It was in 1997 that I first fell in love with the idea of autoharp duets. Under the big tent on the first night of the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering I bumped into Les Gustafson-Zook and Bob Lewis playing together. Their example, and many others along the way, inspired me to learn how to listen well enough that I could do that myself, and in 2003 Bryan Bowers teamed me up with Bonnie Phipps for the Autoharp Legacy Project. That recording included more than fifty of us playing duets with an assigned partner, and it exposed me to an even greater variety of ideas about what an autoharp duet might be. In 2014, with Bonnie telling me for the third or fourth time that I ought to make a recording and me saying “I don’t have a concept,” it occurred to me to imagine doing a duet recording. And when I asked Bonnie if she’d play with me on such a recording, she said “Well, I’d do ONE.” It wasn’t hard to imagine that some of my other autoharp friends might like to do the same. So I asked. And they all said “Yes!” From the start, the project was about musical inspiration, getting out of my own musical box and exploring what was beyond the genres that were easy for me. I asked each of my partners to choose one song or tune they envisioned as a great autoharp duet, and to send me the recording that inspired them to want to learn it. With only two exceptions we worked from those recordings, resorting to written music only to help us puzzle out places that were not obvious to the ear. And each selection had to be something that neither of us had recorded before: I wanted us to have the experience of working the arrangements out from scratch with few preconceptions about how it “should” go on autoharp. My partners did not disappoint, and I was thrilled and terrified when their choices started to come in. On the one hand, they exceeded my wildest expectations in terms of repertoire: blues, jazz standards, old folk tunes, fiddle tunes, waltzes, never-before-recorded songs, bluegrass, even an Italian accordion tune. And on the other hand, few of the selections were at all familiar to me – and some of them sounded so challenging that I couldn’t imagine how I was going to play them up to standard! But over the course of two years, I had the distinct pleasure of working on my own to master each selection, spending at least four hours rehearsing with each partner to create an arrangement we could play together, and working with my partners in the studio to capture our ideas. I don’t have room here to tell all I learned from that process, but I will say that I am a much better musician for having had such talented and generous partners in every instance. And I cannot say enough about my experience working with Neal Walters on the mixing as well as much of the recording. He insisted on me being right at his side for every track, and over the course of two years he taught me enough about recording and mixing that I actually created another CD with a different engineer while I was doing this one. Because of Neal’s willingness to transfer skills, I knew just what would be needed in that other studio to mix the recording I was envisioning. And of course those same skills came into play as I traveled out to other studios to record some of the tracks on this CD. By the time I did that, I knew enough that I could bring back exactly what was needed to get a good final mix. Finally, my thanks to Coleen Walters. As it happens, her bass is not on any of these tracks, but as the organizing force behind the creative environment that is Basement Music, her influence is everywhere. She made sure that everything got scheduled, hosted me and my recording partners numerous times over the two year course of the project, fed us all amazing food, and was a discerning eye and ear who helped identify issues when Neal and I got too close to what we were working on. I have cherished the time spent with her, and value our ongoing friendship. -- Cindy Harris =============== Track notes =============== 1. Marina – Rocco Granata, September Music Corp c/o Memory Lane Music Heidi Cerrigione (Ellington, CT): Orthey A/E, Cindy: Fladmark A/E, John Cerrigione: Egg shaker. Recorded by John Cerrigone, Sunroom Studio, Ellington, CT Heidi works on a dairy farm by day and makes music in her spare time. She’s a Mountain Laurel Champion, and performs and records as a duo with her husband John, in the band Doofus with John and Neal and Coleen Walters, and with John, Aubrey Atwater and Elwood Donnelly as Jerimoth Hill. This cheerful tune was a total surprise to me, and until Heidi and I sat down and played it together I had no real concept of how she envisioned an autoharp