Contents:
by Jerome Monachino (3:00)
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SAINT PIUS TENTH “COMMON FOLK” Steinway Grand Piano Bill McHugh & Lucyann Ormiston Six String Guitars Andy Foote, Jim O’Keefe, Joe Schalm, Judy Bieck & Ric Letourneau 12 String Guitars Andy Foote & Lucyann Ormiston Banjo Ric Letourneau Bass Patrick Ormiston, Andy Foote Saxophone Christina Ormiston Percussion Nancy Anselm, Jan Deans, Amy Freitas, Joe Schalm Vocals (in addition to the above) Aileen Bowers, Anita Festa, Donna Stankevich, Monica Smith Kathryn O’Keefe, Becky O’Keefe, Kristina Schalm, Susan Vandervoort Produced by: Andy Foote, Jim O’Keefe, Lucyann Ormiston, and Joe Schalm Cover Artwork by: Lori Foote Graphics Layout by: Andrew Schalm Recorded Live by: Chris Brazener, Dynamic Recording Studio, Rochester, NY Some thoughts on why we picked these songs for this CD.
Since we are first and foremost a Church Folk Group,
it is only fitting that with this, our first time in a
recording studio, we should start with a prayer.
In this case we really did, as The Lord’s Prayer was actually
the first song we recorded, and so we thought it should be our
first song on the CD.
The words are by God, and the music by us, through God’s grace.
We have four songs devoted to, and recognizing Mary as,
the Mother of God. First, with the haunting Irish traditional
melody of Columcille, No Wind at the Window is a song where we
have the annunciation to Mary by the Archangel Gabriel,
asking Mary to be the Mother of God, with finally her acceptance.
In the song Breath of Heaven, we have a very young Mary wondering
aloud what it is that she has just consented to.
With the traditional Scottish tune Wild Mountain Thyme
as the melody for Holy Is Your Name, Mary is grateful for the chance
to be God’s servant.
Lastly, Bill McHugh plays the traditional Marian hymn Ave Maria as a piano solo.
I Rejoiced (Psalm 122), written by Jerome Monachino,
is a psalm we do during Advent. It sets the tone for the season
with the yearning for, and the anticipation of, the coming of the Redeemer.
Since we recorded Peace Child in March of 1999 during
the bombing of Kosovo, the second verse really hit home.
How many Christmases have come and gone, through the generations,
where there were wars and inhumanity to man?
Like another song says, "when will we ever learn"?
What Christmas CD would be complete without these
traditional favorites from the seventeenth & eighteenth century:
O Holy Night; Silent Night (written for guitar, because the organ
was broken that Christmas);
Away In A Manger; What Child Is This; and Rise Up Shepherds.
From our generation we also have The Little Drummer Boy;
When A Child Is Born; Mary’s Little Boy Child;
and a new version of O Holy Night.
Some less known songs, but favorites of ours anyway,
are from our many years of singing and listening to church hymns.
Light of the Stable was originally only two verses,
but we liked it so well, we wrote the additional three verses ourselves.
Songs some of us have sung since we joined the group,
or heard when we were little are A Carpenter,
A Mother & A King; Holy Baby, Little Savior; Starlight;
A Christmas Gloria and Night of Silence.
From anticipation to annunciation, and on to the birth and adoration
of the "new born King", we tried on this CD to tell the complete Christmas story.
Making this has been a dream come true to us.
So as sincerely as George Bailey would say in "It’s A Wonderful Life":
Thank you very much for supporting us. We hope to see you in church. Common Folk
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