Another Dollar

by SANDER | SOMMERS

2021

Double album. Recorded and produced by Matt Sommers at Sommersville 2020-2021. All instruments/voices by Bob Sander and Matt Sommers.

4:44

Do you love an apple? / The home ruler

Sander | Sommers
4:30

Don't you hear Jerusalem moan?

Sander | Sommers
3:47

Another dollar

Sander | Sommers
5:38

Wandering Aengus

Sander | Sommers
5:12

Walk a little while in the wilderness

Sander | Sommers
5:27

At the fair

Sander | Sommers
3:34

Shawnee town

Sander | Sommers
4:48

Buffalo skinners

Sander | Sommers
5:47

Constant change

Sander | Sommers
4:20

The ice storm

Sander | Sommers
5:13

Not Vladimir's steamboat

Sander | Sommers
7:53

Gold rush

Sander | Sommers
5:04

Take down the dams

Sander | Sommers
5:15

The country of contradiction

Sander | Sommers
3:45

The other shore

Sander | Sommers
6:20

River rats

Sander | Sommers
7:10

Daniel in the lion's den

Sander | Sommers

Album notes by Bob Sander

Do you love an apple? / The home ruler

My friend Ron Dye sang this at one of our frequent music parties back in the 1980s. Ballads like this got sung later at night after the fire for breakdowns and reels was spent (and most of the beer was gone). Later I heard Triona ni Dhomhnaill sing this on a Bothy Band album (probably Ron’s source) and was enchanted. The Home Ruler is a favorite hornpipe of mine, so here’s our atypical banjo stab that throws the two together.

Matt: Synthesizer / Bass / Percussion / Bodhran / Drum Programming / Fingers on Desk / Electric Guitar / Banjo Dulcimer
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Flute / Banjo / Bodhran / Acoustic Guitar

Don’t you hear Jerusalem moan?

In the 1970s & 80s I played for a few magical years in a couple of folk bands. We sang this tongue-in-cheek gospel tune a cappella, each band member vying for the best gentle slur upon the religion of his / her choice. Regrettably, I can’t recall how we dissed the Moonies and a few others. If one of these is your religious flavor, please don’t be offended. Just remember: There’s no such thing as bad publicity.

Matt: Wave Drum / Mellotron / Hammond B3 Organ / Electric Guitar / Slide Guitar / Percussion / Drum Programming / Bass
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Harmonica / Saxophone / Wave Drum

Another dollar

In the 1970s it seemed like the USSR & the US might come to nuclear blows. I wrote this in that era, a musical way to express my existential angst. Like many of my compositions, it moldered on the shelf until I met Matt. In his sway I’ve found new musical life for these pieces. Sad to observe that the fears behind this piece are not gone.

Matt: Drum Programming / Drum Kit / Bass / Synthesizer / Acoustic Guitar / Electric guitar / Electric Piano
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Fiddle / Harmonica / Clarinet / Saxophone

Wandering Aengus

Fine singer and master of long recitation, my friend Ken Langell suggested I create a musical version of this Yeats poem. I always loved the melody from a trad song called The Lowlands of Holland, so we borrowed that and created a chorus and here we are. Matt’s rock and roll lion is barely caged here.

Matt: Synthesizer / Electric Guitar / Background Vocals / Rain Stick / Percussion / Hand Claps / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Backward Guitar
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Fiddle / Banjo / Bodhran / Hand Claps / Didgeridoo

Walk a little while in the wilderness

Music mentor and dear friend Terry Bellner has sung this frequently over the years. I think of this as an homage to him but also as (in our version) a great bluesy, kick-ass tune. Plus, Matt let my clarinet in the door, so I am happy. Essentially a camp song, everybody sings, so you can do the same. Have at it!

Matt: Mellotron / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Bass / Electric Guitar / Synthesizer / SFX
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Piano / Organ / Acoustic Guitar / Harmonica / Fiddle / Clarinet

At the fair

Just a few years old, Nancy and I took our first kid to the Indiana State Fair – no, not as an exhibit. Just for the fun of it. Two additional kids and twenty-five years later we still go as a family each year. I can’t carry a kid on my shoulders anymore, nor do I need to; instead, I’m more likely to lean in on one of them when the day gets long. Here are both memories and fictions from our annual pilgrimage.

Matt: Electric Guitar / Bass / Synthesizer / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / SFX
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Acoustic Guitar / Fiddle / Tin Whistle

Shawnee town

I know this from the singing of my friend Marti Pizzini. While it sounds traditional, I am told it is an original composition of Dillon Bustin’s, so kudos to him for creating such a great piece. This is another big group harmony piece I’ve only ever heard sung a cappella … so of course, we threw lots of instruments at it. Enjoy!

