This CD, HEARTLAND, An Appalachian Anthology, brings together some of the best musicians in their respective fields. They include Joshua Bell (violin), Sam Bush (mandolin), Béla Fleck (papoose guitar, banjo and mandolin), Yo-Yo Ma (Cello), Mike Marshall (guitar), Edgar Meyer (bass, piano and mandocello) and Mark O’Connor (fiddle). James Taylor and Alison Krauss add their voices. Other musicians add the Dobro (Jerry Douglas), keyboard and piano (John Jarvis) and pennywhistle (John Mock) to the mix. Each brings their skill and passion to create music that is timeless.
Heartland An Appalachian Anthology
The CD includes songs that date from the 1700’s, like, “Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier” and “Amazing Grace.” There is a traditional Irish reel, “Emily’s Reel.” It has original compositions like “Short Trip Home” by Edgar Meyer and “Appalachia Waltz” by Mark O’Connor. The pace of the music varies from soulful, “Slumber My Darling,” featuring Alison Krauss, Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer and Mike Marshall to exuberant as in “Death by Triple Fiddle,” which features Myer, Bush, Marshall and a violin solo by Bell. “1B” displays the talents of both Yo-Yo Ma and Mark O’Connor. In “Sliding Down,” Meyer, Fleck and Marshall perform on multiple instruments.
This CD, released in 2001, is an anthology of songs from two CD’s made in collaboration with Meyer, O’Connor and Yo-Yo Ma and one between Meyer, Bush, Bell and Marshall. It speaks to lovers of both classical and bluegrass/roots music and should please both.