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Phonograph Jack
Longest recording ever, 2020-2024
In March 2020, as we as we dived into our new recording of Australian songs, poems we had set to music and gnarly tune sets, we had no idea that the world was on the brink of change. When music festivals and performances evaporated as the pandemic hit, we embraced the new world of home schooling and live streaming, emptying our back catalogue of songs searching for music that resonated in these strange times. As the dust settled, we returned to 'Phonograph Jack' with a new appreciation for the constantly evolving process of collecting and sharing music, and for the way our musical choices reveal us to others.
In Jim Grahame’s poem, Phonograph Jack wanders the bush stirring the memories of those who live and work there with his music − a small carefully selected collection, no more than he can carry. Mingling with the stars are the dance tunes of home, and the songs of migrants, chancers, and battered travellers with hope still alive in their hearts.
Finding joy amidst the broken, finding gold to fill the cracks.
Looking for the quiet questions, unspoken − and singing them back.
Which songs is he carrying? What has he had to let go?
How much of his collection have you already made your own? What can we learn from his choices? What are the non-negotiable items on his list? And as he rolls the dice, and spins the disks − what will his fortune mean for us?
Tracks
1. Phonograph Jack (Jim Grahame / C. & J. Roweth) / My Dream (Bill Case)
2. Bill Case’s Hilarity (Paul Loraine)
3. Lad from Erin’s Isle (Traditional) / Around the Lighthouse (C. & J. Roweth)
4. Diggins-Oh (Traditional / C. & J. Roweth) / Joe Hilder’s Tune (Traditional)
5. Trooper Campbell (Henry Lawson / C. & J. Roweth)
6. Sally Sloane’s The Wee One (Traditional) / Bells and Bullocks (Bob Rummery) / Sally Sloane’s Sporting Paddy (Traditional)
7. Where the Dead Men Lie (Barcroft Boake / C. & J. Roweth) / The Crows Kept Flying Up (Traditional / C. & J. Roweth)
8. Old Rooster Crowing (Michael O’Rourke)
9. Captain Lalor (Denis Kevans / C. & J. Roweth) / A Returned Soldiers’ Lament (M. H. Edgerley / C. & J. Roweth)
10. Ebb Wren’s Old Fiddler’s Song (Vernon Dalhart) / Carrie Milliner’s Only the Leaf of a Rosebud (Tom Armstrong) / Ebb Wren’s Schottische aka Dance of the Honeybees (Benjamin Richmond)
11. Timeless Land (Phyl Lobl)
Running Time: 63 mins