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Not the traditional tune that everyone knows - from the English drinking song "To Anacreon in Heaven" - but an American tune composed by James Hewitt (1770-1827) in New York in 1817, only three years after Francis Scott Key wrote his famous poem about the British bombardment of Fort McHenry. Hewitt was the orchestra leader of the Old American Company and was one of the leading musicians in New York City. His composition had been lost to history until a copy was discovered in Philadelphia and a facsimile reprint issued in 1930. A copy of that reprint just happened to be in a big box of old sheet music that I bought at a junk shop in Hobbs, New Mexico, many years ago, and this grand tune definitely deserves a wider audience. For those of you brave enough to give it a try, I've attached the pdf with tablature since I made a couple of minor changes since it was first published in Anglo Concertina in the Harmonic Style ten years ago. The music notation shown is exactly from the original Hewitt score, so the Anglo button numbers shown are best approximations. The fingering is fairly difficult, requiring lots of shifts out of normal positions. Originally in the key of G, I transposed it to the key of C to better fit a C/G Anglo. If you have a G/D Anglo, then you'll be in the original pitch. The video was recorded today, on the 4th of July, 206 years after it was written, and it took me almost that long to learn it! Gary P.S. I've updated the version in the book, so all copies from here on out will have the newer tab - one of the beauties of print-on-demand publishing. Star Spangled Banner-Hewitt-C-ANGLO.pdf

Good news for all of you who have struggled with Alan Lochhead's book All-American Concertina Album - Rollston Press has been licensed by Mel Bay Publications to update and reissue all of Alan's arrangements in a new 76-page book titled Summer Symphony, available now on Amazon worldwide in paperback and "print-replica" Kindle. Marches, rags, novelty tunes - just the sort of music you would hear in an old-timey bandstand in the park over the past 100 years. All 12 of the original tunes, plus "Dill Pickles" arranged for 30-button Anglo, plus a 40-button accompaniment to "At a Georgia Camp Meeting". All notes shown in actual pitch with double treble clefs, and with button numbers and bellows direction tablature for Anglo like all the other Rollston Press books. And yes they are really difficult to play on the Anglo concertina - definitely not easy arrangements! I had the good fortune to meet Alan at the West Coast concertina meeting last December organized by Daniel Hersh and David Brown, and this update is with his full blessing and encouragement. Since there are no recordings online of Alan playing these arrangements, we've included QR code links for every tune to SoundCloud audio files exported directly from the notated music. Attached is an excerpt for all you Monty Python fans out there (and yes, the tune is really a march by the American bandleader John Philip Sousa). Gary Liberty-Bell-excerpt.pdf LOCHHEAD-TOC.pdf

Big Announcement - new book just out: The Anglo Concertina Music of John Watcham. As many of you know, John is one of the superstars of the concertina revival, featured on the Ashley Hutchings recordings Son of Morris On and Rattlebone & Ploughjack, also the Shirley Collins recordings Adieu to Old England and Lodestar. Plus the Anglo International! CD. John specializes in English Morris dance music, and has played Anglo concertina for Chingford Morris, Albion Morris, Brighton Morris and Taylor’s Morris. The book includes 50 of his tunes carefully transcribed from LPs, CDs, mp3s, videos and field recordings, with only minor adjustments to make them playable on a standard 30-button C/G Anglo concertina (he plays a 39-button Jeffries system). All tunes have the same easy-to-use button numbering and tablature system found in all Rollston Press concertina books, plus Button Maps to show exactly which buttons are needed for every tune. In addition to lots of photographs, the book is literally littered with smartphone-scannable QR codes that link to a delightful variety of videos and recordings, from folkrock albums to practice tunes to public dance performances to even a late-night drinking dance in a pub. John himself plays in many of these YouTube videos and SoundCloud audio files. These have been my absolute favorite tunes to play on the Anglo for many years, and it has been both an honor and a pleasure to work with John to put this book together. Attached is the Table of Contents plus a free sample - "Smash the Windows" from Rattlebone & Ploughjack. Available now at Red Cow Music in the UK and Amazon. Gary Smash-the-Windows-WATCHAM.pdf WATCHAM-TOC.pdf

For sale: Edgley C/G anglo concertina, 30-button, built in June 2006. Standard Wheatstone fingering. I'm the original owner; I bought directly from Frank Edgley. Serial #136. Wood ends, cherry, with dark mahogany stain, ornamented with Frank's 'Celtic Lion' scrollwork design. The buttons are black delrin, very comfortable and easy on the fingers. Comes with its original Sean Fallon case. I've had no mechanical problems at all. Buttons, springs, lever arms, pads, have never given me any trouble, and are all in excellent condition. All buttons and all reeds work well, and quickly. The bellows are well broken in, and as perfect as the day they were made. There are no scratches or dings of any kind on the concertina, nor on the leather of the bellows. I've finally realized that I can't get to be a good player of both English and Anglo concertina, and I've been spending most of my playing time with my Lachenal English for the last couple of years. I've decided to find a new home for my Edgley anglo, sorry as I am to see it go. With the case, I paid about $2400. I'm asking $2000.00. Please email me at macrane1@verizon.net and I'll be happy to send you more photos. Or answer any questions you may have.