Availability
Reunion is available from the Steel
Rail (Crossties Music) Order page.
Preview
Here is a preview of some of the cuts on the album.
Just Waiting for a Train (with
Tammy Fassaert and James Whittall)
Garry Oak
(solo)
Reunion
track-by-track:
Just Waiting
for a Train
Lyrics and music: Dave Clarke
Style: mid-tempo bluesy folk
Guests: Tammy Fassaert, harmony
vocals; James Whittall, mandolin
This catchy
road song was written at Guildwood station in Toronto at the end
of an extended tour. It features unforgettable snapshots of the
other passengers and an observation about the solitary nature of
the journey that each of us is on. The track features Dave’s
bandmates in Shearwater, Tammy Fassaert and James Whittall.
Over the
Malahat
Music: Dave Clarke
Style: sprightly folk instrumental
Instrumentation: solo guitar
An exhilarating
rush up, over and down the Malahat, the mountain pass that
connects Victoria to the northern part of Vancouver Island.
Gold and Green
Lyrics by Lucinda Chodan, music by
Dave Clarke
Style: slow folk
Instrumentation: solo guitar,
vocals
This is the
story of small towns all over Canada. Its shivery melody and
moody lyrics create a melancholic portrait of what’s left behind
when everyone moves away.
Snows of
December
Lyrics by Dave Clarke and Lucinda
Chodan, music by Dave Clarke
Style: up-tempo bluegrass
Guests: Tod Gorr and Ellen Shizgal,
harmony vocals
A tribute to
Dave’s grandmother, Kitty Roy, who loved music of all kinds
almost as much as she loved her grandchildren, and who always
encouraged Dave in his musical career. Ellen Shizgal and Tod
Gorr, the other two-thirds of Montreal’s Steel Rail, join Dave
on the choruses.
Garry Oak
Music: Dave
Clarke
Style: up-tempo
folk instrumental
Instrumentation: solo guitar
The Garry oak
grows primarily on southern Vancouver Island and in northern
Washington state. This delicate melody is a tribute to the eerie
beauty of its gnarled branches and dense leaves.
Another Stolen
Day
Lyrics by
Lucinda Chodan, music by Dave Clarke
Style:
mid-tempo folk
Instrumentation: solo guitar, vocals
This song was
written on a late November morning when the pale sun seemed to
be holding the snow off by sheer willpower. It’s about that last
fall day before winter arrives and the great darkness sets in.
In My Home Town
Lyrics by Dave
Clarke and David Francey, music by Dave Clarke
Style: driving
folk
Guests: David
Francey and Geoff Somers, harmony vocals; Geoff Somers, fiddle
Homelessness
and poverty are everywhere, but the winter streets of Montreal
are particularly cruel. This song features the first (but not
last) songwriting collaboration between Dave and David Francey,
and reunites a trio that travelled thousands of miles together
in the early 2000s.
Bay of Bengal
Lyrics by
Lucinda Chodan, music by Dave Clarke
Style: slow folk
Guests: Bill
Garrett, guitar; Sue Lothrop and Rosemary Phelan, harmony vocals
This song was
inspired by a starry night on the beach at Madras and a bleak
November morning in Montreal. It is dedicated to Ashok Chandwani,
journalist, bon vivant, brilliant cook and friend. The soulful
second guitar is played by a longtime musical friend, Bill
Garrett, and the affecting harmony vocals are by his wife, Sue
Lothrop, and Rosemary Phelan.
Sorrento
Music: Dave
Clarke
Style: fast
bluegrass instrumental
Guest: James
Whittall, mandolin
Every August, a
musical community gathers in Sorrento, B.C., for an annual
bluegrass camp. This tune was inspired by Sorrento, the first
place Dave played after he moved to B.C., and the place where he
first played with Tammy Fassaert and James Whittall, who later
became the band Shearwater. It’s only appropriate, then, that
James contributed some brilliant mandolin licks to this track.
You Have My
Heart
Lyrics by
Lucinda Chodan, music by Dave Clarke
Style: slow, jazzy folk
Instrumentation: solo guitar, vocals
The songwriting
of geniuses like Harold Arlen and Yip Harburg were the
inspiration for this love song, which has an
uncharacteristically jazzy cast.
The Day
the Winter Goes
Lyrics by Lucinda Chodan, music by Dave Clarke
Style:
up-tempo folk
Guest: Penny
Lang, harmony vocals
The lyrics for
this song were written on the highway between Montreal and
Ottawa with the bright March sun glinting on the fields of snow.
Its unusual rhyme scheme and vivid imagery catch the excitement
of impending spring. The harmony vocals are supplied by Penny
Lang, a legendary figure on the Montreal folk scene who now
makes her home on the Sunshine Coast.
Only Love
Lyrics and
music: Dave Clarke
Style:
slow folk
Guests: Penny
Lang and Rosemary Phelan, harmony vocals
This love song
weaves politics and religion around a beautiful slow melody and
an irresistible chorus. Joining Dave are an old musical friend,
Penny Lang, and a new one, Toronto singer-songwriter Rosemary
Phelan.
Reunion
Music: Dave
Clarke
Style: slow
folk instrumental
This profoundly
emotional melody arrived in a dream. It provides the concept for
the album, because the dream and the music are about the renewal
of friendships, musical and otherwise.