Received a great CD, the other day, from Don Meixner, a Mudcatter whom I am proud to call "friend." He has been generous in sharing his many talents with us, including that of silversmith and, now, we finally get to *hear* more of his musical talents, as he and his band, The Flyin' Column, have made their first CD!

I don't know why it took thirty years for them to record but it was worth the wait. Appropriately enough it is titled Finally. As they put it "The Flyin' Column was Celtic before Celtic was cool!"

Don has a beautiful voice and his "mates," Billy Delaney - vocals & guitar; Jimmy Flynn - vocals and bass guitar; Joe Davoli Jr. - fiddle, baritone fiddle & mandolin (Ya gotta hear Joe fiddle!); Mike White - drums, do a terrific job. Don also rings in with well-honed talent on banjo, guitar and harmonica.

Most of the songs are Trad. as Don put it in a note, "just a mix of songs typical to the band." Those include Come In; Red is the Rose; Coulter's Candy; Kelly the Boy from Killan; The Irish Rover; Danny Boy; and, Tell My Ma. Others include: Sonny's Dream" by Ron Hynes, a very poignant song about a boy and his lonely mom, with a dad who went off to sea; Bill Staines' Rye Whiskey Joe; Ian Tyson's Four Strong Winds; Billy's Song by Janice Farrelly and band member, Bill Delaney; and one by our own Don. See next paragraph...

I love your song, Photographs...made me cry.The music and the words are timeless, poignant, and you all, Mudcatters, need to hear this song. I will let Don tell more of the story, if he chooses. It is obvious this one came right from his heart. A friend visiting a friend and going over pictures and memories of Ireland...just beautiful.

It is obvious these Five Handsome Dudes (ya oughta see them, ladies!)have been together, blending their voices and instruments, for quite awhile, though one of 'em doesn't look a day over 20 and the others can't have been together over 30 years, they don't look old enough!*bg* There is an ease there one doesn't hear with groups who are "newish" together.

I can imagine a rousing crowd enjoying The Flyin' Column as much as I am, plus they'd hopefully have the room to kick up their heels and dance to some of the cuts, too. It's pretty hard to sit while listening to some of these. Obviously the guys have a good time with it. They've even got authentic "pub-sounds" clinking away in the background on one of them!

Anyhow, I don't know near as much as the lot of you, but I know what I like to listen to and I will be playing this CD over and over. I LOVE putting a voice to the name and a fine voice it is, no matter what he might have said in his vibrato thread.:-)

Now, question, Don, please tell me more about the baritone fiddle. Bigger? Just different strings and tuning? And, how old IS that kid, anyway? You guys sounds GREAT. CONGRATULATIONS!!

kat