Steve and Ros Barnes Acoustic Australian Music

(2005)

Produced by Julie Matthews and Chris While

Now available.

Produced, recorded, mixed and mastered in Sept. 2004 by Julie Matthews at Central Studios, Southport, UK, Vocals produced by Chris While. released March 2005.
All songs by Steve Barnes, cop. con. (APRA)
Ros Barnes - lead vocals. Steve Barnes, guitar, mandolin
Julie Matthews - guitar, piano, keyboards, harmonica, accordion
Chris While - backing vocals, guitar, banjo, percussion
Chris Leslie - fiddle, mandolin, dulcitar, bouzouki
Gerry Conway - drums, percussion, tabla
Martin Brunsden - double bass. Mia Dyson - lap steel.
(c) and (p) 2004 Steve and Ros Barnes
Western Wave Recordings, 17 Stevens St Fremantle WA 6160 Australia

Tracks: Promise Sellers; Business as Usual; Nautilus; Anchor and Sail; The Velvet Trail; Kindness of Strangers; The Tell-Tale; Us and Them; Waltz Time; Water to the Trenches; Treasure of the Quiet Times; Green Turtles;The Afghan

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A fragile shell washed up on a beach – an individual that survived a storm, a species that survived since before the dinosaurs – provides the title and cover art for Steve and Ros’ new CD, recorded in England in September 2004, featuring some of the finest musicians on the English folk/roots scene on a collection of distinctively Australian songs.

The whole thing started when much-loved English acoustic/roots duo Chris While and Julie Matthews offered to produce Steve and Ros’ next recording during a tour of Australia. The timing of the tour didn’t work out, and the project happened in England instead, at Chris and Julie’s own studio in Southport, near Liverpool. This opened up a fantastic opportunity to work with some of the English roots scene finest musicians, including Fairport Convention pair Chris Leslie, on fiddle and other strings, and Gerry Conway (veteran of classic sessions with the McGarrigle Sisters and Cat Stevens, among much else) on drums and percussion. Chris and Julie’s regular collaborator Martin Brunsden supplied some silky double bass, and by a stroke of luck rising Australian star Mia Dyson was at hand to provide a stunning lap-steel part on one song. Somehow it all seemed meant to be, all the parts fell out beautifully and the entire project was completed in an exhilarating, exhausting and fun-filled three weeks.

The CD features all-new original material by Steve, eleven songs and two guitar instrumentals, featuring Ros on lead vocals and Steve on acoustic guitar (his prized 1978 Gurian) throughout. Styles range from the Chris Smither-inspired country/blues feel of Promise Sellers, through the rousing Celtic 6/8 feel of Water to the Trenches (a tribute to the late Alec Campbell, the Last Man Standing from the Gallipoli campaign) to the tabla-driven east/west fusion of The Afghan with an old-time string band waltz (Waltz Time is the Best Time) and a few either stylistic departures along the way. The songs include Australian stories about survivors and refugees, words of advice to about-to-be-adolescent kids (The Telltale), an old-fashioned love song (Anchor and Sail), an atheist’s gospel song (Kindness of Strangers) and other products of nearly ten years of eclectic songwriting. The two guitar tunes, and one of the songs, reflect the influence of the Hawaiian slack-key fingerpicking style which has got its hooks into Steve in the last few years.

Chris While and Julie Matthews website

Western Wave

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LYRICS

Promise Sellers; Business as Usual; Nautilus; Anchor and Sail; The Velvet Trail; Kindness of Strangers; The Tell-Tale; Us and Them; Waltz Time; Water to the Trenches; Treasure of the Quiet Times; Green Turtles;The Afghan

THE PROMISE SELLERS

(Real Audio clip)

Help yourselves, we're clearing out the shelves
We've promises to sell, there's nowhere cheaper
Everything must go, a crazy price we know,
Especially for those that won't be keepers
If times are slow we'll gladly take your soul
If promises were gold you'd soon be wealthy
Take your time, here's the place to sign
Keep our bottom line looking healthy

Satisfaction guaranteed, buy one get one free
Our friendly staff will be right here to turn to
Just pay and off you go, there's no better deal we know,
The small print down below need not concern you
Words are cheap, don't pay to look too deep
We'll leave while you're asleep, we won't be staying
Out the door, don't mind about the law
It's not our problem, you're the one who's paying

Promises abound, they sell them by the pound
The liars just left town with all the action
Honesty is in casualty
The truth is lying here in traction

In the end the truth's your only friend
The promise sellers ended up betraying
When the race is won and when all is said and done
What counts is how you've run not what you're saying
Take things slow, here's all you need to know
Those promises are not worth what they're asking
Don't lose sleep, make your promises to keep
Words are cheap, deeds are everlasting

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar, mandolin; Gerry - drums / percussion; Martin - double bass; Julie - harmonica
Chris While - backing vocals

BUSINESS AS USUAL

With thanks to a friend and wonderful bass player, Liz Frencham, who unintentionally gave me the hook line of this song in an email.

