - FFERREL@aol.com