Happy's First Two Solo Albums Re-Released with Tab Books

16-Aug-2011

"American Stranger"

My second solo album was finally released on CD (after 35 years!), complete with a tab book showing how to play my guitar arrangements embedded on the disk. The package also includes a live concert DVD that I did back in 1981 and featuring performances of many of the songs on the CD, plust several others. You can order this CD/DVD here. When it was originally released, Folk Scene Magazine had this to say about it: “An absolute gem...one of the best folk music albums released this year.”

"Relax Your Mind"

My very first solo album for Kicking Mule, which I recorded in 1975, has recently been re-released. The original tab book, which will show you how to play the songs, is now included as a printable file right on the disk. This recording is very unadorned - just me singing with my guitar except for a couple of cuts on which my old friend Pat Alger plays mandolin. The arrangements are all in the fingerpicking style which I've become somewhat known for. 



 Here's an excerpt from my original notes to the album, revised slightly to reflect the new edition:


"The songs on this album have all been favorites of mine for many years - some for as long as I have been playing guitar. Each one says something that touches me, or tells a story that I enjoy retelling. I have arranged them all in the fingerpicking style, for a unity of feeling and for the sake of those, who want to learn to pick. Most are, not terribly difficult, and if you play a little guitar you should be able to master them with the help of the PDF tab booklet that is on the CD. Hopefully, playing these instrumentals will give you ideas for songs that are special to you, and you will use them in your own arrangements”.


Songs: Relax Your Mind, Gypsy Davey, Worried Blues, John Henry, Peggy Gordon, When First Unto This Country, Poor Howard, Fair and Tender Ladies, Boat's Up the River, Willie Moore, Weave Room Blues.