Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering
Apollo’s Fire
5th June 2015
AV2329
£12.99
Summary:
This Top 5 Billboard Classical Crossover-charting album followed the Top 10 Billboard Traditional Classical Chart topping album Come to the River (AV 2205), which conjured early 19th-century rural Americana. Sugarloaf Mountain: An Appalachian Gathering is an award-winning program created by Apollo’s Fire’s director Jeannette Sorrell, and follows the joys and sorrows of Celtic immigrants who settled in Appalachia. Sparkling fiddle tunes and haunting ballads of the British Isles crossed the Atlantic during the 17th, 18th and early 19th centuries and took root in the hills of Virginia. They mingled with American shape-note hymns and African spirituals, creating the soulful music known as Appalachian. Passing through love and loss, dancing and prayer, the music overflows in celebration as the people of the mountains raise their communal voices.
Tracklist:
PROLOGUE
1. The Mountains of Rhùm • Ross Hauck & Amanda Powell, vocals (2:37)
arr. & adapted by J.Sorrell from the trad. Scottish, Cuillens of Rhùm
CROSSING TO THE NEW WORLD
2. Farewell to Ireland – Highlander’s Farewell • Susanna Perry Gilmore, fiddle (3:42)
trad. Irish & Appalachian reels, arr. J. Sorrell
3. We’ll Rant & We’ll Roar (Farewell to the Isles) • Ross Hauck & Amanda Powell, vocals (3:17)
trad. British & Canadian sea shanty, arr. J.Sorrell
DARK MOUNTAIN HOME
4. The Cruel Sister • Amanda Powell, vocals (6:54)
trad. English/Appalachian ballad, arr. J.Sorrell
5. Se fath mo buart ha (The Cause of All My Sorrow) – The Butterfly – Barney Brallaghan • Kathie Stewart, flute (4:18)
trad. Irish, arr. K. Stewart
6. Nottamun Town • Brian Kay, vocals & long-neck dulcimer (4:34)
medieval English & Appalachian ballad, arr. B. Kay
7. Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair • Ross Hauck, vocals (4:35)
trad. Scots/Appalachian, arr. R. Schiffer & J.Sorrell
8. I Wonder as I Wander – The Gravel Walk – Over the Isles to America • Jeannette Sorrell, harpsichord (4:19)
John Jacob Niles/trad. Appalachian/trad. Scottish, arr. J.Sorrell
CORNSHUCK PARTY
9. The Fox Went Out on a Chilly Night • Amanda Powell, vocals (3:06)
trad. British/Appalachian, arr. J.Sorrell
10. Oh Susanna! • Brian Kay & Ross Bauck, vocals / Susanna Perry Gilmore, fiddle (5:02)
minstrel song by Stephen Foster, arr. J.Sorrell
Pretty Peg – Far from Home • Susanna Perry Gilmore, fiddle / with René Schiffer, cello
trad. Irish Reels, variations by R.Schiffer
LOVE & LOSS
11. Once I had a Sweetheart • Amanda Powell, vocals (5:01)
trad. British & Appalachian ballad
Wayfaring Stranger • Ross Hauck & Amanda Powell, vocals
The Kentucky Harmony, 1816, arr. J. Sorrell
12. Pretty Betty Martin – Katy Did – Red Rockin Chair (5:04)
Tina Bergmann, hammered dulcimer & vocals / Amanda Powell, backup vocals
trad. Appalachian, arr. T. Bergmann
13. Just Before the Battle, Mother • Ross Hauck, vocals (4:35)
G. Root, 1864
Go March Along • Amanda Powell, vocals
Southern Spiritual
GLORY ON THE MOUNTAIN
14. Glory in the Meeting House (Glory in the Meeting House / Say Old Man, Can You Play the Fiddle) (3:38)
Kentucky Fiddle Tunes, arr. J.Sorrell, R. Schiffer, T. Bergmann
15. Oh Mary, Don’t You Weep • Amanda Powell, vocals (3:13)
trad. Southern spiritual, lyrics adapted by J. Sorrell
APPALACHIAN HOME
16. Sugarloaf Mountain (5:08)
Lyrics by J.Sorrell; Music arr. & adapted by J.Sorrell from the Cuillens of Rhùm, trad. Scottish
Total time: 69:06
Recorded June 17-19, 2014; St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Cleveland Heights, Ohio
Recording Producers: Jeannette Sorrell and Erica Brenner
Recording and Mastering Engineer: Thomas Knab
Editor: Erica Brenner