Crooked Oak: Hold The Lantern High

From a private UK pressing, Crooked Oak’s 1976 LP “From Little Acorns Grow” contains a variety of traditional and traditionally inspired tunes. The band featured Steve Evans (guitars, mandolins, & vocals), Paul Rogley (whistles, mandolina, cittern) and Barry Walker (fiddle).

Kicking off the LP is our feature cut, “Hold the Lantern High.” Written by Steve Evans to introduce Tom Haddway’s BBC2’s play, “Bless Thee Jackie Madison,” the song was inspired by the practices of Northumberland fishing villages prior to the time of the construction of permanent harbor lights. To welcome the fishermen home, the wives and children of the men would stand on the beach and welcomed the men back home – hence the invitation to “Hold the Lantern High.”

By the way, the mandolina played by Paul Rogley is the smallest of the mandolin family tuned a fourth higher than a normal mandolin. Tunings for mandolin family instruments are listed below.

Instrument	First Course	Second Course	Third Course	Fourth Course
Mandolina:	c' c'	g' g'	d'' d''	a'' a''
Mandolin:	g g	d' d'	a' a'	e'' e''
Electric Mandolin (4 string):	g	d'	a'	e''
Mandolinetto:	g g	d' d'	a' a'	e'' e''
Mandriola:	G g g	d d' d'	a a' a'	e' e" e"
Mandola:	c c	g g	d' d'	a' a'
Octave Mandolin:	G G	d d	a a	e' e'
Irish Bouzouki (mandolin tuning):	Gg	dd'	aa	e'e'
Irish Bouzouki (drone tuning):	G g	d d'	a a	d' d'
Mandocello:	C C	G G	d d	a a
Mandobass:	EE	AA	D	G