Ok, maybe not, but certainly a powerful lineup -- now that I have my computer set up to transcribe cassettes and LPs to digital, I've been wading through our big box of tapes and found this tucked at the end of another: Dave Glover, May Ip and Glen Hornblast together with Paul Therien on percussion and myself on mandolin and dulcimer, recorded live at the afternoon show during the 1995 Oakville Summer Festival. Not the best of recordings, you can't expect much from a 90's era cassette voice-recorder left onstage, but when it's a slice of landmark music history like this, hi-fidelity is almost irrelevent.

Free MP3: Your Body's Groovin', a Dave Glover original and dedicated to every child with a favourite tune; features Dave and May on guitars and vocals, Glen on harmonica, Paul on Andean drum-box and Gary on lap dulcimer and occasional backing vocal.

The recording may not illustrate it all that clearly, but this was one of those magic-chemistry bands and a solid hoot of a tour. Paul went on to become a much in demand session percussionist and toured with several folk and jazz bands over the past decade; Glen still occasionally drops in at the Free Times and Fat Alberts. We lost track of Dave shortly after that summer. It turns out that Dave Glover is not an easy person to find even with keywords like 'Toronto musician' (google finds mostly Big Daddy G). If anyone knows his whereabouts, tell him to give May and Gary a buzz.

Blues and gospel from the 30's, dust-bowl balladeers and Woody's correspondence, the 1939 Lomax tapes, frontier fiddle traditions, even Leonard Bernstein in stories, facsimiles, photos and mp3 ... every nation should have one of these online!

American Memory provides free and open access through the Internet to written and spoken words, sound recordings, still and moving images, prints, maps, and sheet music that document the American experience. It is a digital record of American history and creativity. These materials, from the collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions, chronicle historical events, people, places, and ideas that continue to shape America, serving the public as a resource for education and lifelong learning.  read more »

A big welcome to all of you following our link from Download.com -- welcome to our little slice of the web and please do poke about, download some tracks and enjoy.

number 72

Barely three weeks after the launch, May and I list at number 72 in the Top 100 downloads in Contemporary Folk on Download.com Music! Poking about in the list, I see we are in excellent company too -- if you are looking for a wide variety of new contemporary or traditional folk and country, Download.com has a brand new site that's easy to use and brimming with good stuff.

You can find our page at music.download.com/just_us

Another free mp3, just in time for spring!

I'm So, So Happy - Perfect soundtrack for those long garden walks in an April rain.

vocals/guitar: May Ip
appalachian dulcimer: Gary Murphy

Another share-friendly upload to our DMusic page

What's the Use of It (If Dreams are Only Dreams) - A song about hopes, dreams and families separated by war; written after May's tour of the Vietnamese refugee camps; originally released on May's solo live CD, "My Mama's Words" in 1993

vocals/guitar: May Ip
clawhammer banjo: Gary Murphy

Another track recorded live at K106 Studios in Owen Sound Ontario October 1995 by Gary Bayers. Clicking the photo above will take you to Dick Swanson's excellent photo essay accompanying his article Last Exit from Saigon

We have made our Europe debut! Our third trade-friendly MP3, this one released on Germany's ic-musicmedia website:

Counting Stars - Music and Lyrics by May Ip, May on vocals and guitar, Gary on Appalachian Dulcimer.

Interconnected is a German-based online musicians' archive which collects a great variety of indie music from all over the world, served in low and high-bandwidth streaming MP3, MP3 downloads and RealAudio.

Our second trade-friendly song upload to the Digital Music Oasis:

Give Us A Smile -- Music and Lyrics by May Ip, recorded live during that same 1995 K106 session; May on vocals and guitar, Gary on mandolin.