Celebrating The Magic Of The Natural World

As the Pacific Coast Duo Spookytree, Debra Knodel and Jane Valencia celebrated the magic of the natural world in a pageant of harps and song. Drawing from the fire and light of ancient Celtic traditions, and from the mists and rhythms of the earth's turning Deb & Jane created a tapestry of music as shining as an illuminated manuscript ....

Deb & Jane recorded as Knodel & Valencia from 1992-1998 and performed as Spookytree until 2005. Deb and Jane continue to perform solo and with others, and -- when in the same location! -- together.

This page:

I'm no longer selling CDs. If you'd like to buy these albums and can't find them elsewhere on the internet please contact me and I will put you in touch with folks who may be selling them. I hope to have RoseGarden available as free mp3s in the near future. Thanks for your interest in my music!

Contact: jane-lucero at foresthalls dot org


Silverwood & Spookytree. On A Snowy Eve.

Snow falling in the evergreens
Firelight shining on the hearth
Gather round and listen ....

We teamed up with the music duo Silverwood to create this CD of winter music. Silverwood is harper and vocalist Verlene Schermer and her sister, flautist Linnette Bommarito. Warm yourselves at our hearth and listen to gentle melodies of the snow-etched trees and of the fragile beauty of this quiet season, and joyous songs celebrating the turning of the year. Enjoy the the merry cheer of friends!

Carolan's Welcome, The Evergreen/Greensleeves, Winter, Fire, and Snow, Abbots Bromley Horn Dance, I Saw a Fair Maiden, One Wintry Night, Snow on the Summit, I Saw Three Ships, Psalm 42, O Virgo Splendens, Christ Child's Lullaby, Serving Girl's Holiday, Cancion del Ano Nuevo, Twilight

Nylon, wire, & cross-strung harps, flute, alto flute, vocals, guitar, oboe, English horn, fiddle

Verlene Schermer is a talented vocalist, songwriter, and harper who also engineered and co-produced our album Forest as well On A Snowy Eve. Visit her website by clicking on her name in this paragraph!

Jane Valencia. RoseGarden.

'rosegarden' - a space in the fullness of time, an interlace of shadow and light, color and texture, cultivation and wilderness, an evocation of the harmonies and rhythms of earth, life, and of the universe in its many emotions ...

Enfold yourself in a landscape of countryside and chapel, forest and sea. Jane's silvery vocals and the crystalline bell-like tones of her ancient Celtic metal-strung harp ribbon together in mystic, spacious, and playful impressions of a garden that lie at the heart of the infinite.

Featured are songs sung in Welsh and Gaelic, a Renaissance motet, a serene 19th century French composition, and haunting musical journeys inspired by by melodies from 13th century Orkney Islands and by a 16th century Irish aire. Also included are several poetic original songs and compositions suffused with echoes from times past and imagery from the natural world. Here is a music that rings with both passion and grace.

Gymnopedies 3 by Erik Satie, Rose Song, Hymn to St. Magnus (Nobilis humilis), Aderyn du a'i blufyn sidan (O Blackbird of Silken Wings), A Luminous Sea, Dawn Redwood, A Rose for Bea, Cum essem parvulus (When I was a Child), St. Brigit's Hymn, Bodach Beag A Loinean (The Little Old Man of the Pond), Zoo School, New Year's Day

Wire-strung harps, vocals, gut-strung Gothic harp, nylon-strung harp, African harp, tabla, oboe. Guest musicians: Verlene Schermer, Barry Phillips, Debra Knodel, Vicki Parrish, Drew Niles, and Bill Kiefer
 
 

Forest album cover

Knodel & Valencia. Forest.

Journey into a magical forest in which mysterious creatures whisper, the Green Man dances, and the old melodies sing. In this new album, Deb and Jane's nylon- and metal-strung harps interweave with myth and song to create a space where the boundaries between time and place no longer exist. Music and magic await you!

Read a review of Forest on RAMBLES - a cultural arts magazine.

... and read some more reviews.

Into Forest Halls, Benachie Sunrise, Cradle Song, Concerto al Fresco - aka Carolan's Concerto, Calling of the Cows, Spootiskerry, Binwag's Lullaby, Willafjord, Hwiangerdd, Masque, Wild Geese, Hin Hin Haradala

Nylon and metal-strung harps, Paraguayan harp, African bow harp, gut-strung harp, fiddle, bowed psaltery, cello, bamboo flute, tin whistle, oboe.

Guest musicians : Verlene Schermer and Michael Carey, Elizabeth Golden, and Sarah Burns.

The Harpers' Masque album cover

Knodel & Valencia. The Harpers' Masque - A Celebration of Celtic Harps.

Described by one of our distributors as "a sonorous, spacious, magical sound tapestry", The Harpers' Masque is a celebration of the unique voices of our nylon and wire-strung harps. Many of the tunes are traditional Scottish and Shetland - learned during Alasdair Fraser's Valley of the Moon Scottish Fiddling School and from the San Francisco Scottish Fiddle Club. Others include Irish tunes, a medieval Italian melody, and a couple of original compositions that reflect our impressions of the woods and winter in Wyoming, and the canyonlands and mesas of the southwest. Join us as our harps lead us to destinations ranging from misty northern shores to a south-of-the-border fiesta!

Read some reviews.

Lonesome Road to Dingle, Winter Creek, Lauda, Return to Fingal, Chanters Tune, Lochaber No More, Waltz of the Little Girls, Hebrides Dances, Redlands, Lisdoon, Shetland Reels, The Fisherman's Song for Attracting Seals.

Nylon and metal-strung harps, fiddles, viola, acoustic and fretless bass, English horn, piano, percussion. Guest musicians include Laura Risk & Athena Tergis, Sam Page, and Chris Caswell.