duet. I learned it from a Rocco Granata accordion recording, and worked hard to get that “accordion bounce.” John’s egg percussion was the perfect enhancement to our playing. About the tune, Heidi says: “My first instrument was an accordion so I’ve always been attracted to accordion pieces. The song was taught to me by my Swiss cousin Werner Wyss. Not too long ago I found a zither arrangement for two parts and thought of trying it on autoharp. My cousin passed away a few years ago and I play this as a tribute to him.” 2. Opposites Attract – Words and Music by Kathy Wieland Kathy Wieland (Ann Arbor, MI): Zephyr Hill 21-bar chromatic, Cindy: Fladmark G/D Recorded by Dan Hazlett, Home Street Studio, Waterford, MI Kathy is an accomplished songwriter and singer as well as an autoharper, banjo player, and guitarist. In 2014 we shared a 2000 mile road trip to the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. While we were there we found time to look through Kathy’s collection of songs, and this one jumped out as a great duet opportunity. Just think of us as two girlfriends happily speculating about another friend’s new relationship. 3. The Ash Grove – Traditional Welsh Les Gustafson-Zook (Goshen, IN): Orthey G/D Winfield prize, Cindy: Fladmark G/D Recorded by Les Gustafson-Zook, Goshen, IN Les is an entertainer, instructor and multi-instrumentalist. He’s an International Autoharp Champion, a National Autoharp Champion, and an Autoharp Hall of Fame inductee. The first time I jammed with him in 1997 I had no idea who he was, and practically fell out of my chair laughing when he and Bob Lewis looked at me to take the lead on a fiddle tune. Shoot, I could hardly keep up with the chords at the tempo they had set! That moment kept me tongue tied around the two of them for a couple of years, but I eventually got over it. Of all of the collaborations in this collection, this was the most freely improvised. Both Les and I have known this tune forever, and although we considered several other tunes in 2015, when we sat and played this one together at Winfield in 2016, we knew we had something good. The hours we spent working out the duet and recording was one of those lovely moments out of time when there’s nothing more important than hearing your partner play the next phrase and responding to it. Les says: “It’s a beautiful melody that sings well on the autoharp, and seemed perfect for a duet, with interweaving of harmonies and melodies.” 4. Goodbye My Bluebell – Edward Madden & Theodore F. Morse, F. B. Haviland Publishing Co. Inc. © 1904 John Hollandsworth (Christiansburg, VA): Blue Ridge Autoharp, 21-bar chromatic, Cindy: Custom Fladmark 23-bar “Super Chromatic” designed by Drew Smith. Bass: The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band John Hollandsworth had his introduction to the autoharp through his grandmother’s playing and grew up playing informally with family and friends. John started performing with his wife Kathie in the 1980s as a duo, and they have also played in several band formats for concerts and dances. He was the first Mountain Laurel Autoharp Champion in 1991 and was named Best All-Around Performer at the Galax Old Fiddlers Convention three times. He is an internationally acclaimed teacher and performer throughout the U.S. and England, and is the well-respected luthier of Blue Ridge Autoharps. John was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame in 2010. Early on in my autoharp adventures I spent a week at the Augusta Heritage Center in his class, and I still use the techniques I learned there. When John suggested this tune neither of us realized exactly how difficult it would be on autoharp. John had played it many years earlier in a simplified version. But when we actually listened to some of the bluegrass guitar recordings, we revised our arrangement to catch more of the underlying chords and some of the cool licks, including the coda, which turned out to be extremely tricky to play. In the end there were places where John would play one chord and I would play another, and it sounded just right. When we got into the studio, Neal had the brilliant idea to create a “Band In A Box” backup track that might help us stay in the groove. It did, and that track was so good that we left most of it on the final recording. About the tune, John says: “It was recorded by Merle Travis in 1956, and now it is widely played by guitarists. To my knowledge, it isn’t commonly played on the autoharp, but I thought it would be a good chromatic tune to learn. With two chromatic autoharps that had different chords, it was a bit of a challenge to find common ground when playing it as a duet.” 5. Twenty-sixth