in studio in Fitchburg, MA (courtesy photo)
NATALIE MACMASTER PLAYS ‘THE LITTLE TOWN TANGO’
Heavenly Angle takes place in a small town in New Hampshire. Easy to find; it’s where Ernest lives. It’s the story of a Hollywood filmmaker who tries to con the locals into believing he’s going to make a movie with them. Easy to cast. But what would the film’s musical style be? Because of their growing connection to Natalie MacMaster and the great success they’d had with the ‘On Golden Pond’ song for Ernest’s production of the play, Ernest and Joe Deleault felt that Natalie’s sound would be ideal for the movie.
When Natalie and her equally phenomenal fiddler husband Donnell Leahy played in nearby Plymouth, NH, Ernest was blown away not only by their playing but by their infectious chemistry and energy, especially when two of their young children joined them on stage. That was the beginning of The Little Town Tango. Boots on the pine floors, shaking the barn doors, the pounding piano, washboard and banjo, following the fiddle as it soars. Ernest sent the lyric to Joe who sent it to Natalie and when her tour took her to Fitchburg, Massachusetts, Ernest and Joe hung with her pre-show and whipped together the song that opens Heavenly Angle and that Ernest uses throughout the movie.
Mark Kelso, and Natalie MacMaster in studio in Toronto
(courtesy photo)
“I love the power music can have in a film and how it can guide the audience, subliminally or otherwise,” Ernest said. “The Little Town Tango is otherwise. It sends the signal very clearly that everybody better buckle up, we’re going for a ride.”
With the inimitable Canadian recording star Kevin Evans’s vocal, the song is like a locomotive. The magic of the music takes your life and soon improves it. There’s no time for sadness, come dance away the blues.
THE LITTLE TOWN TANGO*
Lyrics by Ernest Thompson
Music by Joe Deleault and Natalie MacMaster
Vocals by Kevin Evans
Fiddle by Natalie MacMaster – fiddle
Piano by Joe Deleault
Guitar by Jim Prendergast
Banjo by Chris Coole
Bass by Brendan Dowd
Drums by Mark Kelso – drums
*Licensing rights must be obtained and are available through The Office of Ernest Thompson. Click here.
For more information about Thompson|Deleault, go to www.thompsondeleault.com.
To learn more about Natalie MacMaster, visit www.nataliemacmaster.com.
