BACKGROUND:

Time accelerates as you get older. So it is not surprising that the theme of Time runs through the songs on this CD, intertwined, of course, with the eternal theme of Love.

I worked with a number of musicians in making this album, two of whom I have never met. The delightful Amy 'Sugarbee' Caldwell lives in a remote part of Canada. We 'met' and sung the title song together via the Net. And Alexis Van Eekhout lives in Belgium. We have never been in the same room. But I heard his silky inventive saxophone-playing online and asked him if he would be willing to play on the album. Happily he agreed - you can hear the result on One Way Conversations and The Slipstream of your Smile.

My thanks also go to my friend Albert Casas, who devoted an afternoon to improvising some lovely sax on Dreams Like Bubbles, and another hilarious afternoon to filming us performing the song. To Gérard Lamolère, whose elegant accordion playing adorns Tree Trunks & Rough Stone', and to Michel ’Coco’ Correch for his brilliant double-bass playing on The Slipstream Of Your Smile

TRACK BY TRACK:

One Way Conversations - It was when she sent me back all my love-letters that I realised that our conversations had been strictly one-way! With the fabulous silky tenor-sax playing of Alexis Van Eeckhout.

Me and Bobby McGee - One of my all-time favourite country songs. The treatment here is nearer to Kris Kristofferson's original version than Janis Joplin's rocker ...

You and I - A love-song for those who can still feel that Love is an eternal in an ever-changing world.

Dreams Like Bubbles - I was inspired to write this jazz piece by reading Don Marquis's comment : 'Publishing a volume of verse is like dropping a rose-petal down the Grand Canyon and waiting for the echo'. Dreams are like bubbles, blown over cobblestones. With Albert Casas's inventive tenor sax.

The Rose - Maybe it was because it was the day before Valentine's Day, but I heard Bette Midler's version of this on the radio as I was putting the album together, and was blown away by it. It seemed only natural to include it on an album which was themed on Love and the passage of Time.

Perfumed Letter Blues - When I was growing up, I was hooked on John Mayall, Eric Clapton and the original Blues men like Howlin' Wolf and Muddy Waters. This is my tribute.

The Slipstream of Your Smile - A song to capture the magic of those moments when your lover holds you captive with her eyes. With Alexis Van Eekhout's silky sax and Michel 'Coco' Correch's rhythmic double-bass.

One Too Many Mornings - I often start my folk-club sets with this evocative, less well-known Dylan song.

Tree Trunks and Rough Stone - I love the simple honesty of old farm-houses, built of local rough-hewn stone and felled tree-trunks. I chose to live in one, and I imagined that I would die there. With the haunting accordion playing of Gérard Lamolère.

Bird on the Wire - One of my favourite Cohen songs, arranged for two guitars. I've been playing this for so long, and yet it always moves me.

You Crack That Smile - Isn't it amazing how a smile transforms a face ? Here's a little piece of jazz about that ...

Who Knows Where the Time Goes ? - Sandy Denny's immortal classic is the final song on the album, and is sung as a duet with the delightful Amy 'Sugarbee' Caldwell, whom I've never met. (We collaborated on the song via the 'net). One of the finest songs ever written about the fragility of Love in the face of Time.