by Audrey Anderson
Hometown Weekly Reporter
Multi-instrumentalist Jeff Snow presented his concert “A Softer Side of Celtic” on Saturday, April 6 at the Dover Town Library. His demeanor was humble and friendly as he entered the Community Room and walked to the front where his instruments—a guitar, an autoharp, and a bouzouki—awaited him.
Listening to Snow perform was a rare treat. Not only did he play his instruments with considerable skill, but he also sang along and told the stories behind the folk songs that originated in Ireland, Scotland, and England. His voice added a human plaintiveness to the music, and the tragic stories behind the songs allowed the audience to experience them fully.
On the guitar, one of the first songs Snow played was the sentimental “Spancil Hill.” It was a song about a man named Michael Considine, who was born in Ireland in 1850, but immigrated to America at 20 years of age because of the hardships brought about by the potato famine. He spent some time in Boston and then moved to San Francisco at the time of the gold strike. He planned to send for his love, Mary, when he had enough money to get married.
Tragically, he became ill at 22 and knew that he would die before he returned to Ireland. He had a dream about returning home and seeing his family, his love Mary, and his friends. When he woke, he wrote a poem about his dream and sent it to his nephew in Ireland.
In the nephew’s old age, he gave the poem to Robbie McMahon, who wrote music for it. The people named in the song are Considine’s real family and friends whose historical records can still be found back in County Clare.
In introducing the autoharp, Snow explained that the instrument originally came from Switzerland and Germany and was known as the zither. People from those countries came to North America, bringing the zither, and it came to be called the autoharp in America. The American version had bars across the strings that allowed for chords to be strummed easily.
Snow is one of the few people who can play the autoharp by finger picking the strings. The result is a magical bell-like or harp-like sound. It is not easy to pick the strings, since there are usually 36 strings on an autoharp, and they are very close together. Also, when a chord bar is held down, the strings that are not in the chord are silenced. The player must make sure to choose the strings that are playable with each chord used.
The next instrument Snow played was the Celtic bouzouki. In Greece, the notes are finger picked on their version of this instrument. In Scotland, the instrument is strummed. It sounds strong and raw.
A hilarious song Snow chose to play on the bouzouki recounted the story of a man from the Isle of Skye who decided to go to London. Of course, he wore his kilt in London, while most English men wore trousers. The song goes something like this, “The wind blows high, the wind blows low, and all the lassies yell, ‘Donald, where are your trousers?’”
Snow would up his concert by saying that he was concluding 35 days of concerts in a tour that would be his last, at least for a while. Having been on the road for years, he is going to take some time to be with his grandsons.
If you’d like to find out more about Jeff Snow or the music he plays, see his web site www.jeffsnow.net. You can hear his music on You Tube on his channel @Jeff Snow.
