About the Songs on Emily's Angel

Valerie & Walter Crockett's Third Album

You've Had Your Chances

Emily's Angel

For the Long Run

I Want You to Know

Same Train

I Thought I Had a Rock

One Special Day

I Got the Blues Again

Bubblegum

Just Let Your Love

13 Letters

Ice Cream Man

You can click in the table above to jump to the song you're interested in. But before we get to the songs, let's talk about the people.

Valerie & Walter Crockett and the Oxymorons play on all 12 tracks:

  • Valerie Crockett on acoustic guitar and vocals
  • Walter Crockett on acoustic lead guitar and vocals
  • Bob Dick on acoustic bass and vocals
  • Fran McConville on mandolin and vocals
  • Mark Manuel on keyboards, accordion, saxophone and vocals
  • Bill MacGillivray on drums
  • With Honorary Oxymorons:

  • Duke Levine on electric guitar (2, 12)
  • Roger Williams on dobro (6, 7, 12) and bass harmony (5)
  • Dave Dick on banjo (7, 12)
  • Chet Williamson on harmonica (5,12)
  • 1. You've Had Your Chances (4:03, written by Walter, sung by Val, with harmonies from Walter, Fran, Bob, and Mark)

    Maybe you've seen the kind of person who gets angry at you when he feels guilty. This is the newest song on the album, written just a few months before we recorded it. We don't know if it's Latin or what, we just like it. And it gives Fran and Walter a chance to rifferate together. The melody is one of those two-octave mountains we feed Val just to see if she can scale them. She always does.

    2. Emily's Angel (4:21, written and sung by Val, harmony by everybody, Duke Levine on electric guitar)

    The title tune has been our most requested song over the last year. Val wrote it after she and Emmy met Garth Brooks. Mark added a beautiful piano riff and Duke stepped in and instinctively played exactly what we'd all been looking for: volume pedal effects on the verses and soaring lines in the chorus. Everybody sings.

    3. For the Long Run (3:53; written and sung by Walter; harmony by Val; Fran, and Bob; Mark plays accordion)

    Walter hadn't had a song come to him in a dream for a while, so this chorus was a welcome wake-up call. As usual, he got up and mumbled it into the tape recorder and then went back to bed. Mark learned accordion for this one. We couldn't afford Flaco.

    4. I Want You to Know (3:58; written and sung by Val; harmony by Walter, Fran, and Bob)

    Val's mother, Alma Orchinik, died in the fall of 1999. Val wrote this several weeks before she passed away, but never played it for her. Val doesn't write a lot of songs, but when she does, they hit home. Billy plays the triangle and the woodblock, in addition to drums.

    5. Same Train (4:02; written and sung by Walter; harmony by Val, Fran, Bob, and Roger; Chet Williamson plays harmonica)

    On stage, we do the big live instrument swap during this song. When we opened for Salamander Crossing at Circle of Friends Coffeehouse we managed to get their whole band on and off stage during the solo section. Can't wait to do it with the Boston Pops. This song may be about addiction, or it might just be about being stuck in a bad job. We've seen too many friends pass by on that same train. Mark kicks it off with rollicking piano and Chet Williamson struts his bad stuff on harp.

    6. I Thought I Had a Rock (3:33, written by Walter, sung by Val, harmony by Walter and Bob, Roger Williams plays dobro)

    Oh the sad mysteries of love. Who can you trust? Or whom, for that matter? Roger Williams adds plaintive dobro to Walter's capoed-up C chords. You'd capo up too if you had to play a country song in F#. And ain't Val's voice purdy?

    7. One Special Day (3:48, written and sung by Emily, harmony by Val and Walter, Roger Williams plays dobro, Dave Dick plays banjo)

    Emily wrote this song, words and music, soon after her visit with Garth. It's got such a lovely chorus, and its words are so on target, you'd never know her previous claim to fame was "My Dog Ate My Homework," as recorded by Chuck & Mud. Roger adds pungent dobro and Dave Dick provides the rippling banjo background.

    8. I Got the Blues Again (4:22; written and sung by Walter; harmony by Val, Fran, and Bob; saxophones and horn arrangement by Mark; Jackson Crockett plays trombone)

    This song finally exorcised a bad case of the blues that had been lingering for months. You can hear the influence of J.J. Cale in the whispered/mumbled lyrics. (J.J. Cale's vocal influence is a tad easier for Walter to aspire to than, say, Pavarotti's.) Mark cooked up the horn arrangement and sax solo. Jackson Crockett plays trombone on the bottom of the triad.

    9. Bubblegum (3:35, written and sung by Val, harmony by Walter and Bob)

    We're still recycling tunes from our 1994 Live in the Kitchen tape, the one we used to pay people $1 to take. Valerie's "Bubblegum" sounds even better here, with Bob and Mark's languorous solos. Walter would like you to know that that's him bending the harmonic note in the last verse, so please listen closely. You play the harmonic at the fifth fret and then you reach back behind the nut and press the B string. Neat huh? Please send money. He thinks he learned the trick from Duke or Dave Dick, but it doesn't matter because it's all folk music.

    10. Just Let Your Love (3:49; written by Walter; sung by Val; harmony by Walter, Bob, Fran and Mark)

    This is our new wedding tune. We even played it at Fran's wedding to Evelyn. (Yes, Fran is single no more. Eat your heart out, girls.) It gives Val a chance to sing down in her Karen Carpenter range, before she has to climb back into the stratosphere. Walter would rather have let Tim McGraw sing his part, but Tim was previously occupied.

    11. 13 Letters (3:57, written and sung by Walter, harmony by Val and Fran)

    Probably the darkest song on the album, this one tells the story of a guy who finds a note -- a short note, of just 13 letters -- and deduces, rightly or wrongly, that it's worth getting insanely jealous about. Jealousy is like fire, you can't live without it, but you don't want too much. Beautiful touches by Fran and Mark.

    12. Ice Cream Man (7:14; written by Walter; sung by Val; harmony by Walter, Fran and Bob; Chet Williamson on harmonica; Duke Levine on electric guitar, Roger Williams on dobro; Dave Dick on banjo)

    We were going to call this "Hot and Bothered," but "Ice Cream Man" works a lot better at outdoor family events. The great thing about being in the oxymoronic "folk business" is that there's no business to worry about. It's not like they can kick us off the airwaves for playing a seven-minute song. You want a four-verse bass solo, Bob? Be our guest. We thought we'd throw the whole kitchen sink into this one, and that's what we did, with solos by Chet, Duke, Dave, Roger, Mark, Fran, and Walter, not to mention the Bobaramic bassterpiece. Can these guys cook, or what? It took four hands on the console to mix this one. Our black dog, Scout, always comes racing into the kitchen whenever Val hits that last note.

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