Matt: Electric Guitar / Drum Kit / Drum programming / Bass
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Banjo / Harmonica / Fiddle

Buffalo skinners

First heard this trad song on a great, old John Renbourn album, Faro Annie. Our instrumentation is way different from what I heard back then, but I think we’ve preserved its spooky, haunted feeling. May buffalo rise across the prairies again.

Matt: Electric Guitar / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Percussion / Electric Guitar / Toy Piano / Synthesizer / Jaw Harp / iPad™ / Aztek Death Whistle
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Fiddle / Banjo

Constant change

In 2001, I began a project: write a poem a day for a year. The twin towers attack; the invasion of Afghanistan. Quite the year for such a challenge. Everything was so fluid and malleable. (When is it not?) The only constant was inconstancy: Change. So that’s what I wrote about. 20 years on, we’ve dusted off that poem and made music of it. More change for the moment. Just this moment.

Matt: Bass / Backward Guitar / Synthesizer / Drum Programming / Wave Drum / Percussion
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Hang Drum / Fiddle / Wave Drum / Percussion

The ice storm

In my early twenties, I lived in a little cabin with only wood stove heat, no running water or bathroom. On the plus side, it was surrounded by giant oak and beech trees. At least I thought that was a plus … until the ice storm came. Luckily, I survived the natural world’s carnage to see the beauty of it all. This is as much about a habit of mind as it is the real physical event. Maybe you can relate.

Matt: Drum Programming / Percussion / Sleigh Bells / Theremin / Electric Guitar / Bass / Synthesizer
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Hang Drum / Acoustic Guitar / Fiddle

Not Vladimir’s steamboat

Vladimir’s Steamboat is a fantastic tune by fiddler Jay Unger (better known as the composer of Ashokan Farewell from Ken Burns’ The Civil War). I think that tune was in my head when I composed this one … but it quickly turned into something else. Lots of influences lurk in every musician’s head and sometimes they want out. So, here’s Vlad, escaped and all dressed up in different clothes.

Matt: Synthesizer / Electric Guitar / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Percussion / Bass
Bob: Octave Mandolin / Fiddle

Gold rush

When I was twenty, I took an oral interpretation (of literature) class: Recite (perform) a Shakespeare sonnet; a famous address; a partner and I did Abbott & Costello’s ‘Who’s on First?’ routine. And so on. The professor even let me write and perform this song, against (as he said) his instincts. I’m grateful for his flexibility and how, all these years later, it found new life in Mr. Sommers’ company. Gold, indeed.

Matt: Drum Programming / Synthesizer / Bass / Lead Guitar / Background Vocals / Percussion
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Acoustic Guitar / Banjo / Fiddle

Take down the dams

This is yet another second act in the life of a poem. Or, in this case, several poems. They insisted we put them all under one musical ‘roof’, as it were. Believe me, I balked when the tunes wanted me to rap (“Ain’t no such thing as a 70-year-old white rapper,” said I). But tunes will have their way with you. Helpless before their power, here’s me, rapping away. Wipe that smirk off your face. Give a listen.

Matt: Bass / Synthesizer / Electric Guitar / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Percussion / Background Vocals
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Saxophone

The country of contradiction

Our resident odd duck of the bunch: A poem that became a Tango. What’s that about? Put on some tight-fitting evening wear, lace up your formal shoes, put a long-stemmed rose between your teeth and hit the dance floor. Step with care: The dance floor of your and my and everyone’s life is probably littered with contradictions, emotional and otherwise. Secret agents abound.

Matt: Marimba / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Synthesizer / Bass / Electric Guitar
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Octave Mandolin / Fiddle / Acoustic Guitar

The other shore

40 years of walks down the old Water Company Canal have yielded a passel of observations about the natural world. One day two little ducklings started this musical fire in my head. It went on to extend to butterflies and worms and bird eggs and the busiest of creatures – us. I just had to ask: What’s it all for? I guess this song came as a kind of answer.

Matt: Drum Kit / Slide Guitar / Bass
Bob: Lead Vocal / Acoustic Guitar / Piano / Organ / Harmonica

River rats

For a while, my great aunt (1887-1981) lived in Rocky Ripple – a river town where I now live. As a boy, my dad summered with her. There he met old men who walked the river, hunting mussel shells for mother-of-pearl to sell to button factories. Those old guys, and all the people who lived there, were called River Rats. Here’s their story and my story and more besides. Written after the flood of 1991.

Matt: Ebow / Tongue Drum / Bass / Electric Guitar / Drum Kit / Desk / Harmony Vocals
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Acoustic Guitar

Daniel in the lion’s den

A great old trad tune with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. Good for group singalongs around the fire or in the car, as we ride off into the sunset.

Matt: Synthesizer / Mellotron / Drum Kit / Drum Programming / Slinky / Bass / Slide Guitar / Percussion
Bob: Lead Vocal / Harmony Vocals / Fiddle / Acoustic Guitar / Piano / Percussion