Chris Chandler
American Storyteller
With David Roe and the Orchestra

WORDS
~Chris Chandler
~David Roe ~Jo Smith ~Joe Dicey ~Kathryn Falcone
~Laura Cerulli ~Maia Sobelman ~Nick Annis ~Pat Humphries
~Sandy O ~SONiA ~Stephanie Lichtman-Price ~Thomas Nuendel

MUSIC
~Chris Chandler~ Guitar, Sound FX
~David Roe~ Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Jew's Harp, Drums
~Henry Cross~ Bass, Drums
~Jo Smith~ Piano
~Joe Dicey~ Electric Guitar
~Justin Nurin~ Trumpet, Cornet, Piccolo Trumpet
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Nick Newlin~ Organ, Accordion
~Stephanie Lichtman-Price~ Penny Whistle
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Saxophone, Flute, Clarinet
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Tom Derr~ Electric Rhythm, Slide, and Lead Guitars

Recorded 5/5/5 Ð 6/15/5 Red Sky Studio
Henry Cross~ Engineer: recording, mixing, mastering
Except "Lightning Bugs and Barflies," recorded Melville Park Studio, Steve Friedman~ Engineer (additional tracks recorded at Red Sky Studio)
Karen Kilroy ~ Enhanced CD production
Tom Daly ~ Crooked Cove~ CD production
Chris Chandler~ Producer
David Roe~ Producer and music director
All additional music conceived by David Roe with each musician contributing his own part.
Nothing is written. Authorship belongs to the collective soul and ability of those involved.
All Arrangements (P) © David Roe and Chris Chandler
All covers by permission of author/publisher or Harry Fox.
Album cover by Chandler
Layout by DR and Chandler

DR would like to Dedicate this CD to the memory of Tuba Fats, born Anthony Lacen; the Mayor of Jackson Square, teacher, band leader, politician, big man with a bigger heart. I will always hear your bent, bruised horn, rumbling low, holding it all together.

You can Buy more copies of this CD at CD Baby

Lightning Bugs and Barflies Chandler

John Brown's Body. The Battle Hymn of the Republic. Solidarity Forever. This Land Is Your Land. Bye Bye Miss American Pie. Smells Like Teen Spirit. Just a Li'l Bit. Koo Koo Ca Choo. Jo Smith was invaluable in the creation of this piece. Thank you. ~jcc

As much as I hate to admit it, karaoke is the campfire of today and the arbiter of what will become folk music in a generation or two. ~DR

~Jo Smith~ Vocal, Piano
~Tom Derr~ Electric Guitar
~Henry Cross~ Bass, Tambourine
~Thomas Falcone~ Flute
~Stephanie Lichtman-Price~ Vocal
~Chandler ~ Sound FX
~DR~ Drums

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine ( Florida ) Chandler and Lisa Stolarski /
Swimming to the Other Side Pat Humphries

Anne, Eric Schwartz, Mary Lightfine, and I found ourselves in Titusville , Florida , watching a predawn space-shuttle launch. I wrote about the magnificence of that launch in my monthly newsletter, which happened to go out the next day. Well, kismet and cosmos joined that February morning. A subscriber read it and e-mailed my newsletter to a friend, who just happened to be an astronaut on that shuttle. Yes, the beginnings of what would soon become this piece about the fountain of youth has actually been read in outer space! Anne Feeney and I spent eighteen days in the hot sun of Texas cobbling together a medley of songs to go along with the poem. We could not make it work. On Day 19, the obvious hit us: Let's cover that Pat Humphries song. It began to rain. ~jcc

Hysterical History Tour!!! A fractured fantasia on conquering, the conqueror, and the conquered, accompanied by a wing and a prayer. ~DR

~Kathryn Falcone~ Vocal
~Nick Annis~ Vocal
~DR~ Piano, Guitar, Drums, Vocal
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Henry Cross~ Bass
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Sax
~Justin Nurin~ Trumpet

Infinity Chris Chandler and Anne Feeney

Is there no heaven Ð or is this it? I was thinking about this the other day as I was riding down the highway counting mile markers and exit signs ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, tenity, tenity-one, tenity-two Wait, that's not right.... But then I saw a sign at a church that read, Count your blessings. Well, naturally I did as I was told Ð it was a church, after all. As I started counting... tenity-seven, tenity-eight, tenity-nine, eleventy, eleventy-one, eleventy-twoÉ I think I had gotten to about twelvity-four or five when I realized that my blessings are infinite Ð and this was going to take a while. The notion of infinity is deep Ð so deep it sits in the shallow end of a swimming pool somewhere in China . Anne Snoop Dogg Feeney continues to collect children's counting songs. One day she may have infinity. ~jcc

Music is numbers. Kids' games are numbers. Our days are numbered. It's enough to make you numb. ~DR

~ Maia Sobelman (Fleegle), Nick Annis (Bingo), Kathryn Falcone (Drooper), Thomas Nuendel (Snork), Joe Dicey, DR, SONiA and Laura of disappear fear~ Vocals
~DR~ Piano, Jew's Harp, Drums
~Henry Cross~ Bass

Cracker Jack Cure Chandler and Phil Rockstroh / The Dutchman Michael Smith

This is the most recent piece Phil Rockstroh and I have collaborated on. It was written originally to go with a song called Cracker Jack by Magda Hiller. I never got my Cap'n Crunch Treasure Chest, and sometimes I still go to my mother's mailbox with hope still in my heart. Michael Smith generously gave me permission to use his timeless classic. ~jcc

Childhood reminiscence and fading memory. I play this one for all my Chicago friends, be they living or be they dead. I remember. ~DR

