One Man Hand

Tony Hall is the master of playing distinctive, quintessentially English style two-row melodeon. This is Tony’s first album for a long time.

All the songs and tunes on this album are played on Hohner Melodeons cheap(ish), factory made and basic but Tony prefers their more earthy pubby sound. The melodeons are all old instruments and the clicking sound of the keys reflects their age. The tunes were all recorded as performances with no overdubs or double tracking even though at times it seems so.

Tonys Norfolk motto is – Why dew suffin the easy way, if theres a bludda sight harder way to dew it!

Mel Howley said in The Living Tradition in 1996: Tony Hall is the master of playing distinctive, quintessentially English style two-row melodeon strongly rhythmic base lines which underpin the essentially simple tune, which is then worked and re-worked, developing the possibilities and ranging freely around the buttons pulling out chordal progressions and combinations which show Tonys deep understanding of the two-row box and defy the limitations that other players seem to find with it. This is still true of Tonys playing today.