Customer Reviews

Song of the Hills: Instrumental Appalachian

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Recommended by a friend, this album has quickly become a treasure in my collection. It is a brilliant soundtrack for road trips when the early morning sun is rising above the dashboard and you're seeking wonderful music to carry you through the acoustic pastures and sensitive landscapes of your life. Rich in dynamics and sonic diversity, all 14 songs on this album are masterful in musicianship and artistic effect on the listener. Obviously, I believe you'd do right to invest in this album, put it on auto-repeat and let it carry you through your days for the next few months till you wear the recording out.

I have become very selective in the music I listen to. I will admit that I do have a wide range of music that I like and will listen to when I am in certain moods, but THIS is the kind of music that I will always come home to. It is clean and unpretentious and a pleasure to listen to.

Song of the Hills: Instrumental Impressions of America's Heartland is music that I am proud of. I realize there might be others who believe this music antiquated and boring... to that sentiment I would say beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Another reviewer said it best when he wrote: "a genuine "Who's Who" of acoustic musicians -- have rendered these interpretations with great skill and love."

If traditional music resonates in your soul then Song of the Hills will be a worthwhile addition to your music collection.

Songs include:

Tom Bigbee Waltz - Jay Ungar/Molly Mason/John Sebastian

The Water Is Wide - John Doan/Brian Keane

Midnight On The Water - Jay Ungar/Molly Mason

Seneca Square Dance - Jay Ungar/Molly Mason/Peter Blue/Brian Keane

Footprints In The Snow - Bill Keith/Tony Trischka/Eric Weissberg/Ken Kosek/Stacy Phillips/Molly Mason

Sweet Sunny South - Stacy Phillips/John Sholle

Shenandoah - Brian Keane

The Greenwood Tree - Norman Blake/Nancy Blake

Shady Grove - Alan Feldman/Ken Kosek/Lorraine Lee/Dan Barrett

Charles Giteaux - Norman Blake/Nancy Blake

Man Of Constant Sorrow - Eric Weissberg/Brian Keane

Darling Cora - Eric Weissberg

When First Unto This Country - John Sebastian/Jay Ungar/John Whelan/Molly Mason

Wagoner's Lad - John Sebastian/Brian Keane

I like all types of music and folk is a fairly new interest of mine. On a trip to Ireland this summer I got very interested in Celtic music and traditional Irish Folk music. I bought a fist full of CDs in Ireland. None compare to this albumn. This is terrific. The moods cover the whole spectrum. Each piece has its own mood and they go from sad and meloncholy to toe-tapping excitement. The fiddles are fantastic. I can't say enough good about this albumn.

This is some of the most beautiful music you will ever hear. Top notch musicians Jay Ungar, Molly Mason, Nancy Blake, Eric Weissberg, and John Sebastian play beautiful, spare, acoustic melodies that evoke America's rural and Appalachian past. The total effect is so lovely and authentic that the listener feels transported to a gentler time and place. The songs are perfectly sequenced so that the music seems to flow like an unrippled river. The mood is soothing and meditative. I've noticed that my two cats come into the room, curl up, and seem to listen when this CD is playing. I've listened to these melodies intently in a focused way. I've also just let them play in the background while doing other things. Either way, it works. There's not a wrong note on this album. My particular favorites are "The River is Wide", "Shenandoah", "Man of Constant Sorrow", and "Wagoner's Lad", which showcases John Sebastian's haunting harmonica. I give this CD two thumbs up, and my cats (Rum Tum and Geordie) give it four paws up!

I bought this recently for my father who likes to listen to slow, classical music while he reads and who also enjoys bluegrass/oldtime music. This is a perfect fusion of those two ideas! The music is calm and slow, but has a very Southern feel to it. Not only does he love the album, but I do, too.

I live in a big city in land so flat that the highest "hill" around is a freeway overpass. But everytime I listen to this album, I'm taken up on some lonesome knob or down in a "holler" for an all-night wedding dance, just as my Appalachian ancestors might have done. This is "country" music at its best: not the phony hokum of Nashville, but genuine, American music. The various artists performing on this album -- a genuine "Who's Who" of acoustic musicians -- have rendered these interpretations with great skill and love. Whether from from the aching "Midnight on the Water," the haunting "The Greenwood Tree," or the toe-tapping "Footprints in the Snow," in an arrangement that is reminiscent of early Bob Wills, there's not a bad cut here. Whether you have mountain roots or not, you'll almost smell the hickory smoke with this one.

This album is really fine. The fiddle playing is excellent and the content of music is distinctly American. To all those folk music lovers this is really a great album.

I expected more to this CD. While the music is lovely it doesn't stand out as unique. If there is such a thing as Appalacian Muzak this would be it. Nothing on it made me want to hear it again and again. It would make good background music I suppose but it's not memorable.