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VARIOUS ARTISTS
Songcatcher (Vanguard)
Reviewed by Shaun Dale
Not a soundtrack per se, this CD features "music from and inspired by" the motion picture of the same name. The movie chronicles the exploits of a musicologist discovering the traditional music of Appalachia, and her efforts to capture it in field recordings. The music from the film, a couple snatches of the score and a couple songs performed in traditional unaccompanied style, is augmented by traditional material done in not-so traditional style by some of the leading women in Americana and country music.
Except for Emmylou Harris' "Barbara Allen," on which her fine performance is slightly marred by overproduction, this is full of some of the best at their best, well worth seeking out. The bits of the score by David Mansfield cradle the more traditional material, including a harrowing "Conversation With Death" performed by Hazel Dickens, David Patrick Kelly and Bobby McMillan.
The film is on my "must see" list. This disc belongs on your "must hear" list.
Track List:
Rosanne Cash/Fair And Tender Ladies * Iris Dement/Pretty Saro * Dolly Parton & Emmy Ressum/Wehn Love Is New * Emmy Ressum/Barbara Allen * Emmylou Harris/Barbara Allen * Allison Moorer/Moonshiner * Patty Loveless/Sounds Of Loneliness * Julie Miller/All My Tears * Maria McKee/Wayfarin' Stranger * Sara Evans/Mary Of The Wild Moor * Gillian Welch, David Rawlings & David Steele/Wind And Rain * Deanna Carter/The Cuckoo Bird * David Mansfield/Score Suite #1 * Hazel Dickens, David Patrick Kelly & Bobby McMillin/Conversation With Death * David Mansfield/Score Suite #2 * Pat Carrol/ Single Girl
© 2001 - Shaun Dale