CD-384

Patuxent Partners
Mirror on the Wall
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Mirror on the Wall
If You Leave Me Tonight I Will Cry
Out on the Ocean
Long Time Gone
That’s Why I’m Lonesome
The Cold Hard Facts of Life
It’s a Long Long Way to the Top of the World
Scramble
Mommy Won’t Stay Home
Will the Angels Play Their Harps for Me

Once upon a time, I was visiting mandolin genius Frank Wakefield at his Saratoga Springs, New York, apartment. Frank was busy trying to repair a reel-to-reel tape recorder when I arrived and was hyper focused on that task, so any noise or talking out of me was not allowed. While waiting for the repair job to be finished, I looked around his place and noticed two amazing things: a large stack of classical mandolin sheet music and a larger pile of four-track analog reel-to-reel tapes. It’s clear from listening to Frank that he studied classical music, but when I asked him about the sheet music, he denied that he had the ability to read it. Well I don’t know about that! Anyway, back to the tapes. I asked Frank if those multi-track tapes would play on the machine that he had just repaired. Frank said “No, I don’t have that machine anymore and I’m fixing to throw them tapes in.” – meaning that he was about to dispose of them in Franks unique way of speaking. He said I could have the tapes when I asked.

Back at the studio, with a borrowed machine, I transferred the tapes to digital format. The music on the tapes was mostly song demos, some solo and others with backup musicians. Wakefield was writing a lot of songs in those days (mid 70s, I think), so the recordings were meant to be a way for him to listen back to his creations and do a little self-critiquing. Many were numbers that he later recorded, and some were not examples of his best writing. But one song in the collection, “Mirror on the Wall,” stood out as a great bluegrass number. I learned the song and started performing it with the Patuxent Partners band. On one occasion, we opened a show for Frank and did the song. He liked our version (I hope he wasn’t talking backwards) and suggested that we record it. So here it is, along with a few others we recorded over the years.

“Mirror on the Wall,”  “If You Leave Me Tonight I Will Cry”, “Out on the Ocean,” “That’s Why I’m Lonesome,” “The Cold Hard Facts of Life,” and “Mommy Won’t Stay Home,” were recorded between 2011 and 2015 for an album that we never finished. I wanted to release those songs, so I added a few more from assorted sessions to complete this release. “It’s a Long Long Way to the Top of the World” and “Will the Angels Play Their Harps?”were recorded in 2005, but were missing a couple of instruments, so we completed those in 2015. “Long Time Gone” was a demo with Dede Wyland that we used to book some shows in Ireland in 2005. “Scramble” was previously released on The Patuxent Banjo Project, in 2014.

So, It’s a collage of things thrown together, but I think you’ll enjoy it. Thank you for listening.

Tom Mindte
Patuxent Music
May, 2025

CD-185

Patuxent Partners
Seven or Eleven
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Tom Mindte
mandolin & vocals

Bryan Deere
guitar & vocals

Jim Barnett
guitar & vocals

Victoria McMullen
bass

Jack Leiderman
fiddle

Joe Tangrea
banjo & vocals

Guests:

Buzz Busby
mandolin on "Just for Awhile"

Bill Blackburn
banjo on "Poker Game"

Andy Martin
fiddle on "Cold Grey Dawn"

Mike Carney
banjo on "Cold Grey Dawn"