The Music of catherine Ellis
Listen
…And when will time be only time again
and not the endless expanse between us
And when will miles be only miles again
and not the distance between our homes
And when will songs be only songs again
without the echo of your absent harmony
And when we die, we’ll live again
In every lifetime, you’re the theme of me
~ “Time Again”
…He knows when the sun will rise again each morning
He knows all his neighbors for fifteen miles around
His bones all know the feel from sixty years of working
His fields all know his touch, though he’s a stranger in town.
~ “Lyle’s song”
And so I walk these floors at night, crying
It’s over way too soon
And it’s then that I find Venus
And she’s holding up the moon
~”The Watchman”
Carmea : Raining in Yosemite
Track List
2. Dona Nobis Pacem (Grant Us Peace) (Traditional)
3. Swimming to the Other Side (Pat Humphries © 1990, 1992 , Moving Forward Music, BMI www.emmasrevolution.com ; Descant by Lui Collins © 2000)
4. Raining in Yosemite (Alma Muxlow © 2009) Lady Justice, depicted as a blindfolded woman holding measuring scales, came alive for me as I wrote this song. It was a response to the passage of Proposition 8 in California and Kalamazoo’s struggle to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the city’s non-discrimination ordinance. (Thanks to Rachel and Jane for the first two lines.)
5. On the River (Catherine Ellis © 2008) With love to my sister and brother-in-law in celebration of their 40th wedding anniversary on the St. Joseph River.
6. I’ve Got a Gal in Kalamazoo (Words by Mack Gordon & Music by Harry Warren © 1942)
7. The Waves of Kilkee (Joanie Madden, Wood Park Publishing BMI & Brian Keane, Brian Keane Music ASCAP © 1999)
8. The Red Motorcycle (Catherine Ellis © 2009) This is my favorite story from Alma’s childhood. At three, with a lone penny in her pocket, she decided to walk five miles into town to buy a real motorcycle. Her mother saw her head bobbing above the July corn just in time to intervene.
9. Dance (Rachel Alexander © 2004, 2008) In 2004 Michigan voters passed a constitutional amendment defining marriage as being between one man and one woman. Outraged and deeply saddened, I wrote this song. Jane and I were married in California in October of 2008, shortly before the passage of that state’s Proposition 8 made same-sex marriages once again illegal in California.
10. Angels Surrounding You (Catherine Ellis © 2009) Often we are unaware of the blessings that await to carry us through adversity. This song is an expression of gratitude to all who delivered meals to our door and listened deeply to my experience during my recovery from cancer in 2005. (Happy Birthday, Karen HG.)
11. Long Way Out of Chicago (Alma Muxlow © 2006) It took me a long time to find my Gibson H-1, which was made in Kalamazoo in 1912. When I brought it back home to Kalamazoo it seemed to shiver with a song, and this is it.
Album Credits
- Catherine Ellis lead & harmony vocals & guitar
- Alma Muxlow lead & harmony vocals, mandola & percussion
- Rachel Alexander lead & harmony vocals, cello, fiddle, melodica, soprano recorder, train whistle & percussion
- David Mosher acoustic bass ( 1, 6 & 11), mandola (4 & 11), mandolin (7) & guitar (9)
- Carol Levack harmony vocals (3)
- Bud Michael acoustic bass (10)
- Produced by David Mosher & Catherine Ellis
- Recorded and mixed by David Mosher at By the Lake Studio, Brighton, MI
- Mastered by Geoff Michael at Big Sky Recording, Ann Arbor, MI
- Manufactured at Oasis Disc Manufacturing, Delair, NJ
- Carmea logo by Jane Cera
- Carmea photography by Classic Concepts Studio, Durand, M
Time Again
(Catherine Solo)
Track List
2: Mackinac Island Song
3: Time Again
4: Bye Bye Blues
5: Last Night
6: Love Is No Currency
7: Daylight
8: Magic
9: I Lost My Watch
10: Time Stood Still
11: This Melody Of Love
12: The Next Time
13: I Knew Paris
14: Angel Of God
15: Walk With Your Heart
Album Credits
- Bud Michael: acoustic bass and vocals
- Carol Levack: harmony vocals
- Joel Mabus: mandolin and acoustic guitar
- Tim Scheerhorn:resonator guitar
- Ron McKeever: acoustic guitar
- Pooh Stevenson:mandolin and cello
- Alma Muxlow: mandolin and harmony vocals
- Mary Gurd: piano
- Robert McCloy: classical guitar
All songs written by Catherine Ellis, except Mackinac Island Song (Candace Corrigan) and Bye Bye Blues (Fred Hamm, Dave Bennett, Burt Lown, and Chauncey Gray) Produced by Catherine Ellis and John Stites Recorded, mixed, & mastered by John Stites at Arcadia Recording, Kalamazoo, MI Graphic Design by John Townsend Photography by Keith Mumma Manufactured by Oasis, Flint Hill, VA
Looking to a Future with Counterpoint
Track List
Huron Mist Kevin Gaugier
Four Strong Winds Ian Tyson
Lady Be Good George & Ira Gershwin
I Will John Lennon/Paul McCartney
SanFrancisco Bay Blues Jesse Fuller
Lyle’s Song Catherine Ellis
Big Mon Bill Monroe
Song for a Winter’s Night Gordon Lightfoot
Morning Sky Dan Fogelberg
Dingman’s Falls Tim Scheerhorn/Kevin
Gaugier Galileo Emily Saliers
Album Credits
- Recorded at Brown & Brown Studios, Kalamazoo, MI
- Engineered by Kevin Brown
- Mastered by David Glasser at Airshow, Inc., Springfield, VA
- Produced and mixed by Counterpoint
- Photography by Bob Cook
- Design and Art Direction by Scott Scheerhorn
- All copyrighted material used by permission.
Looking To A Future includes Catherine on acoustic guitar and vocals, Kevin Gaugier on acoustic guitar, banjo, and vocals, Bud Michael on acoustic bass and vocals, Tim Scheerhorn on resonator guitar, Pooh Stevenson on mandolin and cello, and Carol Levack on harmony vocals.