The sun comes up the colour of blood
Goes along its path in the usual way
The wall around your heart holds back the flood
For another day,
And it's business as usual for the broken hearted

People walk by, like there's nothing strange
Get on with their lives the way people do
Everything's the same but for this change inside of you
And it's business as usual…

It's business as usual, it's not the end for you
Business as usual, for those who depend on you

Darkness falls, that's the way you might choose
Lock the door, forget about tomorrow
You could say you've nothing left to lose
But the weight of your sorrow
And it's business as usual…

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion; Martin - double bass; Mia Dyson - lap steel; Julie - Hammond; Chris While - backing vocals

NAUTILUS

(Real Audio clip)

On a beach where I was walking, after the storm
It was there that I first saw you, a perfect spiral form
A sculpture of paper, among the boulders and sand
The crashing of the breakers, I could never understand
A fragile piece of shell
A glass suit of armour or a china bell
Like a kind word in a heartless world
A spiral coat of pearl

Pearly nautilus, last of the line
Born in the waters of the dinosaurs' time
Battered and blown by storm and by flood
Pearl into stone as you lay in the mud
A fragile piece of shell...

From deep in the ocean, way beyond reach
You came though the commotion to land on this beach
A sculpture made of paper, your strength in your form
Surviving the breakers and the power of the storm
A fragile piece of shell...

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion
Martin - double bass; Julie -piano, high strung guitar
Chris Leslie - mandolin; Chris While - backing vocals

ANCHOR AND SAIL

You're my anchor and my sail
My lighthouse and my harbour
When the night winds wail
You're my compass in the storm,
The cloak that keeps me warm,
My port and my starboard
My anchor and my sail

You're the dawn that ends my night
My refuge in a stormy sea
My shining harbour light
You're my shelter in the gale
The wind that fills my sail
You're the fire that warms me
My anchor and my sail

And when I lie becalmed out on the ocean
You're the breeze upon my cheek
The light that leads me home,
The moonpath on the foam,
You're everything I seek

You're my morning and evening star
You're the pointers that I steer by
When I'm sailing near or far
You're my rudder and my keel,
My mainsail and my wheel
As long as you are nearby
I'm safe out on the waves

Ros - vocal; Julie - piano; Chris Leslie - fiddle

THE VELVET TRAIL (instrumental)

The Velvet Trail is on the amazing mile-wide beach at Southport, north of Liverpool
Solo guitar (open C tuning).

KINDNESS OF STRANGERS

You speak of weeping statues,
Your visions and your prayers
And maybe someone's listening and maybe no-one cares
The only god that matters is the one that's living where
The kindness of strangers breaks your fall

The kindness of strangers, it keeps the world a-turning
The kindness of strangers, when the fires of hell are burning
The ways of the world might break you
Your angels might forsake you
But the kindness of strangers breaks your fall

You can see it in the schoolyard, you can feel it in the street
You can hear it in the footsteps of a million marching feet
You can feel it in the places where the hearts of people meet
The kindness of strangers breaks your fall
The kindness...

In the wilderness you're bound to fall
And never find the way back on your own
The good Samaritan who heard your call
Knows what it's like to feel alone

Now man may build his temples and raise them to the sky
He knows the market prices but no matter how he tries
He’ll never know the value of the one thing he can't buy
The kindness of strangers breaks your fall
The kindness...

Ros - vocal; Gerry - drums / percussion; Martin - double bass; Julie - guitar, piano, keys; Chris While - high strung guitar, shaker, backing vocals

THE TELL-TALE

A tell-tale is a little flag which is attached to the edge of a sail, showing the wind direction.

(Real Audio clip)

So far we've travelled together, learning the ropes as we go
Soon there might be stormy weather,
You might want to face it alone
Sometimes the following breezes
Take you where you want to go
But it's not always so easy
to tell when the headwinds will blow

Watch out for the fixers and dealers,
You’ll find them wherever you go
The medicine sellers and healers,
Their signs are only for show
There'll be false friends and deceivers,
Whispering lies in your ears
You don't have to believe all the things they want you to hear

Keep your hand on the tiller, your eye on the telltale
The sun on your back, the wind in your mainsail
Will carry you home, you're not on your own

That voice in your heart, you respect it,
Don't be afraid to stand proud
Danger's not where you expect it,
The devil is there in the crowd
Some people offer you cover, some will expect you to pay
Knowing the one from the other gets harder to do every day
Keep your hand…

When you set off on your journey,
It's one that we made long ago
You know if you make a wrong turning
That we’ll be there on the shore
Keep your hand…

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion
Martin - double bass; Chris Leslie - fiddle, bouzouki
Julie - high strung guitar; Chris While - backing vocals

US AND THEM

Night is falling, fear is rising
Soldiers coming, time to run
Made a contact, someone's cousin
Midnight meeting, deal is done

Only bring what you can carry
Leaving all your life behind
Meet at dawn and bring the money
Keep your mouth shut, get inside

Through the night, where are we going?
Leaky vessel, get on board
Here's a mattress, just be grateful
We're escaping from the war

We believed this was the promised land
What have we come to?
In the end there's no us and them,
There's only me and you

When we make it to Australia
Paved in gold and free of strife
Leave the nightmare far behind us
Find some work and make a life

You treated us like we're contagious
In this hot and arid hole
While you keep us in your cages
Razor wire surrounds your soul

We believed...

