a m e r i c a n r o o t s m u s i c • t r a d i t i o n a l c o u n t r y • b l u e s • f o l k • a m e r i c a n a m u s i c • a m e r i c a n r o o t s
m u s i c • t r a d i t i o n a l c o u n t r y • b l u e s • f o l k • a m e r i c a n a m u s i c • a m e r i c a n r o o t s m u s i c • t r a d i t i o n
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Moon Over the Downs The Trailer Star Tribute Super Tiny Records Lyrics by Shaun Belcher ©2003 Music by James McSweeney • Cicero Buck • Brian Lillie • Ronny Elliott • Steve Roberts • Diana Darby • Kevin Meisel • Robert Burke Warren • Jim Roll • Deanna Varagona • Claudia Scott & Fats Kaplin • Bob Cheevers • Dan Israel • Terry Clarke • Ian Kearey |
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| Insurgent Country Bert van Kessel Fascinating fiction. One of the most beautiful Americana records that have been released over this past year is without any doubt this captivating album. The "tribute to a star that never was" is a concept album conceived by Shaun Belcher, a most creative character who, amongst innumerable other activities, runs the Flyin Shoes website. The fictitious Trailer Star is the deceased musician to whom this album has been dedicated. Shaun wrote the lyrics for 15 songs and had them put to music and recorded by a fine selection of Americana artists, mostly troubadours from the folk genre. Sometimes the songs are more rock-related, like the solid Kinks-ish Clown's Car by Jim Roll and Brian Lillie, with a heart-warming Augie Meyers-organ. The 15 tracks are 15 beautiful songs, which, in spite of their diversity, constitute one coherent whole. They paint a picture of the darkish, Twin Peaks-like world of Trailer Star. As the album is actually a chain of great songs, it is nearly out of the question to mention its highlights. Let's try it anyway: the haunting The Devil's House by Claudia Scott and the renowned multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplan will deprive anyone of one's sleep. These Wishing Fields, One Horse Town and My Little Town by Bob Cheevers, Dan Israel and James McSweeney respectively, are intimate, personal revelations in the style of Guy Clark and Willie Nelson. There's the intriguing, almost chilling November Morning Sun by Cicero Buck, with the highly talented vocalist Kris Wilkinson, whose harmonica creeps up and down your spine. Lambchop's Deanna Varagona calls up goose pimples with the dismal Bled Dry, Ronnie Elliot relives Johnny Cash in the dark Devil's Address, there's an obsessive violin in Brian Lillie's Drowning Moon, with direct, unemotional vocals. Need one go on? This has become an album that will absorb the listener completely, that will embrace him, to never let him go. The fact that the greater part of the proceeds of the unique project will be donated to Cancer Research in Great Britain is yet another incentive to buy this must-have album. All proceeds from sales after administration go to The Cancer Research UK Charity. |
My Little Town Lyrics by Shaun Belcher Music by James McSweeney © 2003 Inside Straight (BMI) JAMES MCSWEENEY vocals, guitar RealAudio (low q) || WindowsMedia (low q) || MP3 (high q) (691KB) There's a road that runs straight through my little town • A movie theatre about half way down in my little town • But now they've turned it into a bingo palace • They don't show films there no more, no more There's a railway line runs through my little town • And all the kids can think about is getting out of this little town • See them on the platform on a Saturday night • About half past eleven there'll always be a fight What can a poor boy do • But get drunk and play the fool • In my little town, in my little town |
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| The Devil's House Lyrics by Shaun Belcher Music by Claudia Scott & Fats Kaplin © 2003 Steelworks / Revolution (TONO/SESAC) CLAUDIA SCOTT vocals, guitar FATS KAPLIN fiddle, accordion, drum RealAudio (low q) || WindowsMedia (low q) || MP3 (high q) (691KB) I live in a house on top of a hill • I've been here for years and I'm here still • And I watch you every day you go by • Every day of my life And the rain pours down like tears • From the coal black clouds my dear • On to the devil's house Well I've done things that I don't understand • I've been confused but I've worked and I've planned • Then along came a girl with a pretty smile • And before you know it you're already mine And the rain pours down like tears • From the coal black clouds my dear • On to the devil's house I live in a house on top of a hill • I've been here for years and I'm here still • And I watch you every day that goes by • Every day of my life |
These Wishing Fields Lyrics by Shaun Belcher Music by Bob Cheevers ©2003 Bob Cheevers Music (SESAC) BOB CHEEVERS vocals, acoustic guitar, background vocals CHARLIE WHITE electric guitar CORY FITE ogran pad RealAudio (low q) || WindowsMedia (low q) || MP3 (high q) (691KB) Can't shake the mud from my heels • Feel like a tractor sunk up to its wheels • Every time I try to quit and run away • I keep coming back to this old clay Further out I go the deeper in I plunge • Feel this soil deep inside my lungs • Never gonna escape these wishing fields • I'm tied to these wishing fields Now my father and his father before him •
Believed in this land, believed in everything •
But one man can't turn a failing farm around •
I'll die a poor man, laid in this cold, cold ground
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"Since migrating from Cambridge,
Mass to Nashville some three decades ago, Mark Brine has carved out a strong
reputation as an uncompromising traditionalist on the country music scene which
has made him one of the elder statesmen of Americana."
-- Shaun Dale, Cosmik Debris Magazine
"I could listen to him sing all night long – he does a good job that boy does." -- Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb Midnight Jamboree "A fine young man who I think has a great future." -- Hank Snow, Grand Ole Opry "Brine could easily have been added to the cast of 'O Brother, Where Art Thou' without raising an eyebrow. He belongs to that group of artists whose individuality and quirkiness consign them to the periphery of what's commercially viable. But God bless him for not just being another cog in the musical wheel." -- James McSweeney, Flyin Shoes |
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"Brine writes wonderful story songs about ordinary people
and ordinary places. To tell these stories, Mark has a voice that is
as comfortable as a favourite coat."
-- Pete Smith, Country Music Round Up "I think what makes Mark Brine such a gifted songwriter/storyteller is the fact that he seems to be such an obvious fan of many genres of music. He's someone who is like a sponge when it comes to reintegrating influences into his own work." -- Gail Worley, Ink 19 "His career has pursued the path of a truly independent artist - someone who follows his soul and does things his own way – his ability to write and produce has made his name synonymous with quality." -- Doug Floyd, AltCountryTab.com ©2004 Mark Brine Music. All rights reserved. |
