Music & Films

South Wind with Cara

officially called The South Wind, this is an old Irish folk song about homesickness

sung by Cara Bo and accompanied on mountain dulcimer by Dan Evans

Dan’s dulcimer is in DAA (Ionian) tuning

Fields of Gold with Cara

Sting’s Fields Of Gold sung by Cara Bo and accompanied on mountain dulcimer by Dan Evans

Dan’s dulcimer is in DAA tuning in the key of F (FCC)

I Have A Dream with Cara

ABBA’s popular song from their Voulez-Vous album, released in 1979 – arranged her for mountain dulcimer by Dan Evans and performed by Dan with popular singer Cara Bo

performed on Dan’s Doug Berch Appalachian dulcimer in Ionian/DAA tuning – Cara is singing through a Sennheiser e935 microphone and a Boss Ve-1 voice conditioner

Let It Be Me with Cara

originally composed in French by Gilbert Bécaud as ‘Je T’Appartiens’ and later made famous in the USA by the Everly Brothers – but now arranged for the mountain dulcimer by Dan Evans, who performs it here with popular singer Cara Bo

performed on Dan’s Doug Berch Appalachian dulcimer in Ionian/DAA tuning – Cara is singing through a Sennheiser e935 microphone and a Boss Ve-1 voice conditioner

Cascade film+TAB

an original composition for the dulcimer, played on my Martin Cole Appalachian dulcimer in Ionian (DAA) tuning but in the key of E (EBB) – slight delay effects from the Boss DD-500 are a stereo pattern (ping-pong) delay – the composition bears some resemblance to certain classical works such as Handel’s Passacaglia, Bach’s Toccata & Fugue in Dm etc – the recording was made in a college to help a student of audio engineering – details are on the film itself

REE TAB – click on this link: Cascade – to display the notation for this piece as a web-friendly PDF document

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250 years of Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace is one of the hymns written by John Newton in the small market town of Olney in Buckinghamshire, England, where Dan Evans has lived with his wife Mary for the past 28 years. 

a little history (in a very brief nutshell)

The remarkable story goes that English-born Newton became ill in Sierra Leone on the west coast of Africa and was cared for by the local people.  Later, he worked on the slave-ships which transported millions of black Africans in appalling conditions, from Sierra Leone to the Caribbean, to work in the cotton fields and sugar plantations.  One wild night a severe storm threatened to capsize Newton’s ship and later, as a consequence, he became a ‘storm convertite’.  Newton then regretted his former ways and became a clergyman, preaching at St Peter & St Paul Church here in Olney, where his pulpit can still be seen.

Newton went on to support William Wilberforce to succeed in getting the abolition of slavery bill through Parliament, known as the ‘Slave Trade Act 1807’.  2007 saw celebrations here in Olney of the bi-centenary of the bill to abolish slavery.  (Ironically, Dan was working at a dulcimer festival in Indiana, USA at the time but was honoured to be invited to close the festival by performing Amazing Grace on the dulcimer, a feat which he repeated in 2017.)

Now in 2023, 250 years after the authoring of the hymn Amazing Grace, celebrations abound around the world, especially here in Olney, which is now known as ‘The Home Of Amazing Grace’.  A new Amazing Grace Orchard has been planted this year in Olney and was formally opened on the 9^th July this year.

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Le Ruisseau Du Moulin – dulcimer live

Le Ruisseau Du Moulin (The Mill Stream) is an original minimalist composition by Dan Evans for mountain (Appalachian) dulcimer performed here live in Kathy Brown’s famous and beautiful garden in Stevington, near Bedford (UK) in august 2023

Dan is playing a Doug Berch di-chromatic dulcimer in Bagpipe tuning (BBB)

Mary Evans took the photos of Dan playing, interspersed with Dan’s own photography of the Garden

Tumbling Skies – dulcimer live

an original composition (in key of C) by Dan Evans for mountain (Appalachian) dulcimer performed here live (in key of E) in Kathy Brown’s famous and beautiful garden in Stevington, near Bedford (UK) in august 2023

Dan is playing a Doug Berch di-chromatic dulcimer tuned to EBB

thanks to Mary Evans for iPhone photos of Dan playing

two modal pieces – dulcimer live

two traditional pieces arranged for mountain (Appalachian) dulcimer and performed here by Dan Evans in Kathy Brown’s famous and beautiful garden in Stevington, near Bedford (UK) in august 2023 – Dan is playing a Doug Berch di-chromatic dulcimer

1. Johhny O’Braidislea & Johhny I hardly Knew Ya (Dorian mode / EBA tuning), followed by …

2. The Banks Of The Lee (Aeolian mode / DAC tuning) – Dan’s wife, Mary took the photos of Dan playing on her iPhone and Dan took the photographs of the garden