Betsy Tinney, cello storyteller: With lush layers of cello and other instruments, Betsy weaves rich, complex and varied tapestries of sound. Her original cello compositions paint pictures and tell tales, from sentient rainforests and skeletal mice to dancing elephants and slightly tipsy wyverns. Betsy's music has been called "captivating," "mesmerizing," and "a rich texture for the ear, reminiscent of fine dark chocolate and red wine." TRACK NOTES ============ Each track's story is listed below, along the names of the performers on each tune. The Faery Ring -------------------- Imagine that you are walking in a forest just after sunset, and you stumble across a mythic party in a faerie glen. The music is irresistible, the wine is flowing, and the glade is full of faeries and satyrs and centaurs and dryads, all laughing and dancing and having a wonderful time. A friendly satyr notices you, takes your hand, and draws you into the dance. You are swept away by the music and the swirling magic around you, and time passes… and then you find that you can't leave. Fortunately, you don't mind… why ever would you want to leave?? Cello: Betsy Tinney Dreaming of Trees ------------------------- I woke up one morning with the music for this still playing in my head, along with a strong image: an evergreen forest after a recent rainstorm. The sun is streaming at an angle through the dripping branches, lighting the falling droplets into rainbow gems, and creating brilliant splashes of puddled light on the forest floor.  And the rain has woken up the trees, and they are singing. Cello: Betsy Tinney Northwest Snow Day ---------------------------- We don’t get much snow here in the Seattle area - but this past February, we awoke one day to find it snowing hard. It was a heavy, wet snow; rather than individual snowflakes, huge soggy wads of snow the size of a quarter were falling from the sky, and making "ploof, ploof… ploof" noises when they landed. We got about 5" of dense, soggy snow in about an hour; the weight of it brought down many branches and a few trees. Even so, it sure was pretty! (Like the snowstorm that inspired it, this piece is dark-grey, wet, and yet still graceful - and also, like the snowstorm, pretty brief.) Cello: Betsy Tinney Guitar: S.J. Tucker A Wish for Wings ---------------------- Elephants are self-aware and highly intelligent, and are fully capable of wondering about things -- for example, what it might be like to fly. This piece is a musical interpretation of what might float through an elephant's mind while watching a bird take flight. Cello: Betsy Tinney Lillith's Romp ------------------ Lillith is just the best dog.   Technically, she isn't my dog; she belongs to my daughter-in-law, Sabrina, which makes her my granddogger. Lillith is a pit bull rescue who loves everyone (she would probably fail as a guard dog, unless she were to knock the thief over while trying to lick his face). One of her favorite activities is zooming cheerfully around our yard at high speed, pausing occasionally to Inspect Something Important On The Ground. This piece was written for Lillith, her cheerful approach to life, and, of course, her "zoomies".   And maybe you can tell from the music: Lillith really is just the best dog. Cello & shaker egg: Betsy Tinney Bodhrán: Brenda Sutton Cajon programming: Jeff Bohnhoff Sleepy Leopard Blues ------------------------------ This started out as a solo improvisation -- just cello over a walking bassline. Then my friend Mary sent me some delightful jazzy piano that transformed it into a slinky, intimate little improv duet - and I thought the piece was complete. But then Jeff, my sound engineer (also a brilliant guitarist) quietly slipped some tasty electric guitar into the mix -- and suddenly this piece was clad in a long, sophisticated evening gown (in a leopard print, of course), and was ready for a night out on the town. And now I can’t imagine her any other way… Cello: Betsy Tinney Piano: Dr. Mary Crowell Electric guitar: Jeff Bohnhoff The Dragon Who Fell in Love With the Moon ------------------------------------------------------------ There once was a sea dragon who fell in love with the Moon, and the Moon loved him back – but they were separated by distance and impossibility.   On calm, clear nights, the Moon would reach out to the dragon across the great expanse of the sea, her silvery light paving a glittering path to her heart. The dragon would take wing toward her, and as he flew, he and the Moon would sing to each other, their voices weaving sweetly together above the rippling waves.    But they were separated by distance and impossibility, so eventually the Dragon would sink back to rest upon the surging sea, still gazing up at his love's shining face -- exhausted, but nonetheless filled with joy. For he was in love with the Moon, and he knew the Moon loved him back. Cello: Betsy Tinney For Becky, who asked me to write “something dark and epic, with dragons in.” Wyverns in the Winery ------------------------------ Wyverns in the Winery is a whimsical improvisation between yours truly (Betsy Tinney, cello) and the incomparable Geli Wuerzner (five-string violin/viola), with guest appearances by a few friendly local wyverns and some excellent local wine.     The delightful cover art for this album was originally created for this song by my daughter Cade Tinney, who whipped it up amazingly fast (especially considering that neither the wyverns nor the wine were present to help with the task).  