of Forever – Music by Brian Peters Mike Herr (West Hartford, CT): Fladmark F/C/G/D MLAG contest prize, Cindy: Fladmark G/D, Bass: The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band. Recorded by John Cerrigione, Sunroom Studio, Ellington, CT Mike has been playing autoharp since 1983 and is a two-time Mountain Laurel Champion as well as an International Autoharp Champion. We met in 1997 at MLAG when we literally ran head-on into each other and have been friends ever since. A year or two later I took his week-long workshop at the Augusta Heritage Center and I credit that workshop with setting me on the path to mastering the instrument. I learned this beautiful waltz from accordion player Brian Peters a number of years ago, and Mike heard me play it as a contest tune in 2014. When we decided to collaborate on a duet, I asked Mike to create a harmony part for it, thinking that it would tickle his classical music instincts. His harmony line makes this tune especially lovely to my ear. 6. What Is This Thing Called Love? – Words and music by Cole Porter, WB Music Company Drew Smith (Ho-Ho-Kus, NJ): Custom Orthey 23-bar “Super Chromatic” designed by Drew Smith, Cindy: Custom Fladmark 23-bar “Super Chromatic” designed by Drew Smith. Recorded by Ryan Ball, Gearbox Recording, Paramus, NJ Drew is the consummate chromatic autoharper, with a broad and eclectic repertoire and unique technique that has made him a two-time Mountain Laurel Champion, a two-time International Champion, and winner of many other prizes over the last 30 years. We were all set to record a duet version of “I Love Paris In The Springtime,” but when I called to set up a recording date Drew suggested this one, in part because of his personal connection to Cole Porter. I was dubious and time was short, but after listening to a Gwyneth Paltrow recording of the song, I was in love. After some wrangling back and forth on the chords, we settled on a common version, and then spent a whole day together working on our singing and playing. This duet would not have been possible at all had we not been playing these specially-configured autoharps, but once we worked it out, we had a great time playing it together. Drew says: “All Cole Porter songs are so great! Getting used to playing Cole Porter chords can be most challenging, but so much fun at the same time.” 7. A Place In The Heart – Bill Crahan, BMG Platinum Songs OBO Slocum Hollow Songs Carole Outwater (Charlotte, NC): Orthey single-key D, Cindy: Schreiber single-key D, Fisk Outwater: vintage Washburn guitar Both Carole and Fisk grew up in families where music was a part of everyday life. Fisk has been playing guitar and piano since he was a teenager. Carole became an autoharp player years later, and is another Mountain Laurel Champion. She also plays bass with regional band Carolina Gator Gumbo. About the tune, Carole says: “Bryan Bowers introduced this wistful tune to us during a 2009 visit to Charlotte. Back then, we only knew the tune as Bryan’s ‘track six’. Eventually, we learned that the late Bill Crahan of Lawrence, Kansas composed this tune and that for years he and his gig partner, Scott Tichenor, called it ‘the waltz that made mothers cry at weddings’. Scott introduced the tune to Butch Baldassari who later went on to co-own the tune when he recorded it in a 1998 album as ‘A Place in the Heart’.” And it was that beautiful Butch Baldassari recording from which Carole and I learned the tune. This was one of the first tracks recorded for this project, and it turned out to be one of the most difficult to catch. I’ve always loved Carole’s single-key playing, so a chance to use two single-key autoharps for a duet like this was immensely appealing. But working with all of those ringing strings from two single-key autoharps and Fisk’s guitar caused us to step back and consider how to allow less to be more. Fisk and I eventually worked through some alternate chord progressions only possible on these single-key instruments and used them to back up Carole’s lyrical playing. Carole later wrote to me that “...it is exciting and wonderful to put your music together with someone else and have that intertwine to the point where you cannot tell sometimes which notes are whose.” That’s certainly the nature of this recording. After Neal and I balanced out the tracks and listened back to the mix I could swear I heard a cello playing with us, and Coleen asked me if we had added a concertina. But no – it’s just me, Carole and Fisk listening to each other and allowing our instruments to ring together. And maybe it will be making mothers cry at weddings. 