David Nigel Lloyd news items

The following is DNL's personalized press release for the reader-written Northwest Voice in Bakersfield.

On May 17, my friend Jill Egland and I will perform a concert of ancient and cutting-edge Celtic music at the Spotlight Theatre at 1622 19th Street in Bakersfield. The show, which starts at 7:00 PM is part of a concert series produced by the Kern River Celtic Association. Early birds can enjoy fine food and beverages in the theater's cafe.

Jill and I call ourselves A Far Cry. Since, that deliciously sad music of the British Isles is at the root of what we play, we are a far cry from that music's home. Of course, we could just as well say that we are A Far Cry from Bakersfield.

"We are A Far Cry from solvent," Jill likes to say.

We are an acoustic duo with a non-traditional approach to traditional Celtic music. We do the old ballads and dance tunes as expected but we often place them in such unexpected settings as old-timey songs, blues and sung-poetry. It's not the usual approach but neither is it without precedent, as I will explain.

There is a history, a poetry and a purpose to this music. Many people simply call it a lilt; and it has been my passion or obsession for most of my life. I've performed throughout the West, mostly as a solo artist, for 20 years.

Jill, on the other hand, is an astonishingly prolific and versatile ensemble player. She performs with many people and was at first my accompanist. What became apparent after a brief northern California tour was that there was something else stewing in the musical cauldron.

Jill is best known as a multi-instrumentalist. She plays accordion, flute, penny whistle and the distinctive Irish frame drum called the bodhran. I've always enjoyed the plaintive yet eloquent quality of her playing — the lilt. She never struggles to find the right notes to play with my high lonesome and broken music. Most players really can't figure it out. But, it is as if she had grown up with it.

She is also, to my mind, a wonderful singer. She sings in a low alto mostly and has delved into that style called sean nos in Ireland, meaning 'old style.' I like how effortless her voice seems, how at home with the old and far off things it sings of, and yet how unassuming it is. It is never shrill. A very rich, warm and natural voice.

My mentor and sometimes teacher was the Scottish singer, poet and harper Robin Williamson — the same Robin Williamson whom Led Zeplin said inspired "Stairway to Heaven." (If you come to the Spotlight, I'll explain how that came to be.) Well, I started off trying to sound like Williamson as he had started off trying to sound like the great Scottish traditional singers Duncan Williamson and Jeannie Robertson. Though I've long since found my own voice, there is still a thread of that lineage in my singing.

Thirty-six years ago, like so many 16 year-olds, I took up the guitar. Over the last 15 years, I worked very hard to develop a distinctive sound. So I perform, mostly in finger style, with three different guitars, the most ordinary of them being a classical guitar. Folk music, is of course, rarely played on classical guitars. Last summer, when we were playing in Auburn, California, a guitarist in the audience could not restrain his curiosity and demanded to know how I tuned my steel-string guitar and what was the deal with the guitar with the eight strings.

"It's an octar," I explained helpfully and then recited its tuning secrets and that of my steel six-string guitar. He wrote it all down in ball point pen on his wrist. "Isn't this fascinating, Ladies and gentlemen?" I asked the audience as we got the performance back on the tracks.

Anyone curious about any of these technicalities mentioned herein should feel free to interrogate us after our Spotlight performance. After the performance!

Our repertoire consists of songs from my 1998 release, How Like Ghosts Are We and from my soon to be released CD, Rivers Kings and Curses. Jill brings a large number of traditional tunes to the mix; many are from Even Hotter Water, the latest release of her national touring band, Banshee in the Kitchen. (See: bansheeinthekitchen.com) A third of our repertoire, however, consists of the unique products of our collaboration.

A Far Cry’s non-traditional traditional music is unique but not without precedent. During the 1960s, there was a wild group of players in Britain who heard the old ballads, Delta blues, beat poetry, and Zen teaching tales, for instance, as essentially the same thing. They were visionaries and they made some extraordinary music. We are firmly in that non-tradition. (For more on non-traditional traditionalists, go to my website: davidnigellloyd.com or. better yet, go to the Spotlight on May 17th!)

We are represented by Sue Duffy Associates in Olympia, WA. Go to sueduffyassociates.com.

A luxurious old theatre in downtown Bakersfield, the Spotlight Theatre serves fine food, wine and beer in its cafe. Call the theatre for tickets: 661.634.0692. Or go to:www.theatreap.com.

