ridgerecords.net - That Was Fun !

You can purchase the album or preview it for free. You can also purchase a gift card to gift it to someone else. If you prefer to use PayPal rather than a credit card, contact me directly using the Contact button at the bottom of the page. To go to the album follow this link : That Was Fun !
The pdf contains notes, back stories, photos, info about who was involved in each track, and technical info about my guitar and how it was recorded. There are two pdfs, both with the same content, one formatted for easy viewing on a smartphone and one formatted for computer.
The cover photo above was taken on the 1st of July 2000 at Barrett Lake in the Bonningtons during an epic back country trek with Nanuk.
This is a collection of musical collaborations with different folks over the years, on stage and in the studio, all of them fun. There are 25 tracks and total run time is about 2 hours and 23 minutes. I've taken the original multitrack master recordings and mixed and processed them from scratch on an iPhone 15 Pro Max in Cubasis. The artwork was also done on iPhone with Amadine.

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The Tracks

1 - Toe Tappin No Rappin (5:43)

Recorded in my studio in 2006. Wayne Krewski sang melody vocals and played all guitars <> Michael Gifford sang harmony vocals and played coronet and mandolin <> Mary Lynn Manwell played clarinet. <> Piano, clarinet, bass, and drum scores by Wayne Krewski

This song was inspired by Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock And Roll" and Judy Garland's "Zing! Went The Strings Of My Heart". It was written for my mother who loved the big bands.

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The Old Smokie Sweater Concert

11 Feb 2006

On the 11th of February 2006 we played a concert at the Miners Hall in Rossland, BC. Seth Martin, Dave Rusnell, and I were planning a concert with Alfie Albo, but Alfie went in the hospital a few days before and never came out, so Seth called up a few buddies from the 1961 world champion Trail Smoke Eaters and we had an evening of songs and stories. These live tracks are mostly songs, but if you want to hear a couple hours of some great hockey stories about the 1961 World Cup tournament, look for Old Smokie Sweater. The voices are panned as the audience saw us from left to right ... George Ferguson on the far left, then Cal Hockley, Wayne Krewski, Seth Martin, Pinoke McIntyre, and on the far right Dave Rusnell. Where Dave and Wayne are both playing guitars, Wayne is on the left and Dave is on the right. Where there's only one guitar, it's panned centre.

2 - The Last Thing On My Mind (3:39)

Words and music by Tom Paxton

Recorded live at the Miners Hall in Rossland on the 11th of Feb 2006.

Wayne Krewski played fingerstyle guitar and sang vocals <> Seth Martin sang vocals <> Dave Rusnell played flatpicking guitar

3 - I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound (4:19)

Words and music by Tom Paxton

Recorded live at the Miners Hall in Rossland on the 11th of Feb 2006.

Wayne Krewski played fingerstyle guitar and sang vocals <> Seth Martin sang vocals <> Dave Rusnell played flatpicking guitar

4 - The Smokies Song (1:49)

Recorded live at the Miners Hall in Rossland on the 11th of Feb 2006.

Dave Rusnell played guitar <> Vocals by Seth Martin, George Ferguson, Cal Hockley, Pinoke McIntyre, and Wayne Krewski. That's George Ferguson you hear belting it out on the left side.

5 - The Band Played On (3:55)

1895 <> Lyrics by John F Palmer <> Music by Charles B Ward

Wayne Krewski played guitar and sang harmony vocals <> Seth Martin sang melody vocals.

6 - Lili Marlene (4:49)

Written as a poem by Hans Leip in 1915

Wayne Krewski played guitar and sang harmony vocals <> Seth Martin sang melody vocals.

Written by Hans Leip in 1915 as a poem then put to music in 1938 by Norbert Schultze and first recorded by Lale Anderson in 1939 in German as "The Girl Under The Lantern". In early 1942 she recorded the song in English, the lyrics translated by Norman Baillie-Stewart, a former British army officer working for German propaganda.

I don't know where I got the story about soldiers in their trenches singing it during the first world war, but if in fact it wasn't put to music until 1938, that must be a myth.

7 - Down Where The Dark Waters Flow (5:26)

Words and music by Hank Snow

Wayne Krewski played guitar and sang harmony vocals <> Seth Martin sang melody vocals.