8. Down To The South Pole – Words and music by Eileen Kozloff, MoosiCowlia Eileen Kozloff (Lakewood Ranch, FL): Orthey G/D/A, Cindy: Blue Ridge single-key A As a member of the autoharp community for more than 30 years, Eileen has been a singer, a songwriter, and a consummate performer with many credits both within and beyond the community. She and I have been friends since we met in 1997. And when the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering became a not-for-profit in 2000, Eileen and I were founding board executives and worked together for seven years as part of the team that created and managed the festival. This song tells the story of Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the “ice doc” at McMurdo Station in Antarctica who had to be flown out in the middle of winter when she discovered she had breast cancer. Eileen met her a number of years later and memorialized her story in this song which won second place in the Autoharp Quarterly International Songwriting Contest in 2015. I had heard her perform it many times as a solo, and when she suggested that we try it as a duet I wondered whether I could add much to her very complete sound. But when we sat down to play it together in December of 2015, I realized that Eileen was hearing something in her head that I could only play on a single-key autoharp. So I went back home and worked out an arrangement that used all the crazy chords that I only played when I was playing for myself: major 7ths, suspended 4ths, and even an add9 or two. I teared up listening to our recording right after Neal and I mixed it, and it still has that effect on me. 9. Last Date – Floyd Cramer, Sony ATV/Acuff Rose Music John Cerrigione (Ellington, CT): Blue Ridge single-key D, Cindy: Schreiber single-key D. Recorded by John Cerrigione, Sunroom Studio, Ellington, CT When I first met John in 1997, he was the ever-present multi-instrumentalist who played mostly bass and guitar and sometimes a little banjo with Heidi and Doofus. But it wasn’t long before he emerged as a serious autoharper and began performing and teaching workshops with it. I’ve always loved his quirky humor and eclectic musical taste, and probably should not have been surprised when he chose this rather un-autoharp-like “lounge lizard-ish” tune for this project. We really didn’t NEED two single-key instruments for this arrangement, but when we sat down to work out the duet, having those resonances at our disposal turned out to be very handy. I got that note-bending “bong!” at the beginning by giving my autoharp a whack with my palm with the chordbar up and then immediately tapping the bar down on the strings as one might do for a guitar hammer-on. John had the idea for me to play that funky bass line while he played the melody, and the single-key resonances really helped make it sound just funky enough. We both loved the “call and response” nature of this duet: we each had a specific role, and we had to pay close attention to each other as we played. The result is uniquely autoharp, but also very faithful to the original recording. 10. Red Prairie Dawn – Gary Harrison, Pick Away Press Tom Fladmark (Sunbury, PA): Fladmark G/D, Cindy: Fladmark G/D, Bass: The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band Tom is an autoharp builder, autoharp player and songwriter from central Pennsylvania. In 2013 he was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame, and he won the MLAG Autoharp Championship in 2014. I fell in love with the sound of his instruments many years ago. My first diatonic instruments were made by Tom, including the one I used on this track, which he built for me in 2002. Red Prairie Dawn was one of my “tunes of fascination” around the time that Tom and I were trying to figure out what we wanted to play together. We have different playing styles and our ideas about how the tune ought to be arranged were also quite different. In the end we decided to take advantage of those differences by swapping leads and reflecting our partner’s concept in our backup. The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band gave us a lot of support on this as we recorded, and we liked the sound so much that we left it on the final track. 