ZigZag - About the songs

1. The Flying Scotsman [guitar: Burns Marquee]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	A lot of my music is inspired by traditional Scottish elements. This one, named after the famous Highland locomotive, incorporates some of these ideas.

2. Cagey Bee [guitars: Hohner Hollywood Bass VI, Fender Stratocaster & Ibanez RG507]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I’ve long been a fan of the 60’s spy movie genre e.g. Bond & Harry Palmer etc. And with those movies came great music especially from the likes of John Barry. This Duane Eddy/Jet Harris inspired tune is my homage to that golden era of filmmaking.

3. Dreaming Of You [guitar: Ibanez RG507]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I began writing this piece in St. Paul, Minnesota during rehearsals for the musical BUDDY. I was there as Musical Director and used to play the opening piano bars every time the rather cute stage manager came into the rehearsal room. Not long after, the rather cute stage manager became my wife!

4. Barracuda [guitars: Fender Stratocaster, Hohner Hollywood Bass VI]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	Another Jet Harris inspired piece. Jet is known for his use of the Fender Bass VI and several years ago Burns guitars came out with a beautiful Bass VI guitar called a ‘Barracuda’, which Jet now uses. I don’t have one, so I used my Hohner Hollywood Custom Bass VI and as an avid scuba diver the name ‘Barracuda’ was more appealing than ‘Hollywood’.

5. Manhattan Smoothie [guitar: Ryoji Matsuoka classical]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	There are few views more beautiful than the Manhattan skyline at night. Even after the horrific events of September 11^th 2001, there is still an excitement about the place. There is an area downtown known as ‘The Village’ alive with cafés and music clubs where I like to go and hang out with friends.

6. Lobster Love [guitars: Takemine Santa Fe, Larrivee DV10E, also banjo, dobro, mandolin, double-bass…..& left arm!]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I wrote and recorded this piece partly in London, NY and NJ and it’s straight ahead bluegrass with me playing all the instruments. I needed some percussion of some sort and was never happy with the original drums I had so one day while thinking about it with the microphone ‘on’ I started rubbing my arm and……there was my percussion sound.

7. Emily [solo guitar: Larrivee DV10E]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I recorded two versions of this piece. One on classical guitar, and this one, using my Larrivee DV10E acoustic guitar. I preferred the performance of the second recording so it won a place on the CD. The classical guitar is upset but recovering!

8. Nervous Breakdown [guitars: Burns Marquee, Fender Stratocaster]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I have always been a fan of country guitarists like Pete Anderson, Albert Lee and Brent Mason etc and wanted to write a piece in that style. I threw in a few homage’s to some other guitar heroes at the end of the piece. Listen out for echoes of Dick Dale, Scotty Moore, Les Paul, Buddy Holly, Danny Gatton & Duane Eddy.

9. Theme For A Solitary Man [guitar: Fender Bass VI]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	I had recently seen a programme on the Discovery channel about Native American Indians and how they came to lose their land. One of the images showed an old lone warrior standing some way off in the distance having one final look over the land once occupied by his tribe before they were unceremoniously shipped off in wagons to reservations. When I was about 5 or 6 years old I remember my dad allowing me to sit on ‘his’ chair, a big black leather swivel chair where he would sit listening to his vast record collection. After watching me mime to some music on the TV with my tennis racket he sat me down to listen to a ‘real’ guitar player. The tune was ‘Peter Gunn’ and the guitarist, Duane Eddy. I spent every minute I had after that listening to the album ‘Moovin’ ‘n’ Groovin’ completely absorbed by the sound of Duane’s growling low guitar. That kind of sound seemed appropriate for this piece.

10. The Last Whalesong [guitars: Burns Marquee, Fender Stratocaster]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	Hank Marvin is another major influence on my playing and I thought this piece would work well using his familiar echo sound. Whales are some of the most graceful and beautiful creatures on our planet. What a pity if they were hunted to extinction.

11. ZigZag [guitar: Burns Marquee]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	Written and recorded very quickly – just a couple of hours really – this is another of my Highland-Rock pieces.

12. Faceless [guitars: Takemine Santa Fe, Chet Atkins Classical, Gibson 335]	.mp3 Real Audio Windows Media	This song is very special to me as I wrote it for my wife Emily. It was our first dance song at our wedding on September 19^th, 1999. What more can I say…..awwwwww!