8 - Kevin Barry (7:28)

Written in 1920 by an unknown author

Wayne Krewski played guitar and sang harmony vocals <> Seth Martin sang melody vocals.

9 - So Long It's Been Good To Know Yuh (2:51)

Words and music by Woody Guthrie about 1935

Dave Rusnell played guitar <> Vocals by Seth Martin, George Ferguson, Cal Hockley, Pinoke McIntyre, and Wayne Krewski

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The Soggy Session

12 July 2020

10 - Exitir Opisant (4:43)

Words amd music by Roelof Helberg

Roelof Helberg sang Afrikaans vocals and played guitar, panned centre <> Wayne Krewski sang harmony vocals and played guitar, panned in stereo on either side of Roelof's guitar

This was recorded during The Soggy Session on the 12th of July 2020.

11 - Go Tell It On The Mountain (3:17)

Traditional

Roelof Helberg sang Afrikaans vocals and played guitar, panned centre <> Wayne Krewski played sang harmony vocals and played guitar in drop D tuning, panned in stereo on either side of Roelof's guitar

This was recorded during The Soggy Session on the 12th of July 2020. It was the first covid summer and we were set up on our deck 25 feet apart and we each had a deck umbrella over us since a storm was rolling in. In the bridge after the first verse you can hear the thunder, but the timing was perfect, could almost make you believe in divine intervention, and you can hear the rain coming down hard by the end of the song. By the end of the session Roelof's back was soaked from the rain running off the umbrella onto his back ... but the gear stayed dry !

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12 - What Child Is This (8:11)

Lyric by William Chatterton Dix 1865

Recorded on the 15th of February 2020. Wayne Krewski sang melody and harmony vocals in English, and played finger style and flatpicking guitars, panned in stereo in 3/4 and 4/4 times <> Roelof Helberg sang Afrikaans vocal and played guitar, panned centre, in 3/4 time <> Jack McDonald played pipe organ ... it was recorded in 1964 on the pipe organ he built himself ... it had 660 pipes and he built the house on View Street to accommodate it <> the choir in the last verse was by Nanuk ... she used to sing when I played the harmonica and she was always right on pitch ... I extended her vocal and then used pitch shift to match the chord progression and get the harmony parts.

The lyric was written by William Chatterton Dix in 1865, but the melody is from Greensleeves, which dates back to the 1500s. Legend has it that King Henry VIII wrote Greensleeves for Anne Boleyn when they were courting, although some historians say that the style of music never reached England until after his death. Now Henry was an accomplished musician, songwriter, & poet. There’s manuscripts of his works in archives in London. His court was a centre of the arts in Europe. Henry often sat in with his musicians on various instruments. He had an extraordinary collection of lutes, which Anne played as well. I like to think that if it wasn’t written by Henry, it was written about Henry and Anne. Henry as a young man was tall, very fit and athletic. In those days kings hosted tournaments both for entertainment and politics. He and his contemporaries Francois I of Spain, and the Holy Roman emperor Maximillian I, actually took part in their tournaments, the only kings ever to do so. The Royal Armoury still has the tournament armour Henry wore from age 28 to 48, fully articulated and moulded to his body so you can see how his body changed over that time. Tournament armour was roughly twice the weight of battle armour and had to be fully articulated to allow for not only sitting on a horse and withstanding direct impact with a lance, but also hand to hand combat on the ground. Henry's tournament armour is considered so skillfully designed that in 1962 NASA sent their engineers over to study it to design their space suits. Henry excelled at archery, but his best and favourite event was the joust. He was one of the best jouster in England and his opponents knew that Henry would not tolerate an opponent holding back. In 1520, at the age of 28, he suffered a severe injury when a lance entered his helmet and splinters were embedded in his head and around his eye. He removed his helmet, emptied the splinters and engaged in 6 more jousts. There is speculation that a brain injury at that point could account for his erratic behaviour later in life. In 1536 his armoured horse fell on him, resulting in unconsciousness for several hours & life long pain from a leg ulcer that never healed.
Greensleeves has remained very popular for almost 500 years. Shakespeare referenced it in his plays. There’s been dozens of verses to it over the years, but the melody has remained so popular that many people don't even know there are lyrics. The lyric I've used is from the first known publication of it in 1580.

