'Tiny Little Light' is the fourth album release by violinist and multi-instrumentalist Mikey Kenney. It’s taken him ten years to bring this project to fruition, but the genre defying album he has delivered has been well worth the wait.
Opening with traditional based ‘Scarecrow Festival’, with only his violin as accompaniment, a magical melody and sparse percussion Kenney paints a vivid picture based on reminisces of a day spent at a local festival. Followed by ‘The Doing of the Bee’, Kenney switches into a style and tempo that those familiar with Appalachian fiddlers will recognise on this whimsical earworm.
The record, produced by Kenney and Holly Harman of Penny Fiddle Records, features other musicians -Michael Paul Metcalfe (drums), Awen Blandford(cello), John Ellis (piano), Nick Branton(clarinets), Beth Porter(cello), Biff Roxby(trombone), Andy Raven (guitar, bass).
Almost all the tracks were recorded with Kenney performing the fiddle and vocal simultaneously (as he would perform live) and often with Michael Paul Metcalfe playing the drums live in the room with him. This was to give the album a sense of organic intimacy. Some of the tracks (i.e. ‘Dish and The Drain’, ‘Oh Duet’) gathered all the musicians in the live room at once and others (‘Dandelion’) were put together with musicians overdubbing on top of Mikey’s live fiddle and voice performance.
The beautiful instrumental ‘Oh Duet’ has all the depth and feel of a cinematic soundtrack. While title track ‘Tiny Little Light’ featuring additional trombone from recording engineer and mixer Biff Roxby is a joyful anthemic bundle of positivity that bathes the listener with hope.
Ending the album with the progressive sound of the epic ‘The Dish and the Drain’ the song recalls the sound of albums such as ‘Surrealistic Pillow’ and ‘Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, and really pushes the boundaries of both Kenney’s song writing and musical arrangements.
‘Tiny Little Light’ is an album that provides positivity and hope in dark times.