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https://soundcloud.com/user-427542889/hill-of-taraThis song describes a battle that took place on May 26, 1798 at Tara Hill, Co. Meath, Ireland between United Irishmen and forces loyal to the British Crown. BIAB Tracks _BLUEGRSM.STY ev 16 ~427Bass, Acoustic, Bluegrass Ev 130 ~426:Banjo, Bluegrass Ev 130 Rhythm ~431:Guitar, Acoustic, Strumming Bluegrass Ev 130 ~432:Mandolin, Rhythm Bluegrass Ev 130 3191:Mandolin, Soloist, CelticReelAndy Ev 16 110 ~428:Fiddle, Rhythm Bluegrass Ev 130 RealDrums=Folk8ths Like most folk tunes of this type the chord progression very simple (perhaps too much so) but the melody and the instruments (particularly the mandolin solo by Andy Leftwich) add light and shade. Hill Of Tara (lyrics by Brian Raynor) In Seventeen-Ninety-Eight there was rebellion When men of Meath came marching through the night At Tara’s Hill, five-thousand strong, we gathered United in our cause, we came to fight Too many years of quiet desperation With no escape from grinding poverty Praying to the Lord for our deliverance How we longed for life and liberty How we longed for life and liberty Knowing not of treachery in Dublin Our leaders were by worthless men betrayed We took our stand, prepared ourselves for battle We stared death in the face, yet unafraid At dawn we spied the enemy approaching The yeomen and the fencibles as well Our muskets were no match for their artillery And so before their shot and grape we fell And so before their shot and grape we fell They pushed us up the hill into the churchyard Our last stand came at dusk, among the graves We’d rather spill our blood for life and freedom Than live another day as someone’s slave. Too many years of quiet desperation With no escape from grinding poverty Praying to the Lord for our deliverance How we longed for life and liberty Though freedom was denied us there at Tara United Irishmen will rise again They’ll fight for what is right and be victorious And see our sacrifice was not in vain And see our sacrifice was not in vain
ProTools; Ableton Live Lite; Reaper
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Nicely done  A really interesting source of inspiration - I love the upbeat groove on this, the banjo and mandolin work fantastically together and I thought your vocals were really strong on this one. Nicely catchy as well. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Deryk
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Nice tune and storytelling! Vocals and production are excellent.
Enjoyed it!
Thank you for sharing!
Misha.
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Having played in several bluegrass bands for many years we felt you did a good job mixing this.
The bluegrass RT's are obviously well performed given the outstanding artists but they can be
a bit difficult to tailor to a given song since bluegrass solos and fills are more melodic that a lot
of folks realize. Your mix of the rhythm and solo mandolin resulted in an authentic sound.
The vocal well presented the image rich lyric. Nice story!
Enjoyed it.
J&B
Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more. If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks! Our Videos
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Thanks for listening, and for your comments. Back in the 70s I attended several live performances by our local "Country Gospel Bluegrass Band." Bought their one and only LP record and spent many hours listening to their arrangements.
As for the lyrics, once I had assembled the basic facts it took (apart from minor editing) about half an hour to complete. As one would expect, parts of the story too disturbing to share with a general audience have been omitted.
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Super story telling to a backing track that sounds live. Strong vocals!
Excellent work!
Waitress "How did you find your steak sir"?
Me "I just looked next to the potatoes and there it was"!
64 bit Win 10 Pro, the latest BiaB/RB, Roland Octa-Capture audio interface, a ton of software/hardware
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Such a happy sound for such a sad subject!
Good job all around - vocals, lyrics, mix.
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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Possibly, but having heard The Ballad of the Alamo (Marty Robbins) about 300 times I'm reasonably sure that Hill of Tara is not too "out there." Alamo featured one of the busiest nylon-string guitars I've heard!
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Possibly, but having heard The Ballad of the Alamo (Marty Robbins) about 300 times I'm reasonably sure that Hill of Tara is not too "out there." Alamo featured one of the busiest nylon-string guitars I've heard! Sorry, I should have clarified that it wasn't a complaint! Just a bit incongruous, but then, so is the whole idea of setting words to music, if you think about it too much. 
-- David Cuny My virtual singer development blogVocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?BiaB 2025 | Windows 11 | Reaper | Way too many VSTis.
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No worries, David. If it's any consolation, my wife agrees with you. I notice some of the 'murder ballads' that were so popular in the 19th century (and revived in the 1960s) were up-tempo too.
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Hi Ghostgun, Unusual to hear a song about my home county!I go walking up on the hill once a week and although its quite low as hills go it has a surprizing panoramic view.Also it has alot of history that predates 1798 most famously St Patrick was brought to the hill by the High King.Great piece of story telling ,composition and arrangement!The church and graveyard are still there and they have only two services a year,one on St Patricks day and one at the start of summer.Well I enjoyed the listen and here is a link if anyone is visiting!urs Hugh proud Meathman! https://www.discoverireland.ie/Arts-Culture-Heritage/hill-of-tara/9805
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Great vocal and mix that carried along by the great story.
Rob4580
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Sometimes a simple chord progression has the biggest impact. Congrats on an awesome song. Thanks for sharing!
Cheers,
Ember
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Good story song...
It does seem to have a kindred spirit to the Marty Robbin ballads...
And I enjoyed listening.
Jim
†=☮&♥
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Great story-telling... the music compliments your vocal and story in a good way.
I will not comment on the lyrics... it is a very political and dangerous subject and I know too little to say something useful about this.
Will
Last edited by Will Josef; 08/09/19 01:55 PM.
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