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ABOUT THIS REGOURDING
Liner Notes
The Gospel Agourding to Chance
Thanks for beautiful accidents. April 2003, I met Drew Arata in
his Earth & State shop. There he introduced me to an array
of devilishly playable, and wonderfully intonated, instruments
made by Stephen Catania. I bartered a couple of gigs at E &
S for Stephen to fashion me a made-to-speces gourdalin (4-stringed
gourd tuned like a mandolin).
Earlier this year Stephen made three prototype instruments, a
banjo, mandolin, and guitar. I pursued an interest in the gourd
guitar. In Oct/Nov. of 2005, Michael Gibbons and Jamie Brown opened
Media Music Studio. Via arrangements by Drew, they donated time
and space for me to make this regourding. Media Music studio features
64-track recording but I only used two tracks, so don't worry,
there are plenty left for the rest of you. Thanks to Michael,
the President, for vision and generosity and to Jamie, Engineer/Producer
extaordinaire for musical, listening, and technical skills. Checks
the guys out.
In Search of the Lost Gourd
The gourd guitar is about three-quarter size and I used it in
various tunings. Its open tuning is comparable to placing a capo
on the fifth fret of a standard guitar. At the outset of Tom &
Drew's Excellent Adventure, I discovered by trial and mostly error
that the guitar gourd encompassed a treasure of sound potential,
depending on the voicing and picking styles used. It is pure,
it is organic.
Of My Own Agourd
The gourd guitar was a singular instrument in this world. I went
on a journey to find it's solitary essence. The soul of wood is
so very vast for it's purpose and will in our lives. Wood houses
our bodies. Transformed into instruments by wizards like Stephen,
it nourishes our spirit with song. The songs that I offered to
the soul of wood were partly compositional and often improvisational.
Perfect and imperfect. Some pieces are new, some harvested from
elder season's passing moons. But, I never play anything the same
way once.
In Full Agourd
Special thanks to singer/songwriter/bandmate Wayne G. Harvey for
reproducing these first 50 pre-issue copies. Funds acquired from
the sale of this record or any donations will be used for producing
more copies of Harvest Dance and recording my original songs centered
on lyrics and the standard acoustic guitar.
One Final Gourd
If you have purchased this CD or found it lying on a friend's
coffee table, enjoy. If you like it, tell others, come see me,
bring a few hostages. It's all for you, for all the friends I
have, for the friends I have yet to make.
with warm regourds,
tom mullian
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