• Appalachian Celebration: I Know the Road
• A Celtic Feast of Song

Appalachian Celebration

Revels North is excited to announce the release of a new CD recording, "I Know the Road: Music of Southern Appalachia." The album features the artists from the 2006 Revels North production, The Christmas Revels-- featuring Daron Douglas, Suzannah Park, and Pete and Karen Sutherland-- but it is not simply a duplication of the show. Instead, this album is a musical visit to the mountains of Appalachia in all seasons. The CD includes solo and ensemble collaborations as well as contributions from the whole Revels chorus. In addition to the songs, the album includes instrumental numbers featuring fiddle, banjo, and mountain dulcimer.

I Know the Road was recorded in December and January with Pete Sutherland producing; Pete also created the beautiful collage that is the artwork on the CD cover. This marks the first Revels North CD since our 1997 production of "A Celtic Feast of Song." Like that album, we anticipate that this new release will help provide an ongoing source of financial support for Revels North.

We appreciate donations to help cover Revels North's substantial production costs. All contributions are tax-deductible and will be matched dollar for dollar by a challenge grant Revels recently received from the Byrne Foundation.

Here are some samples of the music on the album:

• Backstep Cindy
• Bright Morning Stars
• Brother Ephus
• Guide Me O Thou Great Jehovah
• Harmonica Jam
• I Lost My Liza Jane
• I Stand All Bewildered
• Johnny, Don't Get Drunk
• Orphan Girl
• Sheep, Sheep
• Sheffield
• Woundrous Love
• Young Hunting

The album is available for sale ($15) by mail. Complete information (including shipping costs) is available on the order form. If you don't have the free Acrobat Reader to open PDF documents, click here.

Introduction

The notion does seem unusual -- a Revels community from northern New England releasing an album of Appalachian songs and tunes. As you listen, however, you'll feel any doubts disappear as you're caught up in this musical celebration.

For our 32nd annual production of The Christmas Revels, Revels North created a show celebrating the culture of Appalachia. The journey toward that show, and this CD, began on Maureen's front porch. Daron sent some tapes recorded in her southern living room, but listening, we were deep in Appalachian hills-just close your eyes and you were there, back in time with her, singing the same music Cecil Sharp collected from Daron's great-grandmother, Jane Gentry. Pete and Karen, Suzannah, and Dan joined us, each bringing their own deep relationship with the music of those mountains.

The Appalachians and the Scottish Highlands were once one mountain range, joined on the ancient continent of Laurentia. No wonder the music of the British Isles felt so comfortable arriving and flourishing in our south. Up here in Vermont and New Hampshire, we're part of that range as well-the magic just travels right on up the trail and makes itself at home.

What we wanted to capture is the quiet of those mountains and the way that Appalachian musicians passed those songs from person to person, generation to generation, like a sacred touch. The music holds it all-the natural world, the hardship, the dark and light of human relationships.

This recording includes many of the traditional pieces from our show, but stretches beyond the dark days of winter to showcase not a single season but rather a varied selection of tunes and songs from a rich tradition. Individual talent and our chorus members add the larger community element that is natural to this music. The album sounds different from others produced by our sister Revels cities across the country. There are fewer choral pieces and there's a more intimate feel. We wanted the music as it's sung on a Sunday in church or played on a Saturday night in someone's living room. Welcome!

Contents

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A Celtic Feast of Song

In March and April 1997, the chorus and musicians of the 1996 Celtic Christmas Revels in Hanover NH recorded the music from that show. Over the summer, David Gay, Richard Knisely and Alan Mattes worked to edit the session tapes to create a CD of that music.

The CD features the Keltic Kids, of Woburn MA, The Green Mountain Highlanders pipe band, as well as dozens of singers and musicians from the Upper Valley region of New Hampshire and Vermont.

The CD includes these cuts, among many others:

Cornish Wassail and Sweets of May: Revels North Chorus
Toss the Feathers, Colonel Fraser, Gravelworks: Keltic Kids
The Armach Wren Song: Revels North Children
All Sons of Adam: Revels North Chorus
Ffarwel Gwyr Aberffraw: John Hall, Geoff Dates, Robert Metz
Carrickfergus: Patricia Stebbins Sager, Brad Hurley, Bernie Waugh
On Christmas Day i' Da Mornin', Cooley's Reel: Revels North nstrumentalists
Sans Day Carol (Ma Gron War'n Gelinen): Revels North Chorus
Santez Mari, Mamm Doue: Alex Medlicott, Kristi Medill, Ali Medlicott
Robin Ddiog (Idle Robin): Revels North Instrumentalists and Chorus
Suo Gan: Alice Bennett Dates, Revels North Chorus
Three Craws Sat Upon A Wa: Revels North Children
Mairi's Wedding: Revels North Instrumentalists
Blaen-y-Coed: Revels North Chorus
Amazing Grace: Revels North Chorus, Green Mountain Highlanders
Gone a Year: Patricia Stebbins Sager

Revels North is located in Hanover, NH in the midst of the Upper Connecticut River Valley on the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. It is one of the offshoots of Revels, Inc. of Cambridge MA, the first of the many cities across the United States to present annual productions of THE CHRISTMAS REVELS. Revels North, Inc. was founded in 1974 by Carol Langstaff, daughter of John Langstaff, artistic director of Revels Inc. The recording was made with the assistance and advice of John Langstaff and George Emlen (music director in Cambridge), to whom we are most grateful for their valuable contributions.

For more information about Revels North or the CD, contact a cast member or phone 866-556-3083.

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Page last updated 2008-03-16. ©2008 Revels North. All rights reserved.