We have a collection of songs called "SCA Bards
Sampler". These are songs from available albums by Lisa (Mistress Adelaide de Beaumont), and Ken (Sir Kenneth MacQuarrie
of Tobermory) Theriot, as well as Lord Thomas Bordeaux, plus a couple of songs
from forthcoming CDs. The collection includes
"Ban The Fencers," Agincourt," "Lady Isabel and The Elf
Knight," "The Feast Song," and many more. Get your copy at
Pennsic at Angevin Treasures on Merchant's Row! You can also order it by sending us an e-mail.
Raven Boy Background
In The Beginning
Raven Boy Music is an independent record company. It started in 1988
when Ken Theriot (that's me) married Lisa and became involved in the medieval
re-creation group she was a member of called the Society
for Creative Anachronism (SCA). Lisa had been playing folk
music as part of her activity in the SCA, and since I was a musician too, I
began learning some of the songs that were popular.
The First Recordings
Then I combined my love of recording with this new kind of music and
released a tape in 1988 of folk music that was mostly written by contemporary
folk musicians from Scotland, Canada and the US, as well as a few original
tunes. I tried to keep to a combination of SCA-appropriate (meaning the
songs had to be about medieval or timeless themes) while pleasing to the modern
ear. The songs are mostly acoustic guitars and singing with the occasional
fiddle, piano or flute showing up. Anyway, after I did 2 tapes,
"Outside of Time" and "Home From The Sea," we
wanted to do a recording of Lisa. She chose some great songs that were
more traditional (as in British Isles traditional balladry) and released another
tape. That one was called "Up the Great North Road."
Next I decided to expand a bit and do a CD, recorded mainly at other studios
around town. The content was roughly of the same type, but the technology,
and hence sound quality was a little better. So the result was a CD called
"Everything that Matters." That release garnered a bit more
attention in that it was reviewed in the folk magazine, Dirty Linen. Their
review was positive except for the comment that my covers sound too much like the
originals. That got me determined to do more original music.
Thomas Bordeaux
The next project was to record another artist's music for his first
album. Thomas Bordeaux is a friend who had written several songs that he
performed in SCA settings. Talk about going all original! So we
recorded 13 of his songs and put out the tape called "Prodigal
Bard." Though he writes some very powerful stuff, his most popular
songs are the SCA-specific comedy songs called "Ban the Fencers" and
"I'm A Duke and You're Not." Sometimes your audience determines
your fate!
The Digital Addiction
I got my first digital recording workstation and some neat editing software for
our computer in 1998. I was struck dumb by the capability I now
possessed. Since many people wanted CDs instead of tapes we began the
process of digitizing the tapes. But in the process I found myself wincing
at the quality of the early stuff. So while we were making CDs of those
tapes, we also improved upon the quality of the recordings. I couldn't
help myself. But now everything is available in CD! Not only that,
but we can now offer mass customization. I other words, people can ask for
a CD with any of our songs in any combination (e-mail
me for more information on this). I love technology.
Baldwin of Erebor
Before I came on the scene, Lisa had done a lot of singing with Baldwin of
Erebor. After years of bugging him, we finally got him into the studio (or
second non-family member artist!) and his CD has been hugely popular.
What's Up
More projects than we have time for! I'm working on an album, Lisa is
working on an album, and we're working on an album for our third non-family
member artist. Keep watching for the latest stuff!
