Civil War Classics

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 15, 1997)
• Original Release Date: June 15, 1994
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: CDBY
• ASIN: B000024YKG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #90,406 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars a stunning sample of music from the mid 19th century, June 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: CIVIL WAR CLASSICS (Audio CD)

When I first heard this CD, I had just returned from a week at Ashokan, the camp behind the famous song 'Ashokan Farewell' that is included on this album. Most of the songs on this album are so lively that one wonders how anyone's fingers can fly over the fiddle so quickly. However, there are also several hauntingly slow songs that remind one of the lives lost during the Civil War. I enjoyed this CD so much that I listened to it daily for months and now it resides in my small stack of favorite CD's.

20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Live at Gettysburg College, May 14, 2001

By 

Ken Kressin (Cannon Falls, MN USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Civil War Classics (Audio CD)

This record is a live recording of Jay and Molly at Gettyburg College. Jay and Molly both sing and primarily play fiddle, banjo, piano, and guitar. This is great if you wish you could attend one of their performances. They are a talented musical couple and I wish they would do more civil war music. However, civil war music is just one of their focuses.

The music generally includes an introduction and sometimes audience participation.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fine Fiddling and Much More, May 10, 2005

By 

Theo Logos (Pittsburgh, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Civil War Classics (Audio CD)

Jay Unger and Molly Mason are best known for their performance of the hauntingly beautiful tune Ashokan Farewell, a tune that Ken Burns used as the theme for his monumental PBS documentary The Civil War. Though Unger composed the tune in 1980, the Burns documentary has forever linked it with the Civil War. Unger and Mason perform it on this live album together with many songs of the Civil War and Civil War era.
Unger and Mason put on quite a show. They display a mastery of a variety of instruments as they play fiddles, guitar, banjo, piano, and harmonica. They sing, harmonize, tell stories and jokes, and induce the audience to participate in their show, all to a fine effect. Unger's voice is somewhat less than impressive, but loaded with sincerity, and when he harmonizes with Mason his vocal defects disappear and the result is quite good. They give brief but helpful introductions to these old war folk songs, providing useful information on song histories and context. But above all, they play with a sublime simplicity that can melt your heart, particularly when playing fiddle or piano.
The standout tracks on `Civil War Classics' are the fiddle tunes, where their talent absolutely shines. Ashokan Farewell is available on a couple of other CDs, but if you don't yet have it in your collection, that would be reason enough to buy this CD - it is one of the most haunting tunes that I have ever heard, and played here with simplicity and beauty in a five minute long version. The three fiddle tune medleys that they play are toe tapping lively, and a nice counter point to the slow, haunting grandeur of Ashokan Farewell. Molly Mason sings The Faded Coat of Blue with a clear, honest voice, and Jay Unger puts his less than perfect vocal abilities to great use on the joking soldier's parody song Hard Crackers.
Jay and Molly thoroughly captivated their audience with this performance at Gettysburg College, and if you love old time folk and Civil War music, you too will be captivated by this charming live CD.

Theo Logos