11. You’re Just In Love – Irving Berlin, Irving Berlin Music Company Ivan Stiles (Phoenixville, PA): Orthey 21-bar chromatic, Cindy: Schreiber single-key D Ivan was one of the first autoharpers whose playing really grabbed my imagination. He’s a performer, a recording artist, instructor, author, and was co-founder and co-editor of Autoharp Quarterly® magazine from 1988 until 1997. He was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame in 2000, and he’ll never let me forget that he was the International Autoharp Champion in 1991. He was also my first house concert performer in 1999. I think it took Ivan all of ten minutes to respond to my invitation to do something for this project with “I’d love to do a true duet!” and naming this unique contrapuntal song. Listening to the recording from “Call Me Madam,” I thought he was entirely out of his mind. It turned out that the man’s part was chromatic, while the woman’s part was diatonic. So we did the obvious thing, and chose autoharps that optimized each part. Singing it together was just as much of a challenge as playing it, but we really had a blast working it up. And by the time we got into the studio we were so confident that it took less than an hour to record. 12. Joanna’s Yard Waltz – Lindsay Haisley and Joanna Howerton, Further Music Productions, Inc. – “Lindsay Haisley Publishing” with ASCAP Lindsay Haisley (Leander, TX): Schreiber F/C, Cindy: Blue Ridge C/G, Bass: The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band Recorded by Larry Nye, La-Z-L Studio, Kingsland, TX Lindsay has been an autoharp performer since the 1970s, not to mention that he’s an accomplished multi-instrumentalist whose skills include the trombone. He was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame in 2004, and has been a headliner at many festivals over the years. My favorite moments with Lindsay all involve his tendency to take input almost exclusively from his ears. I recall a time at Mountain Laurel when he was babbling to me one morning about the fun he’d had with the fiddler next to him during the previous evening’s jam, not realizing that it had been me playing fiddle the entire time. He and I also teamed up for a performance on the Folk Train, trading songs and tunes on board a train from Sydney to the Illawarra Folk Festival in 2012. And we have had a long association as we have co-managed the Cyberpluckers, an autoharp discussion group that got started back in 1987 and that I began to moderate in 1999 as Lindsay continued to host it. About this tune, Lindsay writes: “The power of this piece is in its simplicity. Almost every note is contiguous with the notes before and after it. It just flows, like the movements of skillful dancers. Sometimes the simplest, slowest pieces are the most difficult in execution, and we worked hard to do justice to this simple tune.” When he sent it to me, he told me he wanted to arrange it as a classical “theme and variations.” I took him at his word, coming up with alternate chord progressions that he hadn’t envisioned, while he created some lovely variations. We got a very nice recording in January of 2015, but then we played it on stage at the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering in June and realized that we were playing it much better than we had in the studio. So on my way to the Walnut Valley Festival, I made a detour to Texas so we could re-record it. The end result definitely justified the extra effort. 13. Wabash Blues – Dave Ringle and Fred Meinken, Leo Feist, Inc. 1921 Mike Fenton (Withington, Hereford, England): Orthey chromatic, Cindy: Custom Fladmark 23-bar “Super Chromatic” designed by Drew Smith Mike Fenton is another International Autoharp Champion, as well as a many-time winner of the Galax competition, and in 1997 he was inducted into the Autoharp Hall of Fame. He’s the guy I identify as the person who figured out how to use a diatonic autoharp to make a fiddle tune sound as good on autoharp as it does on fiddle. I remember him telling me stories about how he visited with legendary fiddler Tommy Jarrell and played along on his “angel harp.” And over the years, Mike and I have occasionally collaborated on fiddle tune duets in workshops or on stage. So I naturally expected that he would propose a fiddle tune for this duet project. Instead, he said “Would you fancy playing the blues? I’m into that right now.” And he sent me a fabulous recording of a Les Paul/Mary Ford guitar duet on Wabash Blues. I worked on it sporadically, but it wasn’t until I spent an entire day sitting on the campground by myself after the 2015 Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering that I finally figured out how to make an autoharp sound as interesting on this tune as a guitar. I really wanted to sing this one too, and at the last minute Mike decided to join me. I love the “call and response” nature of this track, both on the autoharp and the vocals. 