Antiquarian? Dionysain? We'll explain. At the Spotlight, of course. It promises to be a wonderful evening. Hope you can come. Bring a friend.

[August 04, 2005] After a brief but encouraging performance opening for bluegrass supergroup Perfect Strangers in Bakersfield last May, David Nigel Lloyd and Jill Egland are rehearsing for a short tour of Northern California. Often refering to themselves enigmatically as TOH, the two musicians are calling this their "California Cafes and Caves '05 Tour."

The tour starts with two warm-up gigs in Bakersfield: Lloyd and Egland will perform at Dagney's Coffee Company at 1600 20th Street on Friday September 2nd from 6:00 to 8:00 PM. A day later, on Saturday September 3rd, they play at Jags Coffee House at 1028 Truxton from 7:00 to 9:00 PM.

After the Bakersfield performances, the duo will head north to Auburn, California where on Friday September 9th, they will appear at DAves's Cave at 11546 D. Avenue. 530/878-2488 is the number to call for more information.

On Saturday, September 10th, they will perform in Placerville at the Cozmic Cafe at 594 Main Street. More information can be had at 530/642-8481. Both the Auburn and Placerville performances start at 8:00 PM.

Loosely categorized as Celtic musicians, their style uniquely blends British and American folk material with the acute perspective of the poet. "During the 1960s," Lloyd explains, "there was a wild group of players in Britain I call the non-traditional traditionalists. They saw the old ballads, Delta blues, beat poetry, and Zen teaching tales, for instance, as essentially the same thing. They were visionaries and they made some extraordinary music. Though their approach is mostly discounted today, we plan to reinstate it. We are firmly in that non-tradition."

So far, their repertoire consists largely of songs from DNL's 1998 release, HOW LIKE GHOSTS ARE WE and from his soon to be released CD, RIVERS AND KINGS. However, new pieces are being born of the colaboration itself.

Lloyd plays guitar and octar, an 8-stringed mandocello-like instrument. Egland plays accordion, penny whistle, flute and bodhran. Both are strong solo singers.

David Nigel Lloyd and His Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band were during the second half of the 1980s, LA's only Celtic rock band. After the band's demise, DNL embarked on a series of solo tours during the 1990s. He performed during that time at folk venues and festivals throughout California, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.

His performances and recordings have been hailed as "excellent" by both the LA Times and Folk Roots, Britain's premier folk music journal. "A strongly individual musical and poetic mind is at work here," wrote British folk music journalist, David Kidman of DNL's recorded output. Nearly complete, RIVERS AND KINGS, his fifth CD, features playing by many fine musicians including Jill Egland and legendary Scottish non-traditional traditionalist, Robin Williamson.

Jill Egland, who is both a published poet and an off-broadway playwright, currently performs with the highly successful all-female Celtic trio, Banshee in the Kitchen. Over the last three years they have toured throughout the US. Their music has been featured on National Public Radio. Their third CD, EVEN HOTTER WATER, has just been released.

More information can be found at davidnigellloyd.com and at bansheeinthekitchen.com. Banshees and DNL are both booked in the United States by Sue Duffy Associates. Go to sueduffyassociates.com.

[April 16, 2005] Accompanied by Jill Egland, David Nigel Lloyd will be the opening act at the Bakersfield appearance of Perfect Strangers on May 13. The acclaimed bluegrass "Supergroup" will perform at the Crossroads Fellowship/River Valley Churches at 5131 Office Park Drive, near the Truxtun AAA office in Bakersfield, CA.

DNL and Egland, who have performed together several times over the last 18 months, will present an approximately 20 minute set. DNL's music has been called "excellent" by the LA Times and by Britain's Folk Roots magazine. Currently at work on RIVERS AND KINGS, his 5th CD, Lloyd will be accompanied on the recording by an all-star cast of folkies which will include Egland.

Jill Egland is a multi-instrumentalist with Bakersfield's Celtic trio, Banshee in the Kitchen. This all female outfit has toured throughout the US and is poised to release its third CD, EVEN HOTTER WATER.

Perfect Strangers performed two years ago in the same location and are back by popular demand. The band has been headlining concerts and festivals across the country since they formed over two years ago.

Doors open at 7:00 PM. DNL and JE will get things going at 7:30. Perfect Strangers will take it from there.

