I love to write tunes in traditional forms. It is an immense thrill for me to hear my ideas come to life in the capable hands of my music pals. Rebecca Richman, my partner in The Playdate Trio, has provided huge amounts of encouragement to me by learning my tunes and enthusiastically incorporating them into our performance repertoire. Here are a few that we recorded on the Playdate album, transcribed in Rebecca’s hand to boot!

The Clockman

The Clockman is John McCormick, from St. Paul, Minnesota — accordion player (C#/D mind you!), antique clock restorer and husband of my lovely friend T.

The Clockman is the tune that opens the Playdate album!

Weekend with Christa

I wrote this B minor polka after a lovely weekend spent in the company of my friend Christa Burch — who is an amazing singer and bodhrán player. She was in town for the weekend to add her sparkling vocals to the Noctambule album Every Migrant is my Fellow, released in 2021.

It’s the first in a set of three polkas on the Playdate album

fig one & Fig Two

The second polka in the set is Fig One. The name is a shout out to a favorite cartoon by B. Kliban. When I played it for Rebecca, she commented that the ascending phrase at the end really needed to move into another tune that started up at the top of the phrase. Thus birthed Fig 2, the third tune in the set. This fig has an extra 8 bars of silliness, which makes me happier than it probably should…

spring forward & fall back

I had wanted to write tunes with these titles for years before they finally came. In Spring Forward I tried to capture the exhilaration of the coming of Spring, and allowed myself to indulge in the hook of rhythmically springing forward — skipping beats here and there. I’m happy with how it turned out! Fall Back was built around the melancholy descending line in the A part, evoking for me a sense of inexorably falling back to old familiar ways. Though I honestly didn’t intend it when I set out, Fall Back recovers those beats lost in Spring Forward — just like you have to wait six months to get that hour back!

return of the ducks

Every year, on Thanksgiving Weekend (despite climate change, so far) adorable Bufflehead ducks arrive from parts north to winter on the lagoon that I can see from my living room. I thought they needed a stately march for their silly paddling. The tune opens Track 2 on the Playdate album.

fae’s Fancy

The set continues with Fae’s Fancy. I wrote this jig to mark the passing of Rebecca’s beloved poodle Fae, who, in her youth was an inveterate tail chaser. I tried to capture that in her tune.

the ameliorator

I wrote this one many years ago, and i can’t really explain the name fully, other than it’s meaning to be an agent to make things better. That’s reason enough.

captain chalupa

I wrote this many years ago in honor of an amazing cat that chose me to mind him for a while, in a series of what was no doubt many people over time. He was a ruffian and an excellent hunter, bringing me the spoils of his night rambles every morning. Dave Cory, who helped me mind him for a while, nicknamed him The Captain, and I imagine Chalupa donning his cape each evening at sundown to perform his super-hero duties. Hopefully you can hear him take to the skies on the B-part. Bruce and I recorded this on the first Noctambule album - Travel in the Shadows.

And here are some others….

the first rain

I wrote this slip jig one September when we got an unexpected first rain of the season. Our rains normally don’t start until late October. As we had been in drought for many years, it was an exciting moment! I recorded this on my 2020 solo album The Bright Hollow Fog.

Cáit the great

My dear friend Cáit Reed was an amazing fiddle player and a forceful personality. She was a huge inspiration and influence for me as a younger player, and I am still astounded when I listen to the few recordings she left behind after her premature death in 2018, from a chronic illness that slowly stole her ability to play as it took her life. Upon hearing of Cáit’s passing, our mutual friend Suzanne Friend wrote, ‘oh man, Cáit the Great!’ When I saw that, I knew I needed to write a triumphant tune in Cáit’s honor. This tune also makes an appearance on The Bright Hollow Fog.

Alli’s owie

My dear friend Alli had to undergo a long delayed and very painful foot surgery. At an utter loss for how to be helpful, all I could think to do was to write her a tune. A casserole would have been more helpful I’m sure, but I don’t live nearby. Not to make light of her very real misery, but I am tickled at what happens when you say the title out loud. This one hasn’t been recorded on an album yet, but here is The Playdate Trio giving it a run at a house concert in Seattle in June 2026.