Dave Whyte

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AND THIS SHALL BE FOR MUSIC... (LTR003)

Settings of Scottish Poems by Dave Whyte
(Including poems by Robert Louis Stevenson, William Soutar, Marion Angus, Sydney Goodsir Smith, Helen Cruickshank, George Mackay Brown, Neil Munro and Alexander Gray)
 

Dave Whyte - Guitar, Vocals, Harmony Vocals

John Sweeney - Piano

 

Track Listing:

1.  Your Pearls and Your Diamonds - Heinrich Heine, tr. by Alexander Gray 2. Capernaum - Lewis Spence 3.I will Make You Brooches - Robert Louis Stevenson 4. ILMare - Ungaretti, tr. by Allen Mandelbaum  5. The Gypsy Lass - Helen Cruickshank  6.  Scotland - Alexander Gray 7. Down to the Sea - Donny O'Rourke  8. Broken Brook - Robert Louis Stevenson 9. Nancy - Eddie McGrory 10. John o' Lorn - Neil Munro 11. The Sailor's Sweetheart - Duncan Campbell Scott 12. Not the True Hunter - Tom Wright  13. Road Home - George Mackay Brown 14. Gang doun wi' a Sang - William Soutar 15. The Princess of Scotland - Rachel Annand Taylor 16. The Die is Cast - Sydney Goodsir Smith 17. Safe to Port - Anonymous 18. The Tryst - William Soutar 19. Otago - John Barr 20. The Wild Lass - Marion Angus 21. Evening Star - William Soutar

"Whyte's softly expressive delivery and caareful diction combine appealingly with simple guitar and piano accompaniment to illuminate his material" .......... Sue Wilson: Sunday Herald

"The memorable melodies, prettily poised between modern and timeless, shape themselves around the power of the stanzas. With this kind of vigour, and sensitivity to both author and audience, Scots music might yet harness a millenium worth of magnificent writing." .......... Chris Dolan: The Herald: 

 

"This CD has been made possible largely because of funding from the late Tom Wright's literary estate. I was touched when some years ago Tom took the trouble to come to the first public performance of a collection of songs which I had co-written with the writer, poet and broadcaster, Donny O'Rourke. The songs were later released on the CD, 'Still Waiting to Be Wise' (LTR992). At the time of their first performance they were very much work in progress and I took it as a great compliment that someone with Tom's huge range of literary and musical reference should take an interest in such a project. I am delighted to be able to include on this CD a setting of one of Tom's early poems, 'Not the True Hunter'. My hope, as with all these settings, is that the music remains true to the authorial intentions. It's not possible within the sleeve notes of a CD to do justice to the lives and works of all the writers included in the project. I hope that those who listen to the CD will be persuaded to go and read the works of the poets for themselves, if they have not already done so. Guitar tunings used on this CD are either standard or a DADADE open tuning, with the exception of Evening Star which is in convential open D tuning."     -  Dave Whyte

 

STILL WAITING TO BE WISE (LTR992)

Dave Whyte sings the songs of Donny O'Rourke & Dave Whyte

Still Waiting to be Wise
 

Dave Whyte - Guitar; Vocals; Harmony Vocals

John Sweeney - Piano

Guest Musicians:
Kenny Hadden - Flute
Elaine Kerr - Violin
Seamus O'Sullivan - Accordion
Mark Austin - Bass; Double Bass

 

Track Listing:

1. Let's Send for Chandler 2. Snowgoose 3. Adults in the Dark 4. Mairead in the Mirror  5. Saltcoats Sinatra  6. Please Hold for Chicago 7. Indigo and Orange 8. Beat  9. Simone Signoret 10. Taffeta and Tears 11. Lammas/Die is Cast 12. St Bridget's Day  13. Wine and Wooing 14. Down to the sea

You will require an MP3 player to listen to the sound clips . The clips have been produced in mono to achieve the best compromise between fast download times and sound quality. 
You can download the latest version of Microsoft's Media player at www.microsoft.com/windows/mediaplayer/  

Singer guitarist, Dave Whyte, a founder member of the award winning folk group, Ceolbeg and the poet and broadcaster, Donny O'Rourke have joined forces to produce this critically acclaimed collection of songs. Reviews of their live performances have described them as:

"smoothly enticing songs" (The Scotsman),

"effective settings ranging from skiffle through 1960's pop to more contemporary country/folk styles. Real songs with heart." (The Herald)

and "songs of longing and vanishing hours superbly sung, filled with generosity and peppered with nostalgia." (The Scotsman)

Now for the first time the songs are available on CD.

 

"Which came first, the words or the music?"

"The phone call," lyricist, Sammy Cahn used to reply.

In our collaboration the words did come first. They were written to be set and sung. I hope they are poetic. But they aren’t poems. Without Dave’s melodies the lyrics would be only half alive. One of Dave’s earlier settings (Die is Cast) is reprised here as a reminder of the melodic sensitivity which he has brought to the works of Scottish poets. Generally he prefers to work with dead poets. They don’t answer back. But he has sought my advice and I his. As a teenager, beginning to write, it was songs I first produced, and songwriters have continued to influence my poetry.

Dave Whyte and I have been friends since first I heard him sing more than a dozen years ago. To quote another songwriting team, although one that didn’t influence me, "Thank you for the music."

Who needs a phone call?

- Donny O’Rourke

 

What the music press said:

"These are songs that must be listened to and best, while reading the words set out in the booklet with the cubist design on the front, which comes with this CD. Listen to and read the words because they are a treat for the eye and the ear. The tunes, written and played on guitar by Dave, accompanied by John Sweeney on piano and four other musicians on various tracks, are gentle and tuneful. It's another contribution from that creative nation, the Scots. I think that 'Saltcoats Sinatra' and 'Simone Signoret' are my current favourites, but I'm still listening and reading."

Folk on Tap, 21st Anniversary Souvenir Issue, Winter 2000

 

"This album is not perhaps The Scots Magazine's mainstream pedigree, but it's oddly compelling and moving."                Scots Magazine 

 

All songs written by Donny O'Rourke and Dave Whyte, except Die is Cast - a poem by Sydney Goodsir Smith (1915-1975), set to music by Dave (from the Collected Poems, Calder Publications)

Arrangements by Dave Whyte, John Sweeney, Kenny Hadden, Seamus O'Sullivan, and Mark Austin.

Produced by John Sweeney and Dave Whyte

Sound Engineer: Darren Paramasivan.

Recorded at the Music Production House, Glasgow.

Cover Painting: Reproduction of 'A Guitar, Glasses and a Bottle' by Juan Gris (1887-1927) courtesy of the National Gallery of Ireland.

Colour Photographs: David Boyce (Dave), Katie Lee, Sunday Herald (Donny)

B & W Photographs: Elizabeth Cairns, Firefly (Dave), Chris Bott (Donny)

Several of the song lyrics can be found in 'The Waistband and other poems' by Donny O'Rourke, published by Polygon, Edinburgh,1997.

 

For further info on songs, etc. tel : 0141 - 339 - 4191

Thanks to Donny for trusting me with the generous gift of his words, to the musicians who kindly agreed to be a part of this project, to Jean Redpath for offering so much encouragement in my settings of Scottish poetry, and to my son, Martin for musically showing me the way to go 'Down to the Sea'.

Also to all those both in and around No's 56 and 13, 11, 5, 8 and 4 St Andrews, Edinburgh and Glasgow respectively.

Manufactured by Birnam CD, Station Road, Dunkeld, PH8 0DS.

Last Track Records, PO Box 16733, GLASGOW G11 5YZ

 

  
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Last modified: 21 February 2007