Alex and I first discussed a "seafaring album" five or so years ago shortly after the release of his "Lover's Heart" cd. the he was also considering what was released as "The Songs of Robert Burns" in 2007. He much admired Rabbie Burns' works and had wanted to do a tribute to The Bard for many }æars. This cd contains of my favorite Burns works ("A Man's A Man" which in many ways anticipated the rise of liberalism in Scotland and "The Lea Rig", a song of love, Burns' favorite as well as I have grown quite fond of ("Kirkconnel Lee", a song of tragic love, and "Green Grow the Rashes O" that suns up his core philosophy). This cd also included a pair of excellent songs that are not Burns' works ("The Shearin's no for You" concerning sheep and a pregnant woman, and " The Wld Geese (Norland Wind)" which is about the conversation with the wind and either wild geese or a nun. Alex and I differ on this, he sides with the popular, and more romantic, story that it's geese while I go with the Man view. However, when he's on the stage, he can tell it anyway he wishes; besides, his is more romantic.)

I was saying, we discussed the collection of seafaring songs a number of including the playlist to be included. Unfortunately, the wealth of songs to choose from and the number that fit on a cd are considerably different. In the end, Alex narrowed it down to the eleven that he shares with us on this cd. The result is a unique work. There are few albums released that contain a full set of keepers. To my mind, I can only recall and Garfunkel's "Bridge Over Troubled Water" and Cat Stevens' "Tea for the Tillerman". (There are several "greatest hits" albums that fit this mold, but, then, they are designed for that purpose.) On "From the Sea to the Shore", I can honestly say that there are no "wall flowers". I should say that the only song in the playlist that I had not heard before is "Christian Island". But it's a Gordon Lightfoot song and you play a Lightfoot song with the preconceived idea that you are going to like. kid, as usual, I was not disappointed.

So I received my copy in the on Thursday. I returned from lunch and found the envelope on my desk and proceeded to spend the next couple of hours sailing to Philadelphia, fishing for silver darlin's and rolling home I'm sure several of my workmates wondered what the hell "heel ya' ho boys" meant.

It's immediately obvious that this cd is different from Alex's previous works. The sound is...well, different. The entire cd was recorded and produced in Nashville with local musicians. So the contain that essence of Nashville that makes it unlike any other music in this universe. If you want to truly understand this, just play "Shoals of Herring". This is not your grandfather's seafaring The opening notes will catch you totally off guard but it's the weird slide dobro guitar that says Nashville. (The dobro on the track is not weird, it's the itself as was fittingly described by John Denver on one of his live works.) I hope you all enjoy this work as much as I have.

So let's do a little seafaring!