My Soundtrack Album: Campfire

I’ve made an album!

Well, it’s not a serious one, the kind you put on the living room sound system and sit back and think about. It’s more like a soundtrack to our adventures during our first two years on the road.

I recorded each song—as a voice memo on my iPhone—at a different campsite across the country; some I recorded along a roaring river, some in the tent during a rainstorm, some in the trailer late at night, and some around a campfire. Hence the album name: Campfire.

While you listen, please imagine sitting around the campfire with me, singing and laughing and looking up at the stars.

Note: since I posted this, I realized the album isn’t what I’d planned, and I wrote about it here: How-I-Made-an-Anti-Campfire-Album-by-Mistake/

Ways to Listen

Click below to hear the whole thing—30 minutes—including Finn’s smooth transitions between songs with nature sounds, or click below that to skip around for separate songs.

Warning: the first two songs are the weakest; the album improves as it progresses.

The Whole Album

Individual Tracks

Side A

Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You (Bob Dylan)

Jolene (Dolly Parton)

Shady Grove (Traditional, with some of my lyrics)

Dark Hollow in the Florida Keys (Trad, with some of my lyrics)

Harvest Moon (Neil Young)

Cinnamon Girl (Neil Young)

Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright (Bob Dylan)

Side B

Long Black Veil (Lefty Frizzell)

Dreadful Wind and Rain (Traditional)

Miss Ohio (Dave Rawlings and Gillian Welch)

Lay My Lily Down (Bob Weir)

Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You, Reprise

Liner Notes

• I recorded everything on my iPhone while singing and playing ukulele on the same track.  
• Some verses on “Shady Grove” and all on “Dark Hollow” are mine.
• Recording locations for songs and nature sounds:
  • Arizona: Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument, Yuma, & Ajo
  • California: Joshua Tree National Park, Alabama Hills National Monument, & Carizzo Plain Nat’l Mon
  • Florida: Ohio Key
  • Michigan: Tahquamenon Falls State Park
  • Montana: Eureka & Bear Tooth Mountains
  • Nevada: Lake Mead & Valley of Fire State Park
  • Texas: Ray Roberts State Park
  • Wyoming: Grand Tetons National Park

Think of these songs not as a studio-perfect album to stand alone, but as a musical accompaniment to the blog.

Thank you!

Thanks to my son, Finn Mayhew, who encouraged me and produced the album, kindly and generously. And thanks to my friend, Jacqueline Craig, who created the album cover, also kindly and generously!