Steve Wilson

Bravo Wolf. Nice reasonably simple accompaniment, nicely played. (rough bits, oh well, it's a rough take). I found myself playing along.

I thought that was great, not too heavy with the bass bits and very danceable. Well done Wolf, great playing.

Thanks Malcolm, I had previously stumbled across a reference to Mr Poole then forgot his name. Since you've googled him up I'll make a point of mentioning him whenever I sing this song. And thanks for the compliments guys.

Shoe the Donkey and a whole lot of other names listed on your link. I've always known it as Pat Horgan's but have seen it called Saint Anthony's as well.

Hope this brings a smile to any who care to take a look. It's an Aussie traditional classic (well, actually composed by someone, can't be bothered to find out who right now). It's here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HejV32Otr6M I've tried to get a bit of rhythm happening on the chorus with my style of bellows technique. Critical comments welcome. Cheers Steve.

Very nice Wolf, I don't think your voice is too prominent, perfect balance in fact. After hearing you do this I feel I should learn Fiddler's Green. It would be a good addition to my repetoir and not too difficult on the concer. And as a bonus if I relearn the words of another song, an Aussie one, I used to sing, The Dying Stockman, I'd have two new songs. The songs go on. I've another to post soon. English is great for accompaniment, not too heavy. Cheers Steve.

Hi Wolf, Someone does like it, me and quite a few others I see on soundcloud. Always enjoy your playing and song postings. The song goes on, on C-net. Yeh. cheers Steve.

I was inspired to learn Fishing Blues from the playing of Jody Kruskal. I would never have considered doing this one if it weren't for him and it's great to pick up a few things from an expert. I wasn't thinking when doing titles and misnamed it, not to worry. Here it is. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBZUbEEs1Mc The audio is not that great, had a few issues when recording and neglected some settings. Critical comments welcome. And here's Jody doing the expert's version. http://jodykruskal.com/solo_concerts_assets/fishing_blues.mp3

Very nice Wolf, I enjoyed that. The tunes seem to go well together. I know Boulavougue as the convict song Morton Bay, an emotive song that works well to that tune. Cheers

Welcome Gaspar. Good choice going with the english concertina, says I being an english player. At least you can play in any key you like. You have a nice looking instrument, I hope it plays well. What sort of music will you play or are you already playing. Some Argentinean folk music perhaps? or something more contemporary? Have you seen this video? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pM9zjVq_ztU Not Argentina but surprisingly Bolovia.

Despite himself being limited in the finger department. Bravo. Wonderful. All those delish chords, might have to learn this one. For the record it's called "You Don't Know What Love Is" and was sung by Billie Holiday.

Great treatment of this classic. Really enjoyed it, inspiring. I wish there were a few more videos of Rainer, the only other I've seen is "Somewhere Over the Rainbow". Perhaps there's something on soundcloud.

Well done Johanna. I don't know Mark Erelli but from my little peek on the net it seems he's written lots of songs. This one is quite nice and it's great that you've done it with concer and that it's a contempory song. There should be more contempory songs done with concertina I say.

Hi Wolf, I've toyed with the idea of trying to get some bass bits happening in a song. Haven't done it yet except for a quick fiddle around. Bit time poor now. And bass bits on english, and treble at that, a little difficult perhaps. Some keys would be better than others I think. D, or A perhaps? Have you considered a "country song"? "I Walk the Line" (Johnny Cash) might work. Just a thought. Might suit your voice too if you were to sing it. Cheers Steve.

Thanks all for the input. I think I'm convinced domed buttons are the buttons for me. I'd already told Wim I wanted them but then asked about flat buttons and he informed me about their use for advanced playing techniques. So I thought I'd gather a few thoughts from different people. I think the domes have it. The new concer is.....the Parnassus. Arriving some time in July I hope.

Well I reckon that's pretty darn good! Great playing Wolf and the vocal to instrument balance is fine. Sorry, can't find anything to constructively criticise.

I'm not sure if this is an ergonomics topic or a general concertina one but I have the option of domed or flat buttons on a new concertina I'm ordering. What's best? Why? I currently play a Wheatstone with slightly domed buttons.

G'day Stefan, Thanks for the tip re "Lightworks". I've only looked at the homepage so far. If I can find some time I'll delve further. I was wondering how you mic'd the concer but deft use of the pause button revealed the wire across your thigh. You sneeky fella, the mics are well concealed under your wrists. Would they be microvox or something else?

Bravo, I reckon you've nailed it Johanna. What's next? Could you give us something a little more up tempo? And Wolf, thanks for the encouragement re soundcloud. I'm a bit busy just now down on the farm so there's no recording happening. But Johanna's going well. Power to the EC. Cheers all, Steve.

Wow, that's fantastic Stefan, very innovative. I really enjoyed this and will have to work on this type of blues delivery on english, a bit more restricted perhaps. To be a pedant, is this truely "Solo singer with concertina"? what with loops and beat box? Well yes, there's only one singer. But did Matthew mean concertina as the only instrument? Who cares, what you've done is great and a very pro video too. I suspect you've a better program than imovie.

Very nice, a fairly simple arrangement which is all it needs. IMO the english is the best concer for song accompaniment although the others can be great if used with restraint. You just need to get the vocal a little more up front but you know that. Soundcloud is still a mystery to me. I suspect it's not as involved as video/youtube but I prefer video to present a full performance. But I should try to figure soundcloud sometime.

If you do this in the next couple of months then I will be very interested to hear what you think about the new tuning. Feel free to PM me if you care to. Certainly Adrian thinks you won"t be disappointed. In the next month or so I'll have to make a decision about how I want my new (coming) concer tuned and from recent discussion and past threads I have to say I too am leaning toward 1/5 comma mean as I use the concertina for song accompaniment mostly. Of course I will have to discuss this in detail with Mr Wim Wakker.

Thanks Geoff, you have answered the question I posed on another thread(started by Ixnx) about 1/5 comma mean tuning. Very interesting, I may have to investigate further. I listened to one of your tune of the month recordings, your very first posting I think, and it sounded as if you might have been playing duet rather than english. Cheers Steve

My first was a Lachenal, it looked much like Blue Eyed Sailor's if you follow the link to his photos. Mine was in quite poor condition and at the time, long ago, I didn't appreciate what I might have had. I eventually swaped it for a banjo! My second was aquired while travelling In NY, 1974. Still had the Lachenal at home but I saw an advertisment from Boris Matusewitch and bought one from him. I think he was having them made in Italy but not sure. Others would know more about these instruments. So the circumstance of aquirement was opportune. On this concer I started to work out how to play the EC. Sold it after I got the third. My third and present concer was also aquired opportunistically during a later trip,1979, this time to the UK. It's a Wheatstone metal ended, number 21 model from 1930. At the time there was no thought about what I wanted except a reasonably good concer. cboody...what is 1/5 comma mean tuning?

Thanks Wolf and Jim, you fellas are always so on the ball, much appreciated. I've satisfied my curiosity about the Boyd instruments and also discovered from the ledgers that I have a wheatstone number 21, nothing too special but OK for me at present. Cheers Steve.