13 - Richie's Reindeer (7:28)

Recorded on our deck on the 19 of July 2020. Wayne Krewski sang melody and harmony vocals, and played fingerstyle and flatpicking guitars <> Gabe Mann, Richie's grandson, played fiddle <> Irene Krewski played the bells.

Anyone who ever went on one of Richie Mann's sleigh rides will remember it fondly. On this particular night the moon was full with family visiting from out of town for Christmas ... two young nieces, who are now mothers with their own children, but that night still young enough to know the magic of Christmas.

14 - Good King Wenceslaus (2:40)

Traditional

Wayne Krewski played fingerstyle and flatpicking guitars <> Jack McDonald played the pipe organ ... it was recorded in December 1948 at the Capital Theatre in Vancouver. Don Hings was with Jack alone at night in the theatre and recorded Jack playing Christmas carols. In the 1930s, while Jack was studying engineering at UBC, he worked as an usher for Famous Players at both the Orpheum and the Capital, and in the evenings after closing he would often play the organs. In the Orpheum, because of the fabulously muralled ceiling, the pipes were in the walls, whereas in the Capital the pipes were in the ceiling, which Jack always said gave it a superior sound.

15 - Silent Night (7:32)

1818 <> Lyrics by Joseph Mohr <> Music by Franz Xaver Gruber

Wayne Krewski sang melody and harmony vocals in English <> Barry Gray sang German vocals and played harmonica <> Jack McDonald played pipe organ ... it was recorded in 1964 on the pipe organ he built himself ... it had 660 pipes and he built the house on View Street to accommodate it.

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The "To Hell & Back" Session

18 Nov 2021

16 - Nappy Birthday (2:52)

Wayne Krewski sang vocals and played guitar

17 - For The Children (14:00)

Gary Little sang melody vocals and played rhythm guitar and keyboard <> Linda Kidder sang harmony vocals <> Rob Montgomery played lead guitar, bass, percussion <> Wayne Krewski played acoustic guitar, panned stereo left and right.

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18 - Maggie (4:34)

Written as a poem by George Washington Johnson in 1864
Wayne Krewski sang harmony vocals and played guitars and harmonica <> Seth Martin sang melody vocals

Although Springtown, Tennessee, has a small monument outside an old mill claiming this song was written in 1864 by a local (“George Johnson”) for his Maggie, the truth is that its lyrics were written as a poem by the Canadian school teacher George Washington Johnson from Hamilton, Ontario. Margaret "Maggie" Clark was his pupil. They fell in love and during a period of illness, George walked to the edge of the Niagara escarpment, overlooking what is now downtown Hamilton, and composed the poem. It was published in 1864 in a collection of his poems entitled Maple Leaves. They were married October 21, 1864 but Maggie's health deteriorated and she died on May 12, 1865. James Austin Butterfield set the poem to music and it became popular all over the world. George Washington Johnson died in 1917. The house where the two lovers met still stands on the escarpment above Hamilton, and a plaque bearing the name of the song had been erected in front of the old building but is now inside the Township of Glanbrook building on Binbrook Road (Road 52) just east of Fletcher Road (Road 614). In 2005, the song was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame.
I first heard this song back in the 1970s on a Tom Rush album called Ladies Love Outlaws, and I played it a lot back then. Then when I started playing with Seth Martin 30 years later, he asked me one day if I had ever heard of it … it was one of his old favourites as well, so it became part of our repertoire.

19 - Through Your Eyes (6:32)

Wayne Krewski sang melody vocals and played guitars <> Alfie's son Jim Albo played bagpipes <> Seth Martin sang harmony vocals

Alfie could put a vivid picture in your mind of life 100 years ago, and it was always first hand accounts from the guy who lived it. He had the best memory right to the end of anyone I've ever known. I wrote this song when Alfie went in the hospital ... he never came out again, but he did hear it once when Seth and I went to the hospital and sang it for him.

