In 2003, I recorded my Black Mountain Harmonica CD, featuring bluegrass and Irish tunes. My brother owns a studio and put it all together. At the time, he figured I might burn a few to sell while busking. It did better than that: around 1,500 copies ended up in various hands. This was almost 20 years ago, so it was time for another. The 2021 lockdown was a perfect window. I live in Sydney, and my brother Quentin is in Adelaide. He has run his own commercial studio for more than 40 years, and is an outstanding player on multiple instruments. An ideal mentor. For my initial CD, I recorded the harmonica parts in Sydney, using ‘Band in a Box’ backings and a hand-held SM58 mic. I brought the results to Adelaide, on CDs, and sat in Quentin's studio while my friend John Bridgland played guitar and mandolin backings, with Quentin and his studio partner Darren adding the rest.
O'CAROLAN'S HARMONICA Tony Eyers
Then Quentin sat me down for a chat. My playing was more or less error free, but dull. My brother said that "every note has to tell a story". I listened to my efforts; he was right. I recorded all the harmonica parts again, with 50 or more takes for each chorus, as I slowly figured out how the notes should sound. The final result was way better. Many folk liked this first recording, so I was encouraged to do another. My partner (now my wife) was in the UK for six weeks in 2003, time enough to get Black Mountain Harmonica done. However, kids, work, few funds and fewer ideas kept my second CD at bay. Plus, I'm a little ashamed to say, I was waiting for my brother to donate another week of his professional time for my new project, as he had done for the first one. I decided this time to pay for his efforts. This got the ball rolling. Over the last decade, my group has done a series of YouTube videos, featuring traditional tunes arranged for harmonica trio. So I started with these. My first CD had two slow airs by O'Carolan, the famous 18th century Irish harp player and composer. These two O'Carolan tunes were popular, so I chose another six for the new CD, and called it O'Carolan's Harmonica. I then picked six bluegrass/old time tunes to fill out the project.
