Harpswell Hootenanny 2011, Part 1-- Beatles or Stones?

The internets should've been lighting up--- In late March of this year, we managed to convene a veritable rogues gallery here at the Harpswell Estate, for the inaugural version of what we hope to make a yearly, ragtag,  floating rock session, beer slaughterin' and general gathering of friends from near and far. After a few months of calendar co-ordination, gear acquisition and song selection, Roadkill flew up from Charm City, and Roggie drove up from the new Sorkin Compound in lovely Florence, MA.  Gold stars went out to Dillo, who made the trek up from the Chapel Hill metro area (with his own prosciutto!), and to Paulie Bonanos, who caught a transcontinental flight from San Fran just to take part (and make gumbo). Platinum star, as ever, to Miss Oonagh, who put up with all this nonsense with poise and wit.

Anyway, a great time was had by all over the course of the weekend.  We yowled and hooted, swapped instruments, put a dent in our stores of libations and comestibles, and had a fine go of things, even putting a little hard work into the musical end.  To show for it, we have passel of fine tunes (some still under construction) and a bunch of silly pictures to share.  Already we've got our sights on spring '12 for the next go-round.

So here you go, for the first couple of cuts from the Harpswell Hootenanny 2011: one Beatles and one Stones.  I'm not sure if you can really call it a "battle", to put one of the all-time greatest Beatles tunes from one of their bestest albums ever ("Revolver", '66) up against a pretty deep Stones cut (from '67's "Between the Buttons-- another absolutely essential disc).  But, whatevah.....

And Your Bird Can Sing:


Paul B- rhythm/ lead gtr; Rog- lead/ harmony voc, rhythm gtr; Dillo- bass; Road- drums; JK- tambourine, harmony voc

Connection:

Paul B and Dillo- guitars; Road- drums; JK- bass, keys, tambourine, voc

Airliner

Airliner:



As the song says, "It's a two lane stretch of blacktop, it ain't nothin' 'bout a plane".  "The Airline" is the stretch of US Route 9 that runs between Bangor and Calais (pronounced "kal-lis", of course), which lies at the far southeastern border of Maine and looks across the St. Croix River to St. Stephen, NB, Canadia.  There are a few ideas as to why the road's called the Airline, the most likely being that the alternate route along the Downeast coast would have been the "shoreline" route.  The inland route crosses some of the tallest hills in the area, and at times it does feel like you're up in the clouds.  The road's been nicely resurfaced and generally improved in recent years but it still bears some of its old mojo as a trucker's ribbon winding through the hills, lakes and endless forests of Hancock County.  When you're crossing a hilltop in the dim grey middle of a cold winter day, maybe with some snow falling and not a soul in sight, you really feel you could just get swallowed up and not be found again.

I believe this particular song would've been mighty in the hands of the old Dillo or Pourbillies bands, but here's a solo version. Later on this week, we'll get some more of the collaborative stuff posted, and hopefully some photos.

jk