14. Summertime – George Gershwin, Dubose and Dorothy Heyward Memorial Fund Publishing/George Gershwin Music/Ira Gershwin Music/WB Music Corp. Bonnie Phipps (Boulder, CO): Red Oscar Schmidt 1970s B Model, Cindy: Blue Ridge C/G Recorded by Fergus Stone, Audio’s Amigos Recording Studio, Boulder, CO. www.fergussound.com Bonnie Phipps has made her living through music since the 1980s. She is a member of the Autoharp Hall of Fame, a three time Autoharp Champion (two from Winfield and one from Mountain Laurel). We first met in a jam at the 2002 Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering. She was a featured performer, and asked me and June Maugery to sing backup vocals for one of her stage performances. But we really got to know each other the following year when Brian Bowers teamed us up for the Autoharp Legacy project. Our rehearsal for that studio session in Nashville was one of the most intense and fun musical experiences ever, and we’ve been friends ever since. About this tune, Bonnie says: “While researching duo music for this project I heard the Brusker Guitar Duo on YouTube. They have an instruction book titled “How to Play Guitar Duos,” which I bought, and this song was in the book. So with a number of modifications for autoharp, this song is our version of their arrangement.” When Bonnie sent me the recording, I knew we were going to have to put many hours into it to do it well. My guess is that each of us probably spent somewhere between 40 and 60 hours individually, and then we played it together for four or five hours before getting into the studio. It was a lot of work, and a great learning experience. Both of us were playing modified autoharps for this track, which is Bonnie’s normal way of doing things, but complicated things for me considerably. I added a G# to my C/G diatonic so that I could have an E7 chord and swapped that chord into the spot where I would usually have an A7 so I could reach from the Am up to that E7 and still have a D7 nearby. This layout turns out to be useful for other tunes from this era, so I’ve left the instrument that way. Surprisingly, Bonnie and I have been able to perform this arrangement on stage, and it’s still in my repertoire when that particular autoharp happens to be within reach. 15. Mr. Bojangles – Jerry Jeff Walker, Cotillion-Danel, BMI Neal Walters (Greencastle, PA): Orthey single-key A, Cindy: Blue Ridge single-key A, Bass, percussion, cello: The PGMusic Gypsy Swing Band Neal’s curriculum vitae is so extensive that it’s almost impossible to do it justice here. Multi-instrumentalist, long-time member of the Mill Run Dulcimer Band and Doofus (with John and Heidi Cerrigione and Coleen Walters), founder and chief engineer of Basement Music, editor of "Music Hound Folk: The Essential Album Guide to Folk Music,” teacher of many workshops, performer at many festivals, and web designer, he has many album credits of his own and has recorded, engineered, and mixed I don’t know how many albums for others. Most of these musical adventures have been in conjunction with his wife Coleen who sings and plays bass and percussion, organizes their epic cross-country trips, and provides the “bed and breakfast” end of the Basement Music studio experience. I got to know both of them well during the seven years I spent as treasurer of the Mountain Laurel Autoharp Gathering when Neal was the Grand Poobah and Coleen the Vice President of Miscellaneous responsible for keeping us all organized. I went on to do other things after seven years, but they stayed for fifteen. And Neal and Coleen are also members of the Autoharp Hall of Fame for their extensive contributions to the community. This song became Neal’s choice at the tail end of a late-night jam on board the MLAG cruise in 2015. I recall three of us noodling around on tunes with this very cool chord sequence on an evening when I’d earlier asked Neal if he had any ideas for the project. He commented that Mr. Bojangles had the same progression, and that it might make a great duet. I said “yes” immediately, as I’ve had the song in my head for a long time. Neal has often been identified as “the Perry Como of the autoharp community,” so I knew he could pull off the vocals. What I didn’t know until Coleen mentioned it to me after we’d made the recording was that Neal has also loved this song for a long time and always wanted to record it. I couldn’t bear to intrude on Neal’s gorgeous vocals: any harmony I might have added would have been gilding the lily. But my single-key autoharp has some unusual chords (particularly add9 chords and suspended 4ths) that allowed me to enhance the progression in a way that a more standard instrument could not. Merging those ideas into Neal’s playing without obscuring it was the challenge for me. The dreamy sound that resulted from our combined efforts seems just perfect even though it’s nothing like the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recording I remember from the early ’70s.