Liner Notes
HELICON:
Ken Kolodner: hammered dulcimer, hammered mbira, fiddle
Chris Norman: wooden flutes, whistle, Scottish smallpipes, vocals
Robin Bullock: guitar, cittern, mandolin, piano
With guests:
Brad Kolodner: banjo, gourd banjo, fiddle, triangle, vocals
Alex Laquement: bass, harmonica, vocals
Sean McComiskey: button accordion
Elke Baker: fiddle, viola
Rachel Eddy: guitar, fiddle, vocals
Jonathon Srour: stepdancing
1. Il est Né / Gesu Bambino / Polkas
Robin, guitar & cittern / Ken, hammered dulcimer / Chris, flute
The festivities get underway with this crossbreeding of two favorite Helicon sets. The opening Christmas carols are French and Italian, respectively, and four polkas follow from various other corners of Europe: “The Tenth of December” from the Gow Collection of Scottish fiddle tunes, the Polish “Polka Suwanna from Rzeszow,” “Dick’s Maggot (‘Favorite’)” from England and “Denis Murphy’s” from Ireland.
2. In the Csitari Mountain Foothills / The Storm Warning
Ken, hammered dulcimer / Robin, cittern / Chris, flute & alto flute
Another Helicon standard from the trio’s 1990 album The Titan: a Hungarian tune that takes its title from where Zoltan Kodaly collected it, followed by a composition of Robin’s.
3. Ma’oz Tzur (Rock of Ages) / Come West Along the Road
Sean, accordion / Brad, banjo / Robin, mandolin & guitar / Alex, bass / Chris, flute
Two-thirds of Helicon join three-quarters of Charm City Junction for a Jewish song of praise and a hard-driving Irish reel.
4. Across the Great Divide
Brad, gourd banjo & lead vocal / Rachel, guitar & harmony vocal / Alex, bass / Ken, hammered dulcimer
The Ken & Brad Quartet offers their take on this lovely song written by the late Kate Wolf.
5. Black Eyed Susie
Brad, gourd banjo & lead vocal / Rachel, fiddle & harmony vocal / Alex, bass & harmony vocal / Ken, hammered mbira / Sean, accordion
The tune that won the Ken & Brad Quartet (joined here by Sean) first place in the neo-traditional band category at the 2019 Appalachian String Band Festival at Clifftop, West Virginia. This arrangement features an instrumental combination not often heard in old-time music!
6. In Those Twelve Days / Noëls
Chris, smallpipes & lead vocal / Robin, guitar / Alex, bass / Elke, viola / Rachel, fiddle / Sean, accordion / Ken, hammered dulcimer / Brad, banjo / All, backing vocals
Chris sings and pipes us through four French Noëls from Christophe Ballard’s 1703 collection Chants des Noëls, Anciens et Nouveaux de la Grand Bible.
7. Säästöpankki Vals / Lars and Satu / Reels
Ken, hammered dulcimer / Elke, fiddle / Alex, bass / Robin, guitar / Sean, accordion / Chris, flute / Jonathon, dancing
Elke transformed the first tune, a little-known Finnish waltz, into the second tune, a strathspey built on the same harmonic progression and named in honor of her cousin and his wife who live in Finland close to the Arctic Circle. The three reels that follow are all by contemporary tunesmiths: “Bus Stop Reel” by Seattle pianist Anita Anderson, “Baker’s Favorite” (and it is!) by guitarist Larry Unger, and “Frank’s Reel” by Scottish fiddler John McCusker.
8. Hard Times Come Again No More
Robin, guitar
Robin flies solo with a guitar interpretation of a classic Stephen Foster song. A quiet anthem of defiance and resilience.
9. Liza Jane / Sandy Boys / Hangman’s
Brad, fiddle & commentary / Ken, fiddle & percussion on Brad’s fiddle / Elke, fiddle / Robin, mandolin / Rachel, guitar / Sean, accordion / Alex, bass / Chris, whistle / Jonathon, dancing
The whole gang convenes, complete with three fiddles and the percussive practice known in the mountains as “fiddlesticks” (in which one person plays fiddle while a second beats rhythm on the instruments’s strings with sticks, or in this case dulcimer hammers). The first two of these fiddle tunes are old-time, the third is Québécois…and it’s possible that a bit of a beloved Christmas song might have found its way in there too.
10. Chimney Swifts
Brad, banjo / Alex, bass
An original tune from Brad – and the title track of his first solo album – inspired by the birds who come to visit a factory chimney near his home in Baltimore every year on their migratory journey.
11. Wild Rose of the Mountain
Rachel, guitar & lead vocal / Brad, banjo & harmony vocal / Robin, mandolin / Alex, bass / Ken, hammered dulcimer / Sean, accordion
Si Kahn pulled off the rare trick of writing a new song that sounds traditional and timeless. This song always reminds Rachel of being home with their family in West Virginia.
12. Lay Down Your Arms
Ken, hammered dulcimer / Elke, fiddle / Alex, bass / Robin, guitar / Chris, alto flute
A musical prayer for peace composed by Doron Levinson, an Israeli soldier wounded and temporarily blinded during the Yom Kippur War.
13. Boozy Suzy
Alex, bass, harmonica & lead vocal / Rachel, guitar & harmony vocal / Brad, triangle & harmony vocal / Sean, accordion / Robin, mandolin / Ken, hammered dulcimer
“Big Al” leads the way through a song written by our friend Mark Kilianski on a bet that he could incorporate the words “dolphin,” “calliope,” “Murphy bed” and “shim-sham-shimmy” into a song lyric. The audience can be heard gleefully responding to each one as they appear.
14. The Rumbling Quadrille
Ken, hammered dulcimer / Robin, piano / Brad, banjo / Alex, bass / Elke, fiddle / Rachel, guitar / Sean, accordion / Chris, whistle
“Rumlekvadrille,” to give it its original title, is a four-part dance melody from Tåsinge, Denmark, and a fine jam tune as can be heard here.
15. God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen / Christmas Eve Reel
Ken, hammered dulcimer / Chris, flute / Robin, piano / Sean, accordion / Elke, fiddle / Brad, banjo / Rachel, fiddle / Alex, bass / Jonathon, dancing
Helicon brings it all back home to wind up the evening, before being joined again by the rest of our compadres to rip through the final tune. If we haven’t played this holiday-themed pairing at every Winter Solstice Concert since 1986, we’ve certainly played it at most of them! It grows and evolves over time – this is the 2021 version.
16. Hop High
Brad, banjo & lead vocal / Rachel, guitar & harmony vocal / Alex, bass & harmony vocal / Ken, hammered dulcimer / Sean, accordion / Chris, whistle / Robin, mandolin / Elke, fiddle
Back for one more… Everybody gets to take a ride on this romp through an old-time folk favorite. And with that, we bid you goodnight until next year!
Recorded live at Kraushaar Auditorium, Goucher College, Towson, MD, December 18, 2021
