Newfoundland and Labrador musician Daniel Payne's brilliant debut album."This is a solo album that is truly 'solo'--Daniel plays all the instruments and does all the singing, with great artistry and liveliness. But he's not really out there all by himself. The sources of these tunes and songs are the legendary Newfoundland and Labrador musicians who came before him, and he humbly sees himself as the latest link in the unbroken chain of musicians carrying on that oral tradition. 'Chain' is a treasure and a delight!" --Bryan Kelso Crow, Celtic Connections (US Public Radio)From the liner notes:"These songs have dirt under their fingernails, the dirt of gardens, of turpentine,of tobacco, salt and blood. They come to us across the generations like voices ona January wind; sometimes clear, sometimes broken, they come to us. Endless,countless dances, an unending stream of dark nights under the crystalline stars havemade their mark on these tunes; the smell of bare beaten floorboards has settled intothem. For years now this music has carried our people through their most joyousand alive times. Up comes the chain from the dark days before and on it goes past usinto the future, hand over hand, resonating in the wood of fiddle bodies, the steel ofaccordion reeds, and the red lips of singing mouths.Everything is connected in some way; when I play these tunes, when I sing thesesongs, I feel a keen connection to the countless players and singers who came beforeme. I am indebted to them, and their passion, for the music you hear on this album.It is humbling, but the realization that I am just one more link in a long chain isthe most important epiphany that I have had as a traditional musician. This album,therefore, doesn’t only look back to what came before, but aims to excite new ears,so that when my generation has passed, this music may continue to be raised up inthe sun and wind and rain, to fire the hearts, rouse the feet, and quicken the pulse ofgenerations to come."Daniel Payne