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion
Martin - double bass; Julie - piano accordion
Chris While - backing vocals

WALTZ TIME IS THE BEST TIME

Down in the valley or up on the hill
Raking in the dollars or just standing still
High times or dry times, whatever you will
Waltz time is the best time for love

If this old sun just refuses to shine
When this wide world has no reason or rhyme
You can wash away your worries in three quarter time
Waltz time is the best time for love

Some say it's phoney, some call it false
Some say baloney and some call it schmaltz
But there's no time like a genuine old-timey waltz
Waltz time is the best time for love
If this old sun…

There's just one promise I'd like you to make
A favour I'd ask for posterity's sake
Won't you promise me you'll play a waltz at my wake
Waltz time is the best time for love
If this old sun…

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion
Martin - double bass; Chris Leslie - fiddle, mandolin
Chris and Julie - harmony vocals

WATER TO THE TRENCHES

Alec Campbell, 1899-2002, was the last of the surviving Australian veterans of Gallipoli. He was given a state funeral by the Howard government, despitte being a lifelong pacifist and union organiser.

Born in eighteen hundred and ninety nine
You lived to the great old age of a hundred and three
As a boy you went to war on some godforsaken shore
To shoot at God knows who at Gallipoli
In sight of the Turkish lines,
In range of the guns you climbed
To carry water to the trenches every day
Water to the trenches...Every day

You made it home, you were one of the lucky ones
But the war left you nothing but pain and rage
You joined a railway gang, became a Union man
And fought for decent hours and a living wage
You stood for the working man, you took the Union stand
And carried water to the trenches every day

They buried you with all the pomp and splendour
And talked about those few weeks of your life
No one made the point that the battle that you joined
Was bigger far than some colonial strife
How easy they forget that once they called you a Red
As you carried water to the trenches all your life

Alec Campbell, my hat's off to you
But now you've gone it's time we moved on too
To carry water to the trenches…for one another

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - drums / percussion
Martin - double bass; Julie - melodica, high-strung guitar
Chris Leslie - bouzouki;
Chris While - backing vocals, shaker

Alec Campbell at 16 before heading off to Gallipoli and at his Hobart nursing home shortly before his death. Photo: Simon Schluter (from Sydney Morning Herald)

TREASURE OF THE QUIET TIMES

Let's go walking on the mountain
See the heavens gently spinning
It's getting hard to see for all the bright illumination
And in the darkness in between the stars
We'll see back to time's beginning
The treasure of the quiet times, the heart's imagination

Let's go walking in the forest
Far from the dealing and the scheming
It's getting hard to hear above the endless altercation
In the silence in between the trees
We'll hear the echo of the dreaming
The treasure of the quiet times, the heart's imagination

Let's go out into the desert
To hear the music of the seasons
We need to get away from all the cries of desolation
In the spaces out across the sand
We'll hear a sound beyond our reason
The treasure of the quiet times, the heart's imagination

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Chris While - banjo, harmony vocal; Chris Leslie - fiddle

GREEN TURTLES (instrumental)

The first part of this tune comes from a half-remembered Hawaiian slack-key tune, the name and composer of which I never knew, and the middle bit is mine.
Steve – solo guitar (open G "taro patch" tuning)

THE AFGHAN

Arthur Hoosan is the son of George Hoosan, one of the last of the Afghan camel drivers who opened up the heart of Australia around the tun of the last century.

(Real Audio clip)

Hoosan was an Afghan driver,
He drove the camel caravans
Walking through the heart of Australia,
He made the tracks across the sand
Every day of his life he prayed,
Facing Mecca five times a day
The white man would point the other way,
To Ghantown

Hoosan wed a Pitjantjara woman
Arthur was borne in a Ghantown shack
Hoosan tried to train him on the camels
But Arthur shook his head and turned his back
“The ships of the desert had their day,
Nobody tells me how to pray
Just call me The Afghan”, he'd say,
From Ghantown

In the land of the Afghan's forefathers
Rages an endless war
Arthur hears about it on the wireless
And he thinks he's heard it all before
He hears about the refugees,
He says they can come if they please
The Afghan just wants to live in peace,
In Ghantown

Arthur still likes a beer or two
In his rusted caravan out by the mine
In the tracks of his fathers old camel train
The truck from Tennant Creek is his lifeline
Hoosan's grave still marks the place
Where once he made the camels race
Now history's written in the face of the Afghan,
From Ghantown

Ros - vocal; Steve - guitar; Gerry - tablas, percussion
Martin - double bass; Chris Leslie - fiddles, dulcitar
Julie - keys; Chris While - bodhran
Chris W and Ros - The Bitchin' Jarras

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