Category: Chris Parkinson

This march is dedicated to the wonderful British accordionist, Chris Parkinson, who was the box player for my favorite group, The House Band. That band, made up of Parkinson (also playing keyboards), Ged Foley (guitar, small pipes, singing), John Skelton (flute and bombarde), and Roger Wilson (fiddle, singing), had a huge impact on me as I shifted into folk music. To the point where I remember handing three of their CDs off to a potential band mate, and I said, “This is the kind of music I want to play.” It wasn’t just the Celtic, or the pan-Celtic, or the Breton, or any specific genre focused thing, it was the energy of the group and the mix of talents and choices. I saw them once in Minneapolis and they were all kind enough to hang out after and speak to me. Skelton provided “some comfort” on a bombarde question I had, and Parkinson gave me a tour of his instruments and laid down some breadcrumbs for me to find my way to the box as my instrument not long after.

Some four weeks ago, I was wondering what the next FRLO tune would be and was driving in the car with Sunshine (my wife) and “The Rock in the Mountain” came on. She said, “That’s the next Orchestra tune.” And it is. The images are all Sisyphus. Get it? The rock in the mountain? I guess it was low hanging fruit, but it amused me.

A few interesting things. This video has eleven musicians, but eighteen tracks of music. Many of us are playing multiple tracks, which is fantastic. Anahata’s cello makes its first appearance in the orchestra, as does Howard’s bass concertina (which I erroneously termed “baritone”), and Barb’s faux snare drum. This is the Free Reed Liberation Orchestra, and it is MOSTLY accordions and concertinas, but we are super grateful for friends like Barb, Margaret, and Eric on their respective stringy things. The backbone of this effort is the wall of reeds that comes in the second time the tune plays, laying down a solid solid melody and allowing the other tomfoolery to happen. This process does tax my computer, though. Sometimes listening to it do the math is like watching men move heavy objects. “You got it? I got it.” Two of the videos submitted refused to work, so you get a still pic of Julian and Barb. I will try to solve by next piece.

House Band type music is still “the kind of music” I want to play, even if my version would be a bit less celtic and a lot more French. I think there’s room in the world for such a thing.

The Free Reed Liberation Orchestra is
Anahata, accordion, concertina, cello
Matthew Bampton, accordion
Gary Chapin, accordion, whistle
Margaret Cox, fiddle
Little Eggy, accordion
Eric Johnson, guitar
Howard Mitchell, concertinas, accordion
Gren Penn, accordion
Julian Scholefield, accordion
Janneke Slagter, accordion
Barbara Truex, tenor guitar, faux snare

directed by Gary Chapin
All are welcome!
If you want in on the next project contact Gary