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We do many styles of music, but this piece quite typifies our "Appalachian rock" mode (no pun intended).
This tune actually dates back to around 1991 -- around the same time as I saw Terry Gilliam's The Fisher King. Though this tune isn't especially like the music in that movie, nor was it intended to be, the stirring sense of longing evoked by the movement of these chords reminded me of Parry's quest in the film.
I never realized until writing this entry, however, that the character was known as "Parry" and not "Perry." It's rather more clever, the "Parry" spelling, I suppose, since the character fends off many difficulties, including, primarily, his past. But, whatever: I'm going to stick with the "e" spelling for the song title. Who knows? You might have a different Perry in mind when you hear this.
This is the opening track on our 2012 cd The Sound of Secret Names.
Some Notes for the Dulcimer Enthusiasts
The dulcimer is tuned GDD. Like DAA, essentially, but with lighter gauge strings tuned higher.
Musically, this is an interesting mishmash of supposedly different dulcimer approaches. I'm playing "guitar-like" chords through verses and the bridge of the song. This approach is sometimes considered a "non-traditional" use of the instrument. On the other hand, the repeated intro motif, the chorus, and the outro solo are all essentially modal parts played against a G drone. For the intro motif, this amounts to a G-Ionian as you might expect, but in the chorus and extended jam, I'm playing against chords moving in Em (the tonality is centered by the other instruments -- and by the progression of the the entire song -- not the dulcimer). In these latter cases, then, the G drone is playing minor third to the E root and is reinforcing the minor modality -- essentially, it's in E Aeolian. A subtle distinction to be sure, since they both involve the exact same notes, but there it is.
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