TOM WILSON: The Heather and the Sagebrush

Tom Wilson

The Heather and the Sagebrush

© 2007 Thomas Wilson (634479555039) (format: CD-R)

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The sounds of the Scottish Highlands and the Rocky Mountains combine on Tom's second release. Featuring spirited tin whistle, majestic horns, rowdy drumming, and merry band of local stars playing everything from banjo to highland pipes.

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notes

Once upon a time, there was a man with way too many instruments, a rather short attention span, a strong do-it-yourself streak, one very patient wife, several very talented friends, a fascination with the music of Scotland, and an overwhelming love of the wide open spaces of Wyoming.

This CD is the result. Nothing too fancy; nothing too polished. Just home grown, home-made, hand-crafted, straight-shooting Rocky Mountain Celtic music.

The first track, "The Mountainous Set," evokes some of the feelings that come from being in the high country, starting with the quiet and contemplative, moving to the intense and dangerous, and finally ending with a majestic depiction of a Tom’s favorite trail in Wyoming’s Wind River Range.

The album is full of stories of the wild country. "Fish Story" is a hilarious, bluegrass-flavored one-that-got-away tale told from the fish's point of view. An almost-too-close encounter with a wild stallion provided the inspiration for “The Guardian.” "The Whetstone" came charging through Tom's head early one morning while he was sharpening arrowheads for the day's hunt. "The James Caird" pays tribute to the boat (and the men in it) who, in 1916, pulled off the greatest wilderness rescue in history.

The music of the old country is well represented, as well. "Toss the Banshee Out the Window" is a rollicking set of traditional Irish Dance tunes. "The Job of Journeywork" is a haunting Irish air and jig, while "The Resolved Set" is straight out of the Scottish highland piping tradition. "Andy Renwick's Ferret" is also a highland pipe tune, although Tom performs it in a decidedly non-traditional, entirely more ferretlike manner.

There is a deep spirituality that pervades almost all of Tom's music. "Snow in May" and "Spring of '03" are both songs about change, hope, the light at the end of the tunnel. "Song for Widlin" is a true story about a little boy Tom once met in Haiti, and it appeals to the listener to be grateful. The simple tin whistle mixes with soaring horns on a powerful instrumental arrangement of the old Irish hymn, "Be Thou My Vision."

The final set on the album, “The Winds of Badbea/Far From Home,” is a lament for the victims of the highland clearances, and a celebration of the new lives they found in a new world.

Recorded and produced in rural Wyoming, Western music with a highland heart (or the other way around), featuring the only euphonium-tin whistle duets you’re ever likely to come across: This is music you won’t hear anywhere else.

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  • A very different set of songs and playing
    author: Paul Yuellig

    I once fell in love with the books of Thomas Hardy...Far From The Madding Crowd; Tess Of The D'Urbervilles; The Mayor Of Casterbridge, etc. This music reminds me of those novels...with a little bluegrass thrown in. The horns sound like the opening song in the movie, Tess, by director Roman Polanski. It's so much fun to find music that is as unusual as this, especially when everybody is sort of trying to make sure that their songs fit in with what is in the mainstream. That's okay, as long as you're good and can stand out of the crowd enough to get noticed. Tom Wilson seems to be playing and singing out what he loves and feels.

  • Fun and varied music, full of hope. Great CD!
    author: Cherry W.

    Who would have thought about connecting heather and sagebrush? But it works! This is a fun and varied selection of music, a listener's delight. What I like best about this CD is the way the music puts hope into me. Way to go, Tom Wilson!

  • Awesome! Tom's love of music shines through in every note.
    author: Tom's Jiffy Muffin Partner

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