Track List

Posted by David

Coming up with the list of tracks to put on our album has been a fun yet difficult process. There are many songs we would like to include. In order to decide which songs to keep we needed to break down our list of songs into some criteria to help us decide.

Our first goal was to select songs that would stay true to our name. Since Mæander means ‘to wander’, we wanted the album to wander from one genre of music to the next. We didn’t want to choose all Celtic songs and produce a Celtic album or all bluegrass songs and produce a bluegrass album, but rather have a mix of several music types. This, of course, means that everybody may not enjoy all the songs on the album, but hopefully there will be a little something for everyone.

Our next challenge was to look at copyright restrictions on the songs. Each copyright tune we would put on the album would cost us extra money in licensing fees, so we ended up limiting our number of songs under copyright to just one. All other songs are either original or songs that reside in the public domain.

The third concern we had to consider was available studio time. Although we are recording our album ourselves, we still had to be mindful of how much time we would be able to spend in the studio. With our goal of producing one album a year, time is limited- so we decided to limit our number of tracks to ten.

Here is what we think will be the final track list, but things could still change. The order of the tracks has not been determined yet so here they are in alphabetical order:

The Cliffs – The first song Jennifer and I wrote together. We were jamming at the Cliffs of the Neuse when this song took form. (Instrumental)

Cordelia’s Waltz – There is a story that goes with this song.

Down in the Hallows – Here is an original fiddle tune with a little surprise in it. (Instrumental)

God Made Me And You – This song makes me picture a traditional classroom of children singing around a black piano being played by Miss Jones from the Norman Rockwell Painting.

Kosher Dill Love – The "Big Apple" drops a big apple on New Year's Eve – Mt. Olive drops a big pickle. This song was inspired by the New Year's pickle drop as well as the Pickle Festival in Mt. Olive, NC.

KR-66 – On a trip to the laundromat a few years back, Jennifer and I stumbled across something quite interesting which inspired this song.

Sharing Sunset – A poem Jennifer wrote for David in 2000 which was published in Renaissance literary magazine at Wayne Community College.

Wayfaring Stranger – Traditional tune

Look What They’ve Done To My Song, Ma – This cover of the Melanie Safka song illustrates what recording studios can sometimes do to beautiful songs. And yes ---the rumors are true---that’s my father you’re hearing on this song.

When the Pigs Begin To Fly! – This is an old (circa 1840’s) tune that we updated a bit.