Harvest Home

Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Jay Ungar | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 14, 1999)
• Original Release Date: September 14, 1999
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Angel Records
• ASIN: B00000K4G8
• Also Available in: Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #59,716 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bountiful, satisfying, profound; it left me begging for more, November 26, 1999

By 

Robert Bruzgo - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvest Home (Audio CD)

Harvest Home opens with a deceptively simple piece composed by Molly Mason. The sound is cool, clear and soothing, like the trickling of a stream. Jay Ungar is on fiddle and Molly Mason plays acoustic guitar and sings. Somehow, the world seems less crazy than it did just a minute ago. Molly drives home the point in her lyrics. "Each seed holds a perfect plan, in harmony with earth and man."

The first track is just a portal to a bountiful land where the trees grow tall and roots go deep. Harvest Home is filled with wonderful music and musicians -- fourteen tracks, 59.6 minutes: The Farmer's Set, Prairie Spring, Haymakers's Hoedown, Solstice Hymn, The Harvest Home Suite performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and so much more. One of my favorites is La Chanson De Mardi Gras, a delectable Cajun piece featuring Christine Balfa on vocals and triangle. Christine Balfa's thin and sexy voice and oh that triangle she plays just drive me crazy.

But really, to focus on any one track in this CD is not fair. I have listened to Harvest Home now many times and always play it through from beginning to end. It is an experience that I look forward to and seem to enjoy more every time I play the CD.

I also treasure my other CDs by Ungar and Mason. If you buy Harvest Home and then like me go begging for more, try The Lovers' Waltz. You won't be disappointed with that one either.

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nice fiddlin' & guitar pickn', December 14, 1999

By 

John P. Grider "gridejp" (Orangeburg, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Harvest Home (Audio CD)

If you're a fan of acoustic music, Harvest Home is a very nice album to listen to. Ungar & Mason are very talented musicians and songwriters, and buddy good fiddle & guitar players are irresistable to listen to.

This album also contains a number of tracks, including the Harvest Home Suite, that combine Ungar and Mason with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. It's a nice blend.

If you've listened to the radio show Praire Home Companion or watched a Ken Burns film you've heard the work of these outstanding musicians. They're welcome inside my head any time!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This CD has legs..., March 23, 2000

By 

Don Johnson (Idaho) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Harvest Home (Audio CD)

In the 6 months since Harvest Home was released I have found that I now love it more than ever. It's the kind of CD that will appear on my playlist for many years, with its timeless quality that expands several musical boundaries. The deceptively simple and deeply moving Solstice Hymn and Thanksgiving Waltz are my highlights, straight from the heartland. The classical oriented Harvest Home Suite making up the last half of the CD changes the mood and requires real listening to capture all the nuances. Great stuff.

My only complaint - very minor! - is that Ashokan Farewell again appears on a Jay and Molly CD. It's a great tune but I think it deserves a rest for awhile. On the other hand, if someone has never heard it, this is about the best version they've ever done.

Anybody who loves fiddle music needs to have Harvest Home in their collection!