MUSIC IN THE AIR – HIGH DESERT DREAMS AND DANCES

$15.00

Often backed up by our band members and friends, we decided it was time to record a disc of just us two. We are lucky to have worked with some of the best musicians and rhythm sections over all those years, and we feel their presence even when it is just us two. THANKS!!! We live a full and wonderful life, collecting and playing traditional American music, teaching, building violins, building a house and traveling and visiting friends.

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what is a duet but ham & eggs — what is ham
& eggs but milk like honey — honey like song –
song in heaven the sky and a duet like two peas in a
pod because they do-it so well.
~ Mark Weber

Listen to Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow:

1. Music in the Air 2:35
2. Lucia 3:45
3. Billy (Bob Dylan) Ram’s Horn Music ASCAP 4:31
4. Frijole Symphony – Frijole Beans/ Frijolitos Pintos 2:41
5. Valse à Chataigner/ Rabbit Stole the Pumpkin 3:44
6. Lazy Heart (Tom Mitchell) Yabut Music BMI 3:48
7. Barretero 2-Step 3:16
8. Fair Lady of the Plains/ Bell Breakdown 3:20
9. Corrido de Wingate/La Indita 4:21
10. Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow (A.P.Carter) Ralph Peer Int. ASCAP 2:29
11. Three-Way Hornpipe/ Texas 2:43
12. Crooked Trail to Holbrook/ Doumé the Cowboy 5:37
13. Cleofes Ortiz Medley (Muñequita Linda/Portalito/4×4 ) 3:09
14. Mignonne Allons Si Voir la Rose 2:52
15. Polka a la Leña (Ken Keppeler) Buvette Music BMI 2:05
16. Sweet Jane 2:34
17. Tarahumara Tune 1:45 Total Time: 56:06
All titles Public Domain except where noted.
All Rights Reserved © BAYOU SECO 2003

Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie have been playing music together for thirty years . “Often backed up by our band members and friends, we decided it was time to record a disc of just us two. We are lucky to have worked with some of the best musicians and rhythm sections over all those years, and we feel their presence even when it is just us two. THANKS!!! We live a full and wonderful life, collecting and playing traditional American music, teaching, building violins, building a house and traveling and visiting friends.

