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Strings of Pearl

"As anniversaries go, the pearl symbolizes 30 years, so it seems only fitting that Calvin, in his 30th year in the music business, should produce a 'pearl' of a CD. Combine three decades of great fiddle music like Calvin's and voilà "Strings of Pearl".
Eleanor Foster
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Strings of Pearl
1.Laurier Sauvé Reel
2.Belt Creek Jig
3.Alberta’s Centennial Waltz
4.The Road to Anglin Lake
5.Jerry Holland’s Shuffle
6.Medley:   Red River Trails
    Canadian Veterans Reel
The Great Canadian Reel
7.La belle maman
8.Alternator Breakdown
9.Dancin’ Round the Christmas Tree
10.Old Willow Down
11.Galloping Itch Jig
12.Foster’s Challenge
13.Frantic Frenchman
14.Maple Creek Breakdown
15.Strings of Pearl
16.Okema Swing
17.Medley:  Fred Russell Jig
    Robbie Dagenais Reel
    Oyama White

As anniversaries go, the pearl symbolizes 30 years, so it seems only fitting that Calvin, in his 30th year in the music business, should produce a "pearl" of a CD. Combine three decades of great fiddle music like Calvin's and voilà "Strings of Pearl".
Eleanor Foster

All tunes composed by Calvin Vollrath
The Road to Anglin Lake – co-writer Randy Foster
Red River Trails, Canadian Veterans Reel, Okema Swing – co-writer John Arcand

Recorded at Astromonical Studio, St Paul Alberta
Produced and Engineered by Calvin Vollrath
Design & Printing by Bridgeport Printing Inc., Edmonton AB

Musicians:
Calvin Vollrath Fiddles, lead, rhythm & bass guitars, electric & acoustic mandolin, clogging & spoons & knee slapping
Paul Dacier Keyboard, Keyboard Bass #1 & #9, Keyboard Vibes #9
Rob Anderson    Steel Guitar #5
Laurier Sauve is a fine gentleman from Ottawa Ontario that I met a few years ago who plays good fiddle, with a French-Canadian flair.

Belt Creek runs through the fiddle camp I teach at in Monarch Montana. This was written at a composer’s workshop there in 2004.

Alberta celebrates its 100th birthday in 2005 so I thought a waltz was in order.

Anglin Lake is just down the road from Emma Lake, SK. Randy Foster & I thought a tune would be appropriate for the adventurous road to get to the lake.

Jerry Holland is a true master of the Cape Breton style of fiddling and whenever we are together he asks me to play the country classic “Maiden’s Prayer”. I wrote this country shuffle just for him.

John Arcand & I wrote Red River Trails & The Canadian Veterans Reel several years ago and I thought it was time to re-record them. The Great Canadian Reel is one of the first tunes I ever wrote.

Many years ago I met a very special lady named Simone Labrie. She loved the fiddle and had a passion for dancing. Together with her husband Clarence, they would travel for miles to dance to fiddle music. One day she introduced me to her daughter Rhea, who after a few years, became my wife. I think Simone liked the idea of having a fiddler in the family, not to mention a very nice son-in-law, ha ha!!. December 29th, 2004 was a sad day for us as Simone passed away.
I was recording this album that December and this melody reminded me of La belle maman’s last weeks with us.

The Alternator Breakdown is dedicated to anyone that has ever had an alternator breakdown.

Dancin’ Round’ the Christmas Tree just sounds like a Christmas song to me, but you don’t have to wait till the Christmas season to listen to it. Merry Christmas!

Last year I wrote a tune called Swingin’ Under the Willow Tree and released it on the “Just for the Swing of It” CD. Four months later, in July 2004, we had a huge windstorm and it severely damaged the willow tree, so we had to put the Old Willow Down.

The Galloping Itch Jig. Have you ever asked someone to scratch your back? It might go like this…up, up more, to the right, to far, yes there, now move down, yes, now to the left, ooh yeah, ok up now. You get the picture, I’m sure.

While staying at Randy & Eleanor Foster’s house last August, Randy planned a little party for a few fiddler friends. The rules were if you were coming to the party you had to write a tune. Every fiddler had a new tune, even the piano man. Foster’s Challenge was my contribution.

The Frantic Frenchman is a clog I composed many years ago after hearing a french horn solo with lots of frantic notes on CBC radio.

There’s a wonderful Bluegrass band in Edmonton named Maple Creek. Their fiddler Brad Oviatt asked me to write a tune for the band. Maple Creek Breakdown is what I came up with.

Being my 30th year in the music business, I thought I would come up with an album title to commemorate this occasion. I settled on Strings of Pearl and thought this would also make an appropriate title for this waltz.

Okema Swing was co-written with John Arcand many years ago. It was named after Okema Beach, located right next to the Emma Lake Fiddle Camp in Saskatchewan.

Fred Russell Jig, Robbie Dagenais Reel & Oyama White (a fiddler’s father, a fiddler and a fiddler’s drink) are 3 of my earlier compositions that I wanted to re-record.


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