David writes . .

"I met the producer of this record, Jan Pulsford, a few years ago when she was working with Cyndi Lauper. Her studio in the woods outside of Nashville has provided an excellent environment to record primitive and elegant music. She believes in the delcimore, and I want to thank her for opening up the possibilities.

We begin with the Cicada Sessions, "Brush Arbor" and "Bonaparte's Retreat." I recorded these tunes on my Nineteenth Century music box, outside on a hotsummer day with the thirteen-year cicadas just a buzzin' right along in the sonic wilderness. "Brush Arbor" is for my friend Bea Jordan who, many years ago, showed me that Jesus lives in the garden. "Bonaparte" is for my father, Frank, who gave me a jew's harp on my fifth birthday and opened my ears to vowels and drones."

from the Delcimore CD cover

"We set the mikes up on the back porch and David went out there and played with the cicadas . . . which Merlyn thought sounded like a giant rainstick. You can hear the life of that day in May 1998 . . . the background noise floor of the late 20th century which our brains seem to automatically filter out mixed with the sounds of nature and the Tennessee Music box bridging and holding them both together."

Jan Pulsford