1. Music in the Air – The tune is an old favorite of ours “Cher Ici, Cher Là-bas” from Bois Sec Ardoin and Canray Fontenot, and we wrote the words to fit in with where we live now.
2. Lucia – A Haitien Meringue we learned from a 1950’s 10” Folkways recording called “Haitien Piano” by Les Frères Duroseau- Fabré, Antoine and Emmanuel. We recently found out they had been shot by Papa Doc shortly after the recording was made. Thanks to Hoyle Osborne for this music.
3. Billy – Bob Dylan wrote this for the Sam Peckinpah movie, “Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid” in 1973. We live in Billy the Kid Country and like the song very much, and all the references to New Mexico places.
4. Frijole Medley – Frijole Beans/ Frijolitos Pintos – The poem is by Jack Thorpe from his collection of cowboy poems first published in Estancia N.M. in 1908. The song is an old favorite around here. We learned it from Ramona Ortiz, Cleo’s wife. Antonia Apodaca also sings it.
5. Valse à Chataigner/ Rabbit Stole the Pumpkin – We learned the first tune from Dennis McGee and wrote these words because we used to live near Chataigner, Louisiana and added the turn(B part). The second tune we learned from Varise Connar in Lac Arthur Louisiana. He called it “Le Lapin qui a volé le giramoin”.
6. Lazy Heart – Tom Mitchell of Nashville, Tenn. wrote this gem and it has long been a favorite of ours.
7. Barretero 2-Step – This 3 part tune is from Elliott Johnson and the Gu-Achi fiddlers, the great Tohono O’odham band from the Quijotoa area near Sells, Arizona.
8. Fair Lady of the Plains/ Bell Breakdown – The song was collected in Farmington, Arkansas from Mrs. Gladys McCarty
in 1941 by Vance Randolph, but Jeanie put a new tune to it, and the Breakdown was collected in the 1940’s by R.P. Christensen from the Bell Family near Alamogordo, N.M. It has an Irish flavor, and it was transcribed in the key of E and
we like it there, even though it is difficult on the accordeon and fiddle in that key.
9. Corrido de Wingate/La Indita – We found this song in John Donald Robb’s fine collection of “Hispanic Folk Music In New
Mexico and the Southwest” And then we were able to hear Francisco Leyba sing it as recorded in 1951 by Robb, thanks
to the UNM Archives of Southwestern Music. The song, a true story, was written by Eustacio Espinosa of Galisteo N.M.,
about taking 100,000 pounds of flour from the wheat growing area near Leyba (west of Villanueva) to Ft. Wingate near Gallup in 1889. The old wagon route went from La Bajada to Cabezon and west to La Nutria, south of Ft.Wingate. La Indita
is a Spanish- Colonial dance tune that we learned from Cleofes Ortiz. We thought it followed the song well.
10. Ain’t Gonna Work Tomorrow – A Carter Family song we like very much and have sung for years. It isn’t true for us,
because musicians never retire.
11. Three-Way Hornpipe/Texas – The first tune was recorded by John Sharpe for the Library of Congress in the 1930’s.
The second tune is one we have both known since the early 1970’s and we don’t know the origin.
12. Crooked Trail to Holbrook/ Doumé the Cowboy – Ken asked his mother’s cousin, Walter Walker, about the The
Crooked Trail and he remembered it as one that they knew when he and his father, Ed, drove cattle on this very trail.
The words are from Jack Thorpe’s collection, “Banjo In The Cow Camp”. Ken wrote Doumé the Cowboy for our Breton
friend Dominique Parent, a cowboy/sailor.
13. Cleofes Ortiz Medley (Muñequita Linda/Portalito/4×4) These wonderful chotises and polka were played by Ken on
Cleofes’ old fiddle (see photo) made in Santa Fe by someone named Olie. The label says: Olie’s Oleon. S.F. AD 1935.
14. Mignonne Allons Si Voir la Rose – Pierre de Ronsard wrote this poem (Ode à Cassandre) in the 16th century, and
Jeanie learned the lovely tune from Arrigo d’Albert in Mendocino, Calif. in the early 1970’s. Gather the roses while
they bloom, and don’t let them wither on the vine.
15. Polka a la Leña – Ken dreamed up this cool polka one day when we were in Canada at a festival called the Woods. Ken
saw all those trees as an amazing amount of firewood (so scarce in NM) and wanted to pay hommage to them. Some
times we call it Beep-Beep. You are encourged to join in on the beeping.
16. Sweet Jane – Jeanie first sang this song about the Gold Rush when she lived in England in 1964-67. She learned it
from Jean Ritchie. This is a more complete version from Maude Thacker of Pickens County, Georgia.
17. Tarahumara Tune – Jeanie learned this tune from a tape that Will Spires made in Basíhuare, Copper Canyon, Mexico
on Dec 12, 1980 at a Tarahumara fiesta. She played it on a fiddle made by Patrocinio López, from Batopilas, Chihuahua,
Mexico (see photo) and Ken played his great grandfather’s pump organ for backup. This organ, a Mason Hamlin made in
1861, and given to Charles William Moore in 1871, has criss-crossed the USA on covered wagons and accompanied
the Moore Family when they lived on a co-operative colony in Topolobampo, near Los Mochis, Sinaloa, Mexico in the late
1800’s where we conjecture they might have jammed with some Tarahumara fiddlers from nearby Copper Cañon.

FRIJOLITOS PINTOS
(loose translation by K & J & Antonia Apodaca)
Frijolitos Pintos, Little pinto beans,
blancos y morados. Purple and white.
¡ Ay, cómo sufren Oh! How they suffer
los enamorados! Lovers in the night.

Una perra pinta,
pinta y orejona,
Se busca la cola,
la tiene rabona.

Coro: Le dió la viruela, le dió (el) zarampión
Le quedó la cara como un chicharrón.

¡Ay! Viene mi suegra, Mother in law comes
bajando la loma Running for a mile.
Brinca la leña, Turning somersaults,
y hecha la maroma. And jumping the woodpile.

Mamacita linda,
ahí viene Vicente
Sacale un banquito,
para que se siente

VALSE Á CHATAIGNER
Words © Jeanie McLerie, Melody: Trad.

1. M’en aller à Chataigner
C’est pour voir mon cher ‘tit monde
Il est après m’ésperer à la buvette
Au Prairie Ficataique pour faire la musique.

2. Nous avons quitter la belle Louisiane
Pour pousser les racines a Nouveau Mexique
Nous avons construit une jolie maison
Pour vivre et travailler, et jouer d’la musique.

trans. 1. I’m going to Chatainer to see my dear little world
He’s waiting for me at our little buvette to play some music on the the Prairie Ficataique.
2. We left Louisiana to make roots in New Mexico,
We built a nice house for living, working and playing music.

