On New Years Eve, 2005 I heard that my old friend Tim Cole had started writing songs and was performing them at medieval events. I soon arranged to get together with him to record some of his stuff. We started jamming sometime after Imbolc (early February) of the following year and worked up a few songs to perform at the Beltaine (early May) feis. The tunes were all either medieval or Irish-inspired folk. I was lucky enough to get my brother Ned (of Trespassengers fame) to play fiddle on some of the tunes.

Since we were mostly playing at my house I recorded a lot of the stuff we did so I could give Tim a copy to practice at home or just to review with a critical ear. I soon got the idea to make a CD from the recordings which I would pass out for free at the event. I looked at all the possible CD burning solutions and decided on using a lightscribe drive - the discs just looked so cool with a greyscale image burned into them, and I wouldn't have to do any other artwork - I could just stick them into a clear case.

The artwork (not mine) depicts cattle being driven through the twin fires of Beltaine, an ancient Celtic tradition for the purification of the herd.

We didn't really have a name for the band, so I just came up with something off the cuff which nobody else really liked either. I passed out a bunch of copies of the CDs and they were really well received and I got a lot of "word-fame" in medieval circles from it. Most of the recordings were second or third takes made with a partially working Fostex four track tape machine, in short they sucked - but I'm glad I have these copies of Tim doing his originals just the same. Also I was able to give a copy to his mom which she really appreciated.

01  Jack Stewart (I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day)
02  Maryanne
03  Whiskey Down (by Tim Cole about Pennsic)
04  Fhear-a-Bhata
05  All for Me Grog
06  What Will I Think of (by Tim Cole)
07  Ned Berrys Reel
08  Fair Game (by Tim Cole)
09  Dick Darby
10  Lowlands of Holland
11  Shule Agra
12  The Blacksmith
13  FarmersLament (by Tim Cole)
14  Foggy Dew
15  A Bunch of Thyme
16  Reel & Jig