The CD
Music from Inside the Lighthouse (CE1003)
is a national first.
The entire project was recorded live from within Cape May's 157-foot tall lighthouse that has beckoned to navigators from the mouth of the Delaware Bay for 154 years.
Each song on the album is a musical interpretation of a piece of the Lighthouse's history and the people who made it special.
The project features several other musicians performing on harmonica, euphonium, percussion and voice; and is
dedicated to those fishermen who have died at sea.
This recording is not just about modern man.
It is not a recording from the studio engineer's viewpoint.
It is raw, it is about the love transcended from our past...
All sounds are from inside the lighthouse, a look into the very depths of our own America. Therefore, presented to you are the sounds as they went down on this project. The intrinsic reverb,
the musician-to-musician afterthought in split second decision governed by the excitement of the music itself and the walls of the lighthouse
the inner cavity
the heart, the soul, the giant's ear - the dampness kissing guitar strings and covering drum heads.
Two Time ASCAP Award Winner
Music From Inside the Lighthouse - Remastered 20th Anniversary Edition
1993 - 2013
track list
2.1859 – Summertime (White) GW- gtr. ; Chickie Ragan-drums ; Rev.James T.Abbott Jr.-harmonica
3. Ezekiel Stevens – Clockwinding (White) GW-solo acoustic guitar
4. Funck – First Order,Five Wick (White) GW-solo acoustic guitar
5. Daymarker (Ragan) Chickie Ragan – drum solo
6. Storm Watch (White) GW- gtr. ; Chickie Ragan-drums ; Rev.James T.Abbott Jr.-harmonica
7. Bend To The Horizon (White) GW – acoustic & dobro slide guitar,spoken word ; Chickie Ragan – drums ; Gwyn Williams – euphonium
8. Rotation Of The Beacon (White) A recording of the beacon at the very top, rotating,a sound only heard by few
9. Neptunes Children (White) GW - dobro
Historical Notes
Augustin Fresnel (1788 - 1827) applied his theorems of light waves to the light house lens he perfected in 1822, which is unsurpassed to this day
2. 1859 - Summertime
The year the Cape May Lighthouse was completed. Texture of the first summer season.
3. Ezekiel Stevens - Clockwinding
Ezekiel Stevens was the first keeper of the light which in
1859, lit by whale oil, had to be “Wound”
The lens rode on a
chariot, with ten wheels, and twenty guide wheels, driven by a clock work weight system.
4. Funck-First Order. Five Wick
Funks' lamp was the most widely used lamps in the first order lighthouses.
5. Daymarker
When not flashing at night, a lighthouse's paint scheme was its mark in daylight. The military inflections of this drum solo
are so, because this site was also a Coast Guard Lifesaving Station.
6. Storm Watch
June 12, 1891, lighting struck the ball on the dome of the tower, stretched down the metal framework of the lantern,
leaped to the iron of the watch room and followed through to the electric call bell wires into the keeper dwellings
causing "much damage to the interiors."
7. Bend to the Horizon
Fresnels lens would bend light 24 miles to the edge of the horizon.
8. Rotation of the Beacon
A spectacular stereo recording of the one-of-a-kind experimental system that has been running perfectly since
1946. This is the second oldest Active Lighthouse in the USA.
9. Neptune's Children