[Feb 17, 2005]
Celtic music and 60's legend Robin Williamson is among several musicians slated to record on David Nigel Lloyd's RIVERS AND KINGS. "Though Robin and I are old friends, I am still greatly honored that he wishes to be part of this project," said Lloyd. Williamson plans to record his harp and fiddle parts in a studio in Cardiff, Wales, where he lives. They will then be digitally 'flown in' to the project master files at Clear Creek Recording in Hart Flat, California.

Nat Dove, the Texas Boogie King, will lay down some blues piano on the mostly Celtic album's jazz ballad, "Set The River Thames on Fire." Dove performed internationally for many years with blues greats like Big Mamma Thornton and Freddy King. He is now the director of the Bakersfield Blues Preservation Society. "Nat's a great American Artist," says DNL. "My music couldn't be in better hands."

Intending this his fifth release to be an all-acoustic project, standup bass player Jeff Pekarek has already laid down the bottom end on six songs. "He's not only a brilliant player, he really understood the intention of my music," said Lloyd. "He'll be back to work on some other tunes." With a long resume which includes work with Danny Kay, Benny Goodman and Arthur Rubenstein, Jeff currently plays bass with Richard Greene and the Brothers Barton.

And speaking of the brothers, Paul Barton, having laid down a brilliant bluegrass mandolin part on Lloyd's "Cuchuliann in Bakersfield," will return with a banjo for "Roll Back Columbia." The Brothers Barton, it should be noted, have just released their debut CD entitled ORIGINALS. DNL designed the graphics for its cover. ("Is there no end to his bloody talent" —Glaswegian saying)

Jill Egland, whistle player, flautist and accordionist for Banshee in the Kitchen has performed several times with DNL and will be adding her parts to his recording soon as will, hopefully, bandmates Mary Tulin and Brenda Hunter.

Piper Jay Salter, Irish flautist Dave Ogden, and rock-a-billy singer Jenny Angel of the Dusk Devils are among the others slated to work on RIVERS AND KINGS. Lloyd hopes to have the album completed by April.

[December 14, 2004]
David Nigel Lloyd's SONGS OF REINVENTION, as he was calling his current work in progress, birthed and officially named itself on December 13th, 2004. Consisting of 16 titles, DNL has renamed this, his fifth album, RIVERS AND KINGS. He intends to release the album in Spring of 2005.

"The rivers," said DNL, "are the Thames, the Columbia, the Kern, and the River of Blood. The kings are a strange broken bunch: there's the King of the Deep Dark Well, King Jack O'Lantern, Charles Stuart, King Jesus and any number of characters who act like kings."

The recordings so far consist of voice and accompanying instrument: guitar or octar. "Some of them will stay that way," DNL says. "Others will have other instruments added but don't look for any big production numbers."

[August 26, 2004]
On August 21st and 22nd, two ancient tape-recorders made their way up the mountain to deposit their ancient wisdom into the digital matrices of Clear Creek Recording studios.

The first venerable machine was my 30 year-old Teac 3340. The transport controls are now quite idiosyncratic. SO, I was very happy to load the master tapes for Dave Soyars' hitherto abandoned SCATTERED BUT COMPLETE CD project onto the machine and transfer them into the digital domain.

The second venerable machine was of slightly more recent provenance. In 1992, David Nigel Lloyd and His Mojave Desert Ceilidh Band made their only 'studio' recording on a Tascam 388. We were left with master tapes that could only be played on another 388. So the project lay dormant for 12 years until last May I discovered a 388 in a San Pablo living room.

May 14, 2004
I am currently at work on my 5th album up at Clear Creek Recording in Hart Flat. Multi-instrumentalist/recording engineer Dave Ogden there is getting wonderful sounds off my guitars. So far, I have about 9 songs (instrument and vocal) down. Working title: Songs of Reinvention.


				*DNL's web site:* *news*



	Home \| news \| photo journals \| Info & Promo Pax \| Hear DNL Sing \| See DNL Live \| Purchase \| A Far Cry \| words & music \| Punk Rock Past \| Folk Rock Past \| Star of Stage & Screen \| links \| How to Play Like DNL \| Sung Poetry \| Non-Traditional Traditionalists \| How to Write a Traditional Song \| Southern Sierra Sequoias