Distant Brothers

 “Distant Brothers” –  Ferguson and Henry GSM 000777
Produced by Gary Ferguson/George Hodgkiss/Colin Henry Mixed and mastered by George Hodgkiss
 

Distant Brothers (the beginning)  Colin Henry (IMRO)  Colin Henry (Weissenborn guitars)  Mansion On the Hill (Bruce Springsteen) Eldridge Publishing Company- Sony/ATV Pop Music Publishing - Joe Murray (bass and harmony vocal), Donna Murray (harmony vocal), Colin Henry (dobro), Ryan Ferguson (cajon), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Ted Ponsonby (Hammond organ), Gary Ferguson (vocal and guitar)  

More To The Story (Gary Ferguson and Martha Trachtenberg) Gunny Sack Music, BMI/Waffle Queen Music, BMI   Johnny Gleeson (guitars, bass and organ), Colin Henry (dobro), Marc MacGlashan (mandolin), Gary Ferguson (vocal), Joe and Donna Murray (harmony vocals)  

Gone to the Dogs- Colin Henry (IMRO) Colin Henry (dobro), Mark Schatz (bass), Ron Block (banjo), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Marc MacGlashan (mandolin and guitar)  

An Angels Breath (Gary Ferguson-Victoria Keating-Martin Leahy)   Gunny Sack Music, BMI/IMRO

Johnny Gleeson (guitars and bass), Joe Murray and Donna Murray (harmony vocals), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Marc MacGlashan (mandolin), Gary Ferguson (vocal)  

A Little Rain (Gary Ferguson-Pamela Brown Hayes) Gunny Sack Music-Samuel Clemens Songs/BMI   Joe Murray (bass and harmony vocals), Donna Murray (harmony vocals), Colin Henry (dobro), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Emory Lester (mandolin), Gary Ferguson (vocal and guitar) Imperfection- Colin Henry (IMRO) Colin Henry (dobro and guitar), Fiachna O Braonain (low whistle)  

Chasing a Dream (Gary Ferguson/Gunny Sack Music, BMI)  Marc MacGlashan (mandolin and guitar), Ron Stewart (banjo and fiddle), Colin Henry (dobro), Missy Raines (bass), Gary Ferguson (vocal), Claire Lynch and Janet Henry (harmony vocals)  

Just a Lucky Man (Gary Ferguson-Roy Thompson) Gunny Sack Music, BMI/IMRO  Colin Henry (dobro), Gary Ferguson (vocal and guitar), Ron Stewart (fiddle), Marc MacGlashan (mandolin). Johnny Gleeson (guitars), Joe Murray (bass and harmony vocal), Donna Murray (harmony vocal)  Mud Flows Down the River (Gary Ferguson-Fintan Hanley) Gunny Sack Music,BMI/IMRO Fintan Hanley (guitar), Gary Ferguson (vocal), Joe Murray (bass and harmony vocal), Donna Murray (harmony vocal), Colin Henry (dobro), Ron Stewart (fiddle)  

Distant Brothers- Colin Henry (IMRO)   Colin Henry (Weissenborn and guitar), Nick Scott (bass)  

     For more than a decade, Gary Ferguson was a fixture on the mainstream bluegrass scene as a prolific songwriter and leader of the Gary Ferguson Band. But Gary’s career took a slight trajectory during a 2007 tour of Ireland. That’s when he first crossed paths with gifted Irish dobro player Colin Henry. “Colin and I are the ‘Distant Brothers,’” Ferguson explains. “We met by accident through the late (dobro player) Dave Miner, at the Athy Bluegrass Festival, in County Kildare. Personality-wise, we just hit it off from the beginning. And right then, I knew something was clicking between us musically.”  

    Colin has particularly vivid memories of that chance encounter when he, and his wife Janet first met and got together with Gary, and Miner, in a quiet lounge in the Carlton Abbey Hotel. “I knew Gary from reading about him in Bluegrass Unlimited,” he remembers. “He was a big deal, and obviously I wanted to meet him, as well as Dave, who was a really fine dobro player. One of the very first songs we played together was one of Gary's called “Here I Go Again.” Colin adds, “Immediately, I got the music, and on all levels. Perhaps most importantly, from my point of view, I was hearing myself play what I wanted to hear myself play. That just doesn’t happen too often straight off the bat.”  

    After that, the two of them kept in touch. A year later, Gary and Dave Miner were all set to embark on another tour of the Emerald Isle when Dave died suddenly. When Gary called Colin and asked him to fill in, Colin did not have to think twice. Colin says “Well I did think once. I thought ‘was I good enough?’ But as a musician you have to leave fear and doubt in the guitar case. So indeed, I did not think twice”  

    Gary would go on to tour Ireland a dozen or so more times. He was accompanied by Colin on eight of those tours, and their bond grew deeper. Over the course of these tours, Gary was introduced, mainly through Colin, to a cadre of eminently talented Irish musicians.The end result was Ferguson’s Farewell, Gary’s superb  2021 CD release, on which he was supported by Colin and a number of others from this tight circle of musicians. Ferguson’s Farewell, like Distant Brothers, was a trans-Atlantic collaboration made possible through the wonders of modern communication technology.  

    After that, Gary and Colin, an attorney and father of four, stayed in close and pretty much constant touch, frequently trading musical files back and forth. “These were songs that we’d never put on any albums, and at some point, I noticed we had four or five really good tunes,” Gary recalls. “I suggested to Colin that we expand it into an album project. So, we just started pecking away at it.”  

    On Distant Brothers, the outcome of this transatlantic file swapping, Colin and Gary are once again supported by a number of distinguished Irish and American pickers and singers on a soulful, exquisitely rendered collection that includes six tunes co-written by Gary with various songwriting partners and four instrumentals composed by Colin. Also included is a haunting rendition of Bruce Springsteen’s “Mansion on the Hill.”            ~Bob Allen