Johanna

I've never been there myself (except for passing through on I-70). But I don't think the song is meant to imply that there's anything objectively bad about the city. It's more about feeling stuck, about needing a change in your life but lacking the will to make it happen.

A cover of Mark Erelli, one of my favorite songwriters. Played on my Lachenal New Model tenor concertina, recently returned from Greg Jowaisas (with the occasional duet with my plumbing and the trains outside). https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/columbus-ohio

Thanks for listening, Lakeman. I look forward to hearing the new song!

Sorry, but I'm a folk singer. Seriously, though, I'll see what I can do.

Thanks. I suppose if I wanted to cheat, I could record each part separately and then adjust the balance however I want. But exploring different microphone arrangements is useful. One thing I notice, listening again to take 2, is that when I'm playing quietly, it becomes harder to sing in tune. Something else to work on, I guess.

Well, here's an attempt with more vocal and less concertina. https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/portrait-of-my-wife-take-2

I don't know how to stop parens-C-parens from turning into ©, but I guess it's clear what it's supposed to be.

Not at all - the chords are pretty easy. The little riff before/after/between the verses is: C F C F C F F G Where each of the C's is really a Csus2 resolving to C (the top melody note starts on D and then goes up to E). Then the verse and chorus go like this: In © vain I try to (F) dry a tear which © falls down from my (G) eyes, It (Am) makes me (G) think of (F) one I love who in this cold grave (G) lies; My © heart is very (F) sad I vow, one thing © cheers me through my (G) life: The (Am) only (G) merit (F) I have left, this portrait of my (G) wife. (G) Roll away those (F) lonely days, (G) Roll from up a©bove. (F) Raise (G) your (Am) glass to the (F) one you © love. Most of the chords I play as open fifths, omitting the 3rds.

Thanks, all. I was just singing/playing into my computer microphone, while sitting on the couch, so the concertina was closer to the microphone than my voice was, and my breath support might not have been all it could have been. Maybe I'll try a take later where I'm standing up and recording with a real microphone, and see if that's any better.

Well, wherever it originated, I think it's too good a joke to be used only once.

Well, now that I've got Soundcloud figured out, I thought I'd share this. It's probably the first solo-concertina-and-voice arrangement I'm mostly happy with: https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/portrait-of-my-wife I know the delivery needs work (especially the dynamics). Constructive criticism of the arrangement is welcome. Should I try varying the drones between verses, or keep them as is?

As Paul Sartiin of Bellowhead once said, "[This next tune] was written in 1651...which is a h-ll of a time signature." This isn't that, but it's also one that they play. https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/fakenham-fair

It's not, but the long measures (combined with slow tempo and big chords) made the bellows changes a lot trickier than I thought they'd be.

Here you go: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDud8Q377zE

This isn't much, but I was talking with some people the other day about songs in 9/8, and I thought I'd learn one of them: https://soundcloud.com/johannam17/farther-along