Rockett and Charlie on patrol
“Uniquely eclectic!”
todd freeman (band)
Welcome to an album that should have been done years ago.
I started writing, arranging, and tracking the original “Music for Poochy Patrol” in early 2019. It was to be a set of guitar instrumentals, in the vein of Howard Roberts or The Ventures, featuring some of my favorite players from Colorado. And, in keeping with its lighthearted tone, I’d put my favorite photo of my dogs Rockett and Charlie (aka Poochy Patrol) on the cover. COVID changed those plans a bit. I instead played or programmed every instrument myself. When Rockett died that November, I decided to dedicate the album to him, so it became 2021’s “Music to Squeak By”. I still had unrecorded charts, and Charlie needed a cover spot, so 2022 saw “Music for Chasing Squirrels”. This album collects the last of the tunes from that time and completes the (now) trilogy. It’s finally time to use the original title and cover photo.
Since the start, I’ve watched Poochy Patrol and myself change. Rockett and Charlie made a host of new friends, some of whom are pictured on the back of the LP release. I’ve made new friends as well, playing with a host of new musicians in new venues. So this project, instead of collecting the past, is about the future. There will always be new tunes to play, new places to see, and a host of friends to meet along the way.
Hope to see you along that path soon, and, as always, thanks for listening.
-Vic Dillahay
Tracks
- Dunlewey (3:32)
Dunlewey (properly Dún Lúiche), between Errigal and the Poisoned Glen in the far north of Ireland, is one of my favorite places on Earth. I tried to capture a fraction of its stark beauty with this sort of reel, sort of jig played in 10/8 time. - Press of Angels (5:21)
I intended for this to be a bluesy waltz, but it came out more ominous. That seems a bit portentous now, since I finished the chart in early 2020. - Somewhere Between the Waters (4:09)
Colorado was hit with thousand-year floods in September 2013. Homes were lost, roads were washed away, and whole landscapes changed. I wrote this while waiting for the water to recede. - Most of the Time (3:46)
Written back in 2010 while wandering the streets of Longmont after a snowstorm. - I Forgot Your Song (3:42)
This started as an attempt to write a breakup song for my college prog-rock band. Then I reworked the pieces as a heavy-handed weeper about dementia and lost love for a friend’s abandoned musical. At a gig a few years later, an unknown person of questionable musical taste stole the only handwritten copy along with a messenger bag full of other original charts. I decided to try rewriting it from memory, realized it needed to return to its more bitter roots, and this version is the result. - Customary Gates (3:59)
In October of 2019, my friend and fellow musical traveler Liam O’Beirne and I took a trip to Ireland’s County Donegal. We set forth from Dublin, swung by Bruges on the Belgian coast, then passed through Dublin again on our way north. I wrote this slip jig to swing to slip jig on my flight back to Denver to commemorate our uniquely roundabout journey and half-dozen or so trips through customs. - I Should Dance (4:05)
I really should dance, but wrote this attempt at a jazz standard with a repeating verse instead. There were a few lyrics once upon a time, but they were lost to the same thief that absconded with the “I Forgot Your Song” chart. - La Vita Bella (3:19)
La Vita Bella was a basement coffee shop in downtown Longmont and a home away from home for me. Graphite Addiction played there often, and I spent many a lunch break in a corner with a pastry and a mocha, writing charts. This quick swing tune is the last of those, so it takes the name. - Messengers from Porlock (3:26)
A trio of guitars (one a Bass VI) constantly interrupt each other’s ideas, as one would expect of those on business from Porlock. - Coffee Girl (3:56)
It was a running joke for my college-era band to sing this tune, ending with our drink order, whenever our barista friend was working a gig. She put up with this nonsense for years but, since very few have her patience, I’ve cut the dozens of verses down to just two.