'Nother night, 'nother villain. This one's a vampire.

"Mercy Wheeler," words and tune by April Grant. Some of you know this one already. Please learn it and sing it wherever you wish.

Lyrics and notes from the Soundcloud post:

Now Mercy Wheeler’s in the grave; they buried her today ( Read more... )

So, I a song. Rachel Wall's Last Good-Night. I've been meaning to post this since I wrote it in October 2016; now is as good a time as any. The words are mine. The tune is my adaptation of "The Bold Solder" tune sung by Lena Bourne Fish in the Anne and Frank Warner Collection.

From my Soundcloud entry:

Rachel Wall was hanged at Boston, on October ( Read more... )

I was asked to be a judge in a ballad singing competition for teenagers and young adults. I have mixed feelings about this "competition" thing, but the end result is to get people singing, which I like. I promised I would do "Kemp Owyne," with which I have intense emotional connection dating back to early childhood. Apart from anything else, you ( Read more... )

Here's a finished song from a few months ago, written on the heels of this post. (How the hell was that all the way back in July? Time has roared past me. Well, it's still important.) First sung in public in December 2016 ( Read more... )

This has been at the back of my mind for weeks, since reading a Tumblr post that discusses the idea that US Navy subs which never return are still on patrol, not lost at sea. The resulting comment thread seemed to want to be a song. To top it all off, it's a Christmas song! I'm two months too late for this to be seasonally appropriate, but what the ( Read more... )

I don't talk about my singing life on here much, but maybe it's time for that to change. The pub sing at the Somerville Armory is this evening, 7:00 - 10:30, and I strongly suggest that anyone who wants to hear or deliver some good songs check it out. They have a nice cafe, too, and a lot of people get dinner or drinks.

FB event here, but not ( Read more... )

For the benefit of my friends in the greater Boston area who don't use Facebook: you're all welcome to the traditional song swap at my house on the 6th. Please message me for any further details.

From FB invite:

Traditional song swap at my house, November 6th! Come to sing or to listen. The start time will be at 1:00 ( Read more... )

I found this in my neglected word documents when I was looking for something else the other day. It needs a tune, and then a rewrite based on how singable it turns out to be.

Lost track of the date I wrote this, but I'm pretty sure it's from last summer at about this time, after I attended NecronomiCon, bought a bronze hand pendant from ( Read more... )

Back about a month ago, arrogantemu and I wrote this song while on a camping trip, in a burst of mutual inspiration, and I've finally had a chance to type up the words. It was such a collaborative effort that I can't even remember who wrote which line, but we contributed equally. The tune is "Five Nights Drunk." It's based on a true story: Leigh Anne Sabine's ( Read more... )

You're all invited--RSVP and come sing!

From the Facebook announcement:

Come and share your songs! Let's have a lot of good choruses and participatory songs, plus solo songs and ballads. This swap is for unaccompanied singing. The focus is on traditional songs, but I won't say no to recent songs too ( Read more... )