Here's a beautiful mountain dulcimer instrumental from Tony Gillam, which he has dedicated to his wife, Sue: https://soundcloud.com/fracture-zone/may-be-may-be-not-for-sue
I asked Tony to tell me about his composition:
"Like most of my songs and tunes, the main themes emerged from me just playing around with ideas on the instrument. I wanted to keep an element of looseness and improvisation to the whole thing, so it's half-improvised with a couple of recurring motifs that are a little more fixed.
I've been listening to a lot of Seckou Keita's music lately, (the amazing Senegalese kora player) and also to the Austrian percussionist and handpan player Manu Delago, and I think their wandering, looping compositions are influencing my own approach to music-making.
May Be, May Be Not is played on my McSpadden 4FHCC with its built-in LR Baggs pick-up, through my trusty Laney AFresco acoustic amp (with a splash of reverb and a drizzle of chorus). I simply recorded it live into my laptop (via my Samson C01U USB Studio Condenser mic) using Audacity - the recording software, that is, not the attitude (although, in my book, a bit of unrestrained impudence never goes amiss!).
And then, in uploading it to SoundCloud, it occurred to me to dedicate the tune to my beloved wife Sue. The May theme is appropriate because Sue and I actually got married in the merry month of May, thirty-four years ago this year. Sue, sadly, is rather poorly at the moment. She has never been a great fan of my music (preferring instead a good power ballad or something you can dance to) but, as she was quietly resting in bed the other evening, I played her May Be, May Be Not from the next room and it seemed to become a lullaby. She said she liked it, which is good enough for me."
