Sven “Joxter Dragon” Haskel (a.k.a. Thorwan) sent me an email announcing that he has, after about four years of silence, updated The Stones Archive, his website devoted to all official and fan-made reworkings of David “Iolo” Watson’s Stones. Though the original lyrics for the tune, penned by Kathleen “Gwenno” Jones (Watson’s wife), concern Stonehenge, the tune is of course most famous for its use in many of the Ultima games, and numerous official and unofficial reworkings of it have been created over the years.

And Joxter’s website is devoted to archiving and making all of them available.

Since the last update to the site a few years ago, he has added the following versions of Stones to the archive:

• An EUO-inspired version of Stones, played by Djanno on guitar.
• An orchestral version of Stones created by Travis Richards for an unannounced NWN2-based project.
• A second version of Stones created by Chlorthos Dragon for Ultima IX: Redemption
• A third version of Stones created by Chlorthos Dragon for Ultima IX: Redemption
• Grotto Dragon’s version of Stones from the Ultima Return soundtrack.

Hit up Joxter’s site for more Stones-related goodness, including the original lyrics!

From Twitter user CeeArrBee, via the new Ultima Aiera IRC channel, comes news of this fine rendition of the classic Ultima tune, Stones:

The caption to the video on YouTube, however, is what really sells just how awesome this version is:

From the Ultima series, at the Curtain Theatre, on Richard “Lord British” Garriott’s property. Featuring guest cellist Mark Ford. IGDA-Austin summer party, June 26, 2010. www.descendantsoferdrick.com

A live performance of Stones at Richard Garriott’s personal re-creation of an Old English theatre held during a game developers’ conference in Austin? The only way this could be more awesome than it already is would be if a) David Watson walked on stage with a lute in the middle of it, and b) it was being held alongside a jousting tournament.