Cello: Betsy Tinney Viola/violin: Geli Wuerzner Sweet is the Sound -------------------------- This is a duo improvisation between Betsy Tinney (me, cello) and S.J. Tucker (guitar & vocals). This piece flowed out of us spontaneously, without any preceding discussion or planning. (Even Sooj's vocals/lyrics were improvised - she says the words just popped into her mind while we were playing.)  Cello: Betsy Tinney Guitar & vocals: S.J. Tucker Lyrics by S.J Tucker Behind My Eyelids ------------------------- This track is based on a recent experience I had with emergency eye surgery. (I'm fine now.) One day, I noticed flashes in my right peripheral vision: brilliant yellow-white sparkles that blinked on and off when I moved my eye. I also suddenly developed floaters in my right eye: several diaphanous smoky-grey ribbons that wafted gracefully about between me and the outside world. All these vision changes were kind of pretty, if one didn't think too hard about the clinical implications (flashes and floaters can signal a retinal tear, which if untreated can quickly progress to retinal detachment and blindness). My ophthalmologist, Dr Basset, confirmed that there was indeed a tear in my retina, and that laser surgery was immediately required. He routinely performs such surgeries in his office, so I trustingly put my face into his laser cannon's face bracket, and tried not to flinch while a series of 49 agonizingly-bright laser bursts "riveted" down the edges of the tear.    Behind My Eyelids is a musical painting of this experience. It begins with what I normally see behind closed eyelids: dark, slowly swirling colors with occasional brighter spots. Then the flashes appear on the far right: a glitter of tiny bronze bells. The floaters, represented by two swirling cello melodies, and the 49 pizzicato laser bursts (which really do sound like the laser bursts felt, though not nearly as loud) follow soon after. When the surgery is complete, the floaters swirl quietly on for a little while, and then disappear.    While I can't recommend eye surgery as an ideal source of artistic inspiration, I'm grateful for inspiration wherever I find it. (I am also grateful that my vision is still fine. Thanks, Dr Bassett!) Cello & bells: Betsy Tinney Cat and Moth (Molly on the Table) --------------------------------------------- I wrote this after watching our Maine Coon cat Mali (pronounced "Molly") in hot pursuit of an (understandably panicked) moth, which led her on a mad chase through the house, always staying just too high for her to reach. Finally, she leapt onto the kitchen table (which she knows is forbidden), swatted the moth out of the air with one great spatulate paw, and then promptly ate it before it could recover. Chomp.   Cello, Bodhrán programming: Betsy Tinney Shaker egg & zills: S.J. Tucker The Tiny Skeleton Shuffle ----------------------------------- It's said that at midnight on Hallowe'en, the skeletons rise up and dance. But why should humans have all the fun - what about the animals? Cats like to dance, of course; and so do dogs and elephants and alligators and ...mice.    Mice.    At this point, it occurred to me (with a slight shudder) that on Halloween, the interstices of our (huge, old) house almost certainly become the venue for a colossal mouse-skeleton party.    So I wrote them some dance music.  Cello (including cello thumps & shuffles): Betsy Tinney Song of the Hart ----------------------- Song of the Hart was commissioned by my friend Wayne, who asked me to write him something dark, wild and beautiful. By way of inspiration, he sent me several gorgeous images of a stag standing wild, alert and magnificent, its antlered head held high; he also wrote of the pounding heart of the stag, the rush of its breath, and its power and courage. In addition to being a musical stew inspired by the above images and ideas, this piece incorporates two specific motifs based on actual field recordings. First is the call of the hunting horn, which echoes through the forest and throughout the piece. Later, hidden deep in the piece (from 4:07 to 4:33) is the staccato roar of a red stag, as it might sound if the stag had a voice like a cello.  Cello: Betsy Tinney For Wayne, of course. Dalliance with Darcy --------------------------- …so, you ask, who is Darcy? Darcy is the talented & mysterious drummer who plays kit on this song (and, technically, is a feature of Logic, the software program I use to mix my music). I spent most of an afternoon using Logic to explain what I wanted, drumwise, for the various parts of this song -- and to my delight, Darcy cooperated willingly (unlike the last e-drummer I tried). Darcy is still a virtual stranger, of course; but after several happy hours of making music together, I confess I’ve developed a tiny musical crush on them. (That is, if one can have a crush on a software feature...)  Cello: Betsy Tinney Electric Guitar: Jeff Bohnhoff Drum programming: Betsy Tinney & Jeff Bohnhoff Drum: The mysterious Darcy ALBUM CREDITS ============== All tracking by Betsy Tinney at Wild Pine Studios, Redmond, WA; except guitar on track 3 and harmony vocals on track 9 tracked by SJ Tucker at The Pixie House, bodhrán on track 5 tracked by Bill Sutton at Bedlam House Studios, piano on track 6 tracked by Dr. Mary Crowell, and electric guitar on tracks 6 and 14 tracked by Jeff Bohnoff at Mystic Fig Studios. Mixed by Jeff Bohnhoff at Mystic Fig Studios, San Jose, CA mysticfig.com Mastered at Trakworx in San Francisco, CA trakworx.com Album artwork by Cade Tinney Album design by Kevin K Wiley Replicated at Oasis Disc Manufacturing oasiscd.com All rights reserved by Betsy Tinney betsytinney.com All songs and this recording copyright © Betsy Tinney 2017 except Wyverns in the Winery © 2017 by Betsy Tinney & Geli Wuerzner and Sweet is the Sound © 2017 by Betsy Tinney & S.J. Tucker. All rights reserved.