OLD PAINT DUO Debut Album
(C$ 2.50 shipping)
Released May 2019
- Which One Is To Blame
- They’ll Never Take Her Love From Me
- Carolina Snowfall (Miriam Sonstenes)
- The Letter (Miriam Sonstenes)
- Closer By The Hour
- Big River Breakdown (Miriam Sonstenes)
- Are You Teasing Me
- Goodnight Belgium (Miriam Sonstenes)
- Down In San Antonio
- Madison County Waltz (Miriam Sonstenes)
- Pretty Little Widow * CD bonus track
Buy Digital Album on iTunes, Bandcamp, or order one of our fancy download cards ($10) which comes with a free sticker
Review
Penguin Eggs Review:
Old Paint Duo, Old Paint Duo, Independent
Some of the greatest roots music has been done by duos. Think of Gram and Emmylou, The Everly Brothers, the Louvin Brothers, and so on. Victoria’s Old Paint Duo is not out of place on this illustrious list.
The duo of Jeff Dill and Miriam Sonstenes, who is known to roots music aficionados as a member of The Sweet Lowdown, have created a tasty gem of an album. Their voices blend seamlessly with harmonies that seem attainable only by siblings or spouses. They cover a nice range of tunes from the Louvin Brothers’ Are You Teasing Me, to the country swing classic Down In San Antonio, and a few original songs that more than hold their own.
Sonstenes’ fiddling, replete with double stops, is some of the best coming out of the West. She studied under the great Bobby Hicks, who Bill Monroe called “the truest fiddler he had ever heard,” and it shows. Her composition Madison County Waltz, which is dedicated to Hicks and played on a five – string fiddle, has a melody that makes it destined to be a classic in its own right.
Some of Victoria’s great musicians, including mandolinist Jesse Cobb, and Miles Zurawell on banjo, make guest appearances, but the heart of this album is the duo, who just sound so darned good together.
Mike Sadava - Penguin Eggs
LISTEN
Lyrics
Carolina Snowfall
Carolina Snowfall
Carolina Snowfall
As I wake to the silence of the morning
I see the snow that has fallen all around
And as I climb up to the hillside
I am thinking
Of all the good friends and joy
that we have found
It’s a long way back from Carolina
It was a hard road getting to here
Now winter’s coming on
there’s a feeling getting strong
It’s just you that I wanna be near
it’s you I wanna be near
Now the snow’s fallin’ heavy in the valley
We keep the fire in the cabin burning low
And the hours slip away playing music
It’s just enough
to keep from thinking ’bout home
It’s a long way back from Carolina
It was a hard road getting to here
Now winter’s coming on
there’s a feeling getting strong
It’s just you that I wanna be near
it’s you I wanna be near
So many places on the way
that I’ll remember
So many times when we did not feel alone
But it’s good to put my arms
around you darlin’
it’s only here that I know I’m really home
It’s a long way back from Carolina
It was a hard road getting to here
Now winter’s coming on
there’s a feeling getting strong
It’s just you that I wanna be near
it’s you I wanna be near
The Letter
Carolina Snowfall
Carolina Snowfall
Should I write you a letter
Would you read it at all
Would it help you to stand up
or cause you to fall
‘Cause you’re building a fortress
And the walls are so high
Does a bird in a cage still know how to fly
When I write you that letter
I would write about love
I would try to remind you
of what you still have
You have beauty and freedom
And your eyes how they shine
You should take what you want now you’ve still got time
Raise your eyes up
shake your wings and try
You will feel the wind, and fly
If you don’t get my letter
Maybe it’s better that way
We’ll carry our stories
til the end of our days
‘Cause I won’t be beside you
You have mountains to climb
But I’ll see you again
if our paths cross in time
Raise your eyes up
shake those wings and try
You will feel the wind, and fly
Should I write you a letter
Would you read it at all
Would it help you to stand up
or cause you to fall
Goodnight Belgium
Carolina Snowfall
Goodnight Belgium
In a barroom in Belgium
There’s a girl and she’s drinking
She’s dancing with no one tonight
She’s watching the bar man
As he pours her another
And the floor sways beneath her
in the dim smokey light
She says take me away
from this heartache
The horses are always hungry
the work has no end
And my lover is leaving
It’s a quarter to midnight
She’s making a phone call
Across the ocean to her family at home
Here’s why I’m calling
as the tears start falling
I can’t take it no more
I’m losing this fight
Take me away from this heartache
The horses are always hungry
the work has no end
And my lover is leaving
He won’t understand
Now it’s two in the morning
She’s heading on home now
She’s cried all the tears she can cry
There’s a light in her window
She closes the curtain
Goodnight my dear Belgium, goodnight
Take me away from this heartache
The horses are always hungry
the work has no end
And my lover is leaving
He won’t understand