Tunes with Brigid

Readers,

Its been a long while since a post here. Here are some tunes Brigid and I played together last December when I was in town. It was great to spend time with her and Jimmy and see Brian and many other friends from Montreal and the Chateauguay Valley while I was in town.

The first is "Eva's Tune" which we've heard before on this blog. I was inspired to learn this one after hearing our friend Laura Risk play it at house parties with our Gaspesian friends. She learned this beautiful piece from Eva's brother Ernest Drody (Brigid's cousin) back in 2010. When Laura and I have been in the Gaspé, many people in Douglastown and L'Anse-a-Brillant have enjoyed hearing this tune again and remember it being played many years ago. Cyril Devouge hummed this tune to us during one of our visits and Cecil Leggo of L'Anse-a-Brillant also remembered hearing it as soon as we started playing it when we visited last spring.

Hear "Eva's Tune"

The second tune is a waltz I composed for Leona Devouge who was Cyril's only sister. She was a wonderful woman whom I got to know only briefly but I was really moved by her radiant personality that I decided to write a tune for her. Brigid is doing a wonderful job chording for me here and I can confirm this was the first time she had played or heard the tune.

Hear "Leona's Waltz"

You can hear Erskine playing a great version of "Eva's Tune." Erskine and some other older players played it in D with the bass string raised. It becomes a different tune in each key and I like them both equally. Ernest's version in G has a lovely melodic contour while the version in D seems to drive a little more and I can imagine it being good for step-dancing.

I don't think I'll have much opportunity to post stuff here while I'm in school, but I look forward to seeing my Quebec friends again in the spring and summer and being a little more active with this blog.

In the meantime, enjoy the tunes!