~DR~ Piano, Guitar, Vocal
~Kathryn Falcone~ Vocal
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Henry Cross~ Bass
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Sax

Hard Times May Follow You Chandler

I found a collection of my journal entries on eBay. Really. I could not afford them. I have arrived. I need a job. ~jcc

Chandler is as much a child of Woody as Cisco, Arlo, and Bob, and he doesn't need to make up nearly as much as they do. All the facts in his stories are true. ~DR

~DR, Kathryn Falcone, Maia Sobelman, Thomas Nuendel~ Vocals
~DR~ Piano, Drums
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Nick Newlin~ Accordion
~Henry Cross~ Bass

September 1, 1939 W.H. Auden / Green Fields of France Eric Bogle

I was comforted by this poem when it circulated widely on the Internet shortly after September 11. ~jcc

This poem, written at the crucial turning point as the European conflict became worldwide conflagration, just fits with Eric Bogle's musical journey through a World War I graveyard. This is the one cover poem on the album. I have a personal connection to the song. The DA used the words in his summation that led to the conviction of the man who murdered my college buddy, Reggie Reynolds, who was 19 when she was taken in 1975. ~DR

~DR~ Piano, Guitar, Vocal
~Nick Annis~ Vocal
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Henry Cross~ Bass
~Stephanie Lichtman-Price ~ Penny Whistle
~Justin Nurin~ Cornet

Something in the Air Thunderclap Newman / But It's Not on the Airwaves Chandler

Not even on the left hand-side of the dial, mostly. ~DR

Eric Balkey challenged me to write a poem to go on his album and suggested he sing this '60s-era pop protest song. When I thought about at the hook - There's something in the air - the call-and-response theme seemed obvious. More than 50 percent of the American public disapproves of this war. Everybody knows it. No one is saying it. I am proud to be an American. I am embarrassed to be occupying Iraq . ~jcc

~DR
~ Piano, Guitar, Drums
~ Henry Cross~ Bass
~Nick Newlin~ Organ
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Justin Nurin~ Piccolo Trumpet
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Sax
~Tom Derr~ Electric Guitars
~Joe Dicey~ Electric Guitar
~ Chandler ~ Sound FX
~DR, Nick Annis, Kathryn Falcone, Thomas Nuendel, Maia Sobelman

Pat and Sandy of Emma's Revolution, SONiA and Laura of disappear fear~ Vocals

Recording of Ellis Paul and John Svetkey singing Chandler 's "Republican Woodstock" from As Seen on No TV, Flying Fish, 1992

The Pageant of the Paterson Silk Strike Chandler and Lisa Stolarski /

John Henry's Slow Drag David Roe

The Botto House in Haledon , New Jersey , astands as a testament to this strike. If you're ever in the neighborhood, stop in and pay the museum a visit. There is a photograph on the wall. See it for yourself. ~jcc

My grandmother sewed back pants pockets in the Baxter Factory in Trenton , New Jersey , for 25 years. My father taught me "John Henry" when I was just a baby. The "Slow Drag" is that tune distilled with some Mississippi mud, Leadbelly records, and years of playing Royal by day and Bourbon by night. ~DR

~DR~ Piano, Snare, Vocal
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Thomas Falcone~ Clarinet
~Justin Nurin~ Cornet
~Henry Cross~ Bass

Top Banana Chandler and Phil Rockstroh / People Get ReadyCurtis Mayfield

...Competition is fierce -- the law of the jungle prevails in these days of unfettered capitalism. One must be top banana in order to earn any bananas at all..___µ. But, perhaps, the man in the ape suit dreams of living by more than jungle fruit and jungle fruit alone. ~Phil Rockstroh

Magda Hiller and I worked out this medley. ~jcc

Nine out of ten funded focus groups agree: Advertising doesn't cost. It pays. Sign here and climb aboard. ~DR

~Kathryn Falcone~ Vocal
~DR~ Piano
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Nick Newlin~ Organ
~Henry Cross~ Bass, Drums
~Tom Derr~ Lead Guitar
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Sax

Talkin' Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan Blues Chandler

Ya shoulda seen me pull up to Bob Dylan's high school in my 1978 Chevy LUV pickup truck with a homemade, graffiti-colored camper on the back. It was 3 in the afternoon. The kids waiting on the bus gathered round. I sang them songs like Watergate Generation and Emotional Dyslexia. The principal came out and asked me to leave. I asked him for a baseball jersey. I still have it. The Hibbing Blue Eagles. I don't think Bob play___¬ed much ball. He was in the Latin Club. ~jcc

I've been to Okemah, but never the Masabi Range . Everyone should read Bound for Glory and Chronicles Volume One. Chandler and I saw Bob play the Bowie BaySox baseball stadium the night after the album was finished. He played "Chimes of Freedom" and "Masters of War." ~DR

~ Chandler ~ Vocal, Guitar

This Is Not a Folk Song Chandler

Yes, it is. ~DR

I have gotten so many requests for this song over the years I thought it warranted rerecording. More often than it is requested, I am asked a question. So, yes, it is a true story. ~jcc

~Nick Annis, DR, Kathryn Falcone, Thomas Nuendel~ Vocals
~DR~ Piano, Guitar, Vocal
~Thomas Nuendel~ Violin
~Maia Sobelman~ Cello
~Henry Cross~ Bass
~Tom Derr~ Lap Steel
~Thomas Falcone~ Tenor Sax
~Justin Nurin~ Trumpet

Afterlife (For Rachel Bissex) Chandler

See you there. ~DR

People who think life is great have nothing to compare it to. ~jcc