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Brass Farthing
Male Octet from San Francisco, CA
Brass Farthing is a group of stalwart lads brought together to sing songs, raise good cheer, and otherwise make merry in the company of friends both old and new. We take our inspiration from many periods and enjoy performing historical, traditional, and contemporary compositions in traditional styles. Members: Daniel I. Briggs, Chris Callahan, George Chlentzos, Mark Donnelly, Jim Partridge, Tazz Richards, Ben Wilson, Rory Alden Contact Brass Farthing 
How Rum Saved the WorldA little ditty about Pirates, Grog, and what happens when booze controls your ship! |
Profile for Brass Farthing on singers.com
 | Brass Farthing: Brass FarthingWe got a chance to experience Brass Farthing, 8 authentically-costumed, hard-drinking, sweet-harmonizing men, at the recent Harmony Sweeps Bay Area Regional. Raising their steins to us, they belted out classic drinking songs that one could expect to hear at a college fraternity rush party, getting many of us to join in! Most of these, like "God Bless the Human Elbow," "Red is the Rose," "All Among the Barley," "Boozin'," "Babylon is Fallen" and "Bellman," the heart-tugging (sort of ) tale of a beloved hound dog, are traditional tunes. "Another Irish Drinking Song" was written and composed by Da Vinci's Notebook's Paul Sabourin, "She Was Golden" was written by Brass Farthing's Daniel I. Briggs, "Glorious Beer" by Steve Leggett & Will Godwin" and "Eat Bertha's Mussels" by John Roberts. There are 10 authentically hammered, very funny tunes here, with arrangements by the group. This is good old, testosterone-soaked material, the stuff of sea shanties, or sung in a drinking sessions in the cabin of a fishing boat while a 20-foot mechanical shark cruises the dark waters outside. Also, don't miss an opportunity to see BF live!
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 | Brass Farthing: More Songs About Dogs and BeerAll male a cappella octet Brass Farthing, "a group of stalwart lads brought together to sing songs, raise good cheer, and otherwise make merry in the company of friends both old and new." We had the good fortune to catch the live show of these 8 authentically costumed and propped male vocalists at the 2011 Bay Area Harmony Sweeps Regionals in San Francisco's Palace of Fine Arts, where they easily won Audience Favorite and First Place, and have to say that these guys are amazing! Rory, Daniel, Chris, George (Director), Mark (Assistant Director) Jim, Tazz and Ben have found wonderful, hilarious, traditional English drinking songs like "Itches in Me Britches," "Bass Ale," "Dido Bendigo," "General Taylor," "The Crayfish," "Barbed Wire," the nearly bawdy, very funny "Brasso," "Gamble Gold and Robin Hood" and "Charlie Mopps." They've also unearthed such gems as Fred W. Leigh's (1911) "Mary Anne, She's After Me," C. Frank Horn's "Mrs. Fogarty's Christmas Cake," Paddy Ryan's (1938) "The Man That Waters the Worker's Beer" and Peter Bellamy's "Oak, Ash and Thorn," with lyrics by Rudyard Kipling. The boys have written a couple of their own: Daniel's "The Rope" and Rory's "I Love You More than Beer."
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