CORRIDO DE WINGATE

1. Para Wingate salimos We started out for Wingate
con cien mil libras de flor. With a thousand pounds of flour.
para Wingate salimos We started out for Wingate
con cien mil libras de flor. With a thousand pounds of flour.

2. Nos dice el gobernador The boss says to us;
-Echen buñuelos muchachos; “Make fritters boys;
echen buñuelos muchachos; Make fritters boys,
que será en su favor. – That will be to your credit.

Coro: Ayai (ahi) dirán que sí Now you say yes,
y después que no; Later you’ll say no.
para Wingate con flete, On to Wingate with the freight,
les da consejos que no Despite those who advised us no.

3. Nos dice don Manuel Chávez Don Mauel Chávez tells us
-con miel melados a mí, “Put honey on mine
que enmelados son mejores They’re better that way
y agarraron mejor sabor.- And they taste better.

4. Como a las once del día At about eleven in the morning
llegamos a La Parida. We came to La Parida
se volvió Francisco Chávez Francisco Chávez turned up
malo de la rabadilla. With a bad backache.

5. Como a las tres de la tarde At about three in the afternoon
llegamos a La Jornada; We came to La Jornada;
se volvió Francisco Chávez Francisco Chávez turned up
porque le entró la forzada. With a case of loose bowels.

6. La cuestecita (de) La Nutria The little hill of La Nutria
tiene cosa de una milla; Is about a mile long;
que cortándose una manea If the brakes (hobbles) fail here
pierden los hombres la vida. Men may loose their lives.

This is adapted from the original transcription in John Donald
Robb’s, Hispanic Folk Music of New Mexico and and the Southwest, Univ. of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK 1980 (Out of Print)This song is Robb, R738. A recording of Francisco S. Leyva, age 81, recorded in Leyva, NM, 1951, can be found in the John Donald Robb Archive at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque.
Dean Robb was a friend of ours and performed an invaluable service to the state by collecting traditional New Mexican music. From the 1940’s through the 1980’s, he collected all over the state.
You can also find a version of Frijolitos Pintos, as sung by Edwin Berry, as Robb, R2479.

MIGNONNE, ALLONS VOIR SI LA ROSE
Pierre de Ronsard (1524-1585)

Mignonne, allons voir si la rose Donc si vous me croyez, Mignonne,
Qui ce matin avait déclose Tandis que votre âge fleuronne
Sa robe de pourpre au soleil, En sa plus verte nouveauté,
A point perdu, cette vêprée, Cueillez, cueillez votre jeunesse;
Les plis de sa robe pourprée Comme à cette fleur, la vieillesse
Et son teint au vôtre pareil. Fera ternir votre beauté.

Las, voyez comme en peu d’espace,
Mignonne, elle a dessus la place
Las, las, ses beautés laissé choir!
Ô vraiment marâtre Nature,
Puisqu’une telle fleur ne dure
Que du matin jusques au soir.

**********************************************************************

Ken Keppeler: 1 row and 3 row diatonic accordions, Keppeler fiddle, vocals, harmonica, Thornburg fretless banjo, guitar.
Jeanie McLerie: lead and harmony vocals, Gibson J-45guitar,
5-string Keppeler/White fiddles (CFCGD & CGDAE).

Recorded by Ken Keppeler at Fiddle Hill Studios, Silver City
in Jan, Feb. and March, 2003
Recorded through a Mackie mixer to a Denon DAT machine.
using Audio Technica, AKG, Shure and RÖDE mics.
Mastered by Quincy at Q! Productions, Albuquerque
Notes: Jeanie McLerie and Ken Keppeler
Cover Art: Henry Hutchinson, Corrales
Cover design: Howell Graphics, Silver City
Layout and printing: Unicorn Press, Silver City
Zerx Records, Albuquerque, N.M.: Zerxpress@aol.com

Recipe: Ken’s Ginger Omelet : Take about a 1 centemeter piece of ginger and chop it in small pieces. Fry it in Olive or Peanut oil in your omelet or small frying pan. When it starts to turn brown, pour in the eggs (they must have been mixed up) and swirl them around a bit to get them to mix with the ginger. Keep lifting the egg as it hardens and letting the loose egg slip underneath. Just before it is done enough for you, put in some cheese, chives, or whatever, fold over and cook a little on both sides so the ingredients cook.

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