Fenario Music Issue #5 - MP3 Links, Lyrics & Bios

Fenario - Folk Music e-Zine
Vol. 2, No. 2

Here's a batch of brand new songs. Ruthie Foster and Small Potatoes shared the Falcon Ridge Most Wanted tour with me and blew away audiences with these songs, so I immediately thought to share them with you.

Ruthie Foster, performing with producer/percussionist Cyd Cassone, gives us "Crossover," inspired by an incident during the filming of a civil rights documentary in Selma; Small Potatoes gives us the moving story of two women whose war griefs and hatreds span an ocean and a lifetime, and how fate brings them together. On one of those disastrous gigs that become legendary, we met brothers Marc and Chris Berardo: they made up half the audience. It turns out that Marc is a fine songwriter whose songs helped make the evening worth while. His characters commiserate about a hopelessly small town called "Franklinville" in this rough studio mix from his upcoming second album - an exclusive. Finally, I've been meaning to include "Thieves" by Raymond Gonzalez for some time, having heard it during the service at an unusual folk wedding. June - the month of weddings - seems an opportune moment to finally offer it to you.

As always, you can listen to full length RealAudio versions or download the MP3s for free with the artists' blessings. Or, you can buy each set of 12 songs on a CDR for $6 plus shipping.

The Songs

MP3 files of the following songs are at http://www.mp3.com/fenario:

Ruthie Foster, "Crossover" lyrics / bio
Small Potatoes, "1000 Candles, 1000 Cranes" lyrics / bio
Marc Berardo, "Franklinville" lyrics / bio
Raymond Gonzalez, "Thieves" lyrics / bio

Lyrics

Crossover
words & music © 1999 Ruthie Foster

credits:

1000 Candles, 1000 Cranes
words & music © 1999 Rich Prezioso

credits: Rich Prezioso, Jacquie Manning

Franklinville

The Crow was putting them down in Kelly's place
With a face that looked like a loaded gun
He turned to me and said I'd be a fool
If I told you there weren't times I wanted to run
But I got kids to feed, children who need clothes
With shoes that need new soles
A rusted Ford and a wife who snores
And a lot of prayers unto the Lord so closed doors I pray:
If I could make it out of Franklinville
You know I will never be back again

But there ain't nowhere to go on State Road 46
Out here in the sticks of New York State
And the big snow storms they'll cut you down for weeks
And no one speaks watching tv over the bar
Showing the trucks backed up in Buffalo
And the dirty snow piling on the ground
And the icy wind blowing off Lake Ontario
Is all you need to know to keep you down
Hunkered down here
In Franklinville where you know it will all be back again

You see me and The Crow we was born here
And we gonna die here, that's the way it goes
We lost a little heart when the tool plant closed
And we loose a little more every time it snows
Late at night we drive out to the interstate
And shine those headlights on the road
Pull one from the bottle we got at Kelly's place
And raise a glass to the nowhere to go.. And sing
If I could make it out of Franklinville
Oh you know I will never be back again

words & music © 1999 Marc Berardo/Overhead Map Music (ASCAP)

credits: MB, Pete Szymanski - bass, Chris Berardo - vocals, harmonica