Smash the Windows by The Virginia Company

"And the larks they sang melodious"

For over a week, the CD Smash the Windows by The Virginia Company sat on my desk. I had checked it out along with other folk music CDs at the Downers Grove Public Library without ever really looking at it closely. While finally listening in the car, I remembered Barry Trott of the Williamsburg Regional Library telling me that he played period music at Colonial Williamsburg and I wondered if he knew the performers. At a traffic light, I looked more closely at the back of the CD. There was Barry grinning right at me!

I am impressed. The trio plays lively and melodious, including jigs, rounds, marches, and lots of drinking songs. I am convinced by the songs that they must really be sailors and highwaymen reincarnated, and the beer must really flow in Williamsburg.
I have picked out Barry's voice, as he has several solos, including "The Jolly Thresher" and "The Jolly Miller." They don't write songs like these any more. One of the other members of the band has a deep bass voice that reminds me of light opera; his "My Love is Like a Red Red Rose" by the poet Robert Burns should make women swoon. I also really like "Spanish Ladies" which features the third voice and particularly good harmony of all three and sweet fiddling, too.

There are many great lyrics:

"The longer we sit here and drink the merrier we shall be."

"I'd marry you all but the wife won't agree."

"There's no drinking after death."

Listening is great fun. Seek out Smash the Windows. It may be hard to find.

The Virginia Company. Smash the Windows. 1996.