13 original funky, fiddle-driven tracks featuring an all-star cast from the Canadian contemporary music scene.
As a child I was taught that eavesdropping was a no-no. It was rude to listen in on other people’s conversations. As a musician, I couldn’t have found my own voice unless I’d listened in.
Music began to take over my life very early on with days split between high school, the Conservatory, church choir and my first folk/rock experiments. I listened to as many violinists and bands as I could. Zappa, Menuhin, Vassar Clements, Jean Luc Ponty, Stephane Grappelli, Joe Venuti, The Grateful Dead, even Jimi Hendrix. I threw off my middle class mores and ran away with a rock band.
I decided it was time to start figuring out the jazz changes I’d fallen asleep to on late night radio as a youngster, but I could still feel the voices of the classical masters I had grown up studying. By then, other voices had started making themselves heard: I studied South Indian drumming, music from the Karnatak tradition as well as Celtic and Klezmer forms. I couldn’t stop listening in.
All this time I was on stage backing up other performers on concert and festival stages, in clubs and bars, playing in bands, string sections and chamber ensembles. I’ve had the pleasure of working with so many fine artists over the years.
Raising a family never stopped me from performing, but for about eight years, when my children were very young, I found no time to compose music. When I began to write again, it seemed as if all those diverse influences and experiences, all the unconnected conversations I’d overheard had blended into a single, unbroken stream of musical language, rich in character and flavour, with its own tone and texture, ready to be expressed by one voice, my violin.
This collection of original compositions reflects where I am now — a veteran performer just as comfortable delivering a simple, heartfelt ballad as I am rocking out on a wailing fiddle-driven groove. Music doesn’t make distinctions — it finds its way into every heart. I feel very lucky to be part of this limitless adventure.
All compositions by Anne Lindsay / Violindsay Music 2001,
except Harry Brunk’s Adventure by David Woodhead / Woodhead Music 1999.
Arranged and produced by Anne Lindsay and David Woodhead.
Engineered by Jim Morgan at Acrobat Music, Pickering, Ont. and David Woodhead at The Woodshed, Toronto.
Mixed by John Switzer at Number Nine Audio, Toronto.
Cover photography by L. Pief Weyman.
Art direction and design by Ambrose Pottie.
Eavesdropping Tune Book — fourteen original tunes, beautifully notated, with pictures and performance notes. A great gift idea! Contact Anne to order.
A romp along the sidewalks of downtown Toronto in February: written while pushing the baby carriage into sub zero head wind.
Bill Brennan — piano, percussion
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
Wendy Solomon — cello
David Woodhead — fretless bass
Not a cautionary command, but the name I gave a dream home that I had planned since childhood. This tune appeared when I realized that the dream wasn’t going to happen. There’s something very liberating about letting go and moving on.
Colleen Allen — soprano and tenor sax
Bill Brennan — piano, percussion
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
Tosh Weyman — alto and baritone sax
David Woodhead — bass, 5 string banjo
For Emma, Miranda, Luke, Riley, Teo, Caley, Jesse, Raffa, Julia, James, Kit, Tosh, Chloe, Tyler, Melissa, Reed, Kai, Brett and Jenn-Bo. This tune is dedicated to all the children around the world whose lives are so very different from ours.
Bill Brennan — piano, percussion
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar (solo)
Dennis Keldie — accordian
Anne Lindsay — violin
Oliver Schroer — 5 string fiddle
David Woodhead — fretless bass, acoustic guitar
A geographical location or a part of the anatomy? Either way, it’s a good time.
Bill Brennan — triangle
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Dennis Keldie — accordian (left)
Anne Lindsay — fiddle, scordatura fiddle
Oliver Schroer — 5 string fiddle
David Woodhead — $0 bass, acoustic guitar, accordian (right)
One day I was out for a walk and was inspired when I overheard the unintelligible but tuneful mutterings of a stranger wandering past me. The cadence of his speech haunted me all the way home and before I knew it had transformed itself into this piece.
Bill Brennan — piano, vibes
Al Cross — drums
Andrew Downing — acoustic bass
Anne Lindsay — violin
Kim Ratcliffe-Beardsell — electric acoustic guitar
Oliver Schroer — 5 string fiddle pizz
The first tune was written sitting on the back porch of my in-laws’ farm overlooking the Beaver Valley. As I fiddled my four-year-old niece came out and started dancing. This jig was written at my parents’ farm in Mono Township where I’ve been going since I was one year old. Both farms are my heartland, on the Niagara escarpment in Ontario, which was recently declared a UNESCO World Biosphere reserve.
Bill Brennan — piano, percussion
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
David Woodhead — bass, mandolin
A toast to the Muse and those she moves.
Colleen Allen — soprano and saxophone
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
David Woodhead — bass, lap steel
We all feel our age as we get older but here’s to the moments when we don’t.
Bill Brennan — piano, synth drone
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Denis Keldie — organ drone
Anne Lindsay — violin
Wendy Solomon — cello drone
David Woodhead — fretless bass
I started writing this tune and then realised that technically it really wasn’t a blues. Try introducing this one onstage without getting into trouble!
Bill Brennan — piano
Al Cross — drums
Andrew Downing — acoustic bass
Anne Lindsay — violin
Kim Ratcliffe-Beardsell — electric acoustic guitar
As a freelance musician, I find myself in all kinds of situations, serenading the rich and famous, watching an elderly person smile at the memory of a melody from years ago, playing for square dancers under the stars, fiddling up a frenzy for Maple Leafs fans at the Air Canada Centre. Sometimes I’m useful furniture in other people’s lives. This tune is my ode to the delight I take in walking out the door with my violin, often not knowing where my music and I will find ourselves.
Bill Brennan — piano, percussion
Al Cross — drums
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
David Woodhead — fretless bass
One week, a cottage with no electricity, three young boys and lots of rain. Many games were invented, including this one. As my youngest son danced in the candle light and the wind whistled in the trees, this tune found me.
Bill Brennan — piano
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
Wendy Solomon — cello
David Woodhead — fretless bass
A David Woodhead composition inspired by the somewhat mysterious model railroad hero Harry Brunk, who is devoted to recreating the entire Colorado and Southern 3 foot gauge Clear Creek line in miniature! A deserving celebration for anyone who follows an unusual path for the long haul and defines his own reward.
Bill Brennan — piano
Jason Fowler — acoustic guitar
Anne Lindsay — violin
David Woodhead — fretless bass
A tune about doing what feels right, for all the right reasons. Inspired by the playing of Cornell Dupree (Paul Simon’s guitar player).
Colleen Allen — soprano and tenor sax
Bill Brennan — piano
Al Cross — drums
Dennis Keldie — Hammond organ
Anne Lindsay — violin
Kim Ratcliffe — electric guitar
Tosh Weyman — alto and baritone sax
David Woodhead — fretless bass