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The Dung-In-Cheek Session

19 May 2005

20 - If You Knew Susie (3:21)

Written by Buddy DeSylva and Joseph Meyer in 1925

Wayne Krewski sang vocals and played guitar <> Alfie Albo sang vocals and played the CaddyHorn <> Seth Martin sang vocals

This was recorded at my studio on the 19th of May 2005. Alfie was 96 at the time and had had a minor stroke a couple weeks before, although you'd never know it unless you knew him well. It was the first time that Seth joined us and Alfie got such a bounce out of Seth being there that he got very animated and it was classic Alfie ! To hear the whole session look for The Dung-In-Cheek Session.
I was sitting with Alfie in his basement one day and he was lamenting the fact that he couldn't play the violin any more. He was a virtuoso when he was young, and he was intending to go to study at the Juilliard School in New York, but life got in the way, he became a mechanic, which took a toll on his hands and he couldn't play like he used to, so he gave up the violin. He hadn't played since before he was married, so his kids had never heard him play, but the music was still in him. He mentioned something about kazoos so I went and got him some. His eyes lit up and he said he had a horn from a 1912 Cadillac. Well we looked around and after a while he found it in the rafters in his basement. He stuck the kazoo in the end of it and the CaddyHorn was born !
Now he had told me a story from when he was about ten years old and he and Lou Crowe took Mark Han's derelict Cadillac for a joy ride. Mark Han was a Chinese market gardener, and he had an old 1912 Cadillac that hadn't been used in years and left derelict in the Chinese Gardens ... the rubber was gone off the wheels and it no longer had a steering wheel. So Alfie and Lou put a monkey wrench on the shaft to steer it, pushed it out on the road, and took off down the hill. There was an old log cabin along the creek down by the 9th hole on the golf course. It sat there for years with the roof collapsed, but back at the time of their joy ride it was home to Corporal Johnson of the Northwest Mounted Police. When Alfie and Lou got that far he caught them and dragged them home by their ears. In any case I played tunes with Alfie and the CaddyHorn for a long time until one day he made a comment that made me connect the CaddyHorn to Mark Han's 1912 Cadillac and at that point I finally realized exactly where it had come from. The CaddyHorn now sits in my studio and brings back many great memories.

21 - Mead Michaely (22:53)

Wayne Krewski sang vocals and played guitar <> Alfie Albo sang vocals and played the CaddyHorn
The beginning and the end Mead Michaely verses were recorded at the Miners Hall in Rossland on the 3rd of January 2004. It was the coldest night of the winter and the furnace was on a 30 minute timer and then you'd have to turn it back on again like the old massage units on motel beds. Well I forgot to deligate someone to look after it, and once we got going, the spotlights from the back of the hall were so hot on stage that we were toasty and I completely forgot about the furnace. And to make matters worse someone left the doors to the lobby open when they went downstairs to the washrooms, so the only thing keeping the bitter cold out was the exterior door ... and of course on stage we couldn't see a thing with the overpowering bright lights in our eyes. The only thing keeping the audience from freezing was body heat ! In the encore verse you can hear Alfie's wife of 70 years, Fanny, heckling us ... that bit was recorded at the annual Albo reunion on the Kettle River. The middle verses were recorded in my studio on the 19th of May 2005 during the Dung-In-Cheek Session.

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22 - Cryin Holy Unto The Lord (3:03)

Traditional

Recorded at the Rossland Mountain Music Festival in 1984. Andy Talbot sang vocals and played the banjo <> Doug Collins sang vocals and played washtub bass <> Dave Cochran sang vocals and played the cheese grater <> Jill Austen sang vocals and played the shaker <> Wayne Krewski played guitar

In the 1980s, Clementines Restaurant, located at Red Mountain, was, I think, Andy Talbot's first foray into the restaurant business. If memory serves it was named after a duck. During the winter the snowcat operators had a trail groomed right to their back door and in the evenings there would usually be a snowcat or two parked there for lunch. My personal favourite was the chicken cordon blue burger.

Andy asked me to join the staff to play a few tunes, and Andy being Andy, he entered us in the last place you'd expect to see such a motley crew ... the Sunday morning gospel section. And of couse they came with boxes of burritos and tacos from the restaurant to flog to the crowd.

23 - Let The Rest Of The World Go By (1:20)

1919 <> Lyrics by K Keirn Brennan <> Music by Ernest R Ball <> first recorded by Campbell and Burr on 22 Oct 1919.

Recorded in Alfie's basement. Alfie Albo sang vocal <> Wayne Krewski played the guitar

Alfie had perfect pitch and often he would start singing and when I would come in with guitar he would be right on pitch.

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