ANNOUNCEMENT from VERA MARIE:  Kerry Dexter’s blog, Music Road is a finalist in the 2012 Bloggies. You can go to the Bloggies page and vote for Kerry as the BEST Music blog on the Internet. Voting closes in mid February, so do not delay.

Destination: Romance

Music: Lover’s Well by Matt and Shannon Heaton Produced by Eats Records

By Kerry Dexter

February is the month of Valentine’s Day, hearts, and flowers. As Shakespeare said, though, the course of true love never did run smooth. That’s a side of things Matt and Shannon Heaton decided to look at as they were choosing songs for their album Lovers’ Well

Matt and Shannon Heaton

It’s not that the two, who have been married for some time, don’t know about or believe in the hearts and flowers side of things, and indeed there are songs and tunes which honor that on the album. They thought, though, that a bit of depth and dimension  would  be added to the whole idea of love by mixing in music that talks of other aspects.

deep is the lovers’ well
higher than heaven
darker than hell
of courtship and marriage the poets do tell
sweet is the water from lovers’ well

(from the song Golden Glove)

So there is Lover’s Lament, with Matt taking lead vocal, Shannon on harmony and whistle, and percussion provided by the feet of dancer Nic Gareiss. The story, which has made its way from Ireland across to the Appalachians, is of a conversation between lovers who part and know not when, if ever, they will meet again.

The story told in  Golden Glove is of a different sort: a woman who is meant to marry one man falls for another, and makes a plan as to how to deal with this. The plans in Lily of the West take a more violent turn, with jealousy, murder, and leaving Ireland all involved. In The Bay of Biscay, Shannon sings a reflective lead vocal to tell the story of a woman who laments her lover’s long absence on a journey, and prepares to rejoice at his return — only to find he has returned as a ghost.

Turning to the happier side of things, there’s a set of  traditional jigs called  New Married Couple, with Matt on guitar and Shannon on flute. In a bit of an unexpected twist there’s a love song in Thai,  Lao Dueng Duen (also known as By the Light of the Full Moon), paired with the traditional jig The Stone Step. It’s a graceful pairing that Shannon chose to honor a time she had spent living in Thailand, and it really works well, with flute, guitar, and accordion backing Shannon’s voice on the song and flowing naturally into the rhythm of the jig. The other songs and tunes, both traditional and newly composed, are equally interesting. They total fourteen in all, fitting for Valentine’s Day

Matt and Shannon both sing lead, and add fine harmony to each other’s voices. Shannon plays whistles and flute, Matt plays guitar, bouzouki, and bodhran. They are  supported here by Keith Murphy on mandolin and piano, Nic Gareiss and Kieran Jordan on foot percussion,  and Dan Gurney on accordion.

The Heatons have several other recordings out, including one of my favorite albums for winter, Fine Winter’s Night.

Kerry Dexter

Kerry Dexter, from Music Road,  is a regular contributor  to A Traveler’s Library, writing about music-inspired travel. We particularly appreciate this post, which she sent from Scotland where she was attending the biggest Celtic Festival of them all.

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Music Monday

by Kerry Dexter

Destination: Scotland

Music: Acquaintance, by Jim Malcolm (Beltane Records)

There’s a statue of him in Canberra and a town named after him in Oregon, his words have inspired writers in India and musicians in Russia, and every year at the end of January, people across the world gather to remember the birth and life of this poet. More than two centuries after his time, his work is widely known by those who love poetry and Scotland, and those who don’t know a thing about either. This is Scotland’s national bard, poet and songwriter Robert Burns.

Robert Burns Statue

 Jim Malcolm is a Scot, too, and a musician, from Highland Perthshire. He’s been honored  for both his writing and his singing. Still, given Burns’ prolific output (he wrote or revised more than three hundred songs and poems) and his well-known presence in all thing Scottish, it’s a challenge for any musician from Scotland to find an approach and choose a program of songs that adds his or her own stamp to the ploughman poet’s work. It’s a challenge Malcolm meets well in his album Acquaintance.

His approach is conversational and low-key (this is the man who has been called the James Taylor of Scotland, after all), with at times a dash of humor and at times an honoring of the poet’s lyrical side. Malcolm opens the collection with Rantin’ Rovin’ Robin, a lively piece that’s a bit of a Burns autobiography. Another side of Burns, the political one which included belief in the value and equality of all, comes out in A Man’s a Man for A’ That. You can almost laugh along with the farmer’s wife and  see him dancing in  The Ploughman. Jim Malcolm and Robert Burns both show their senses of humor in The Shepherd’s Wife, as well.

Malcolm’s own wife, Susie, who is a very fine singer in her own right, joins in for a duet on that one. Westin Winds is a lyrical vignette of the Scottish landscape, and Malcolm’s own song, Killikrankie, stands in good company alongside the writings of Robert Burns.

Whether you are recalling a trip to Scotland or dreaming of one, Jim Malcolm’s album makes a fine traveling companion. If you’re still  a bit foggy on just who Robert Burns was and why his name sounds familiar — the album is called Acquaintance, and the closing song on it is Auld Lang Syne.

You might like to read about two other great contemporary takes on Robert Burns music, one by Eddi Reader and the other by Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan. You might also like to see Jim and Susie Malcolm singing his own song Fields of Angus.

As a policy of A Traveler’s Library, we tell you about affiliate links. The links included here may make it possible for you to listen to excerpts of the music, and the ones to Amazon in this post are affiliate links. If you buy anything through the affiliate links in this post, you will be supporting the site Music Road. Thank you. The  photographs are by Kerry Dexter and are copyrighted. Thank you for respecting this.

In keeping with Kerry’s celebration of the New Year and it’s famous bard, the giveaway book today is a British comic novel about Christmas, Comfort & Joy by India Knight. (England is as close to Scotland as I could get, sorry!). Today’s prize goes to one person who comments, subscribes, tweets or mentions us on Google+ before the deadline. See the review of Comfort and Joy here. (You can comment on this post or on an earlier post. Just do it before Tuesday, January 10, 3:00 a.m. MST. If you already subscribe by e-mail and want an extra entry as a subscriber, be sure to tell me that in the comments. See complete contest rules here.)

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Destination: Texas

Music:  From Texas for a Christmas Night with Tish Hinojosa

By Kerry Dexter

A blue norther sending a crisp edge of winter wind down the plains, a hint of country back roads, a taste of Mexico and the border lands, the wide starry skies of the west, a two step round the Christmas tree, and a scent of mesquite fires in the air: December in Texas weaves its own tapestry, as distinct as are the regions of the state,  and as welcoming. 

Tish Hinjosa, photo by Kerry Dexter

Tish Hinojosa knows about all that. She grew up in San Antonio as the daughter of parents who had come from Mexico, lived for many years in Austin herself, and has crisscrossed the state from dance halls to symphony halls as a touring musician. She holds all of that in her music on From Texas for a Christmas Night. There’s a waltz,  several carols, look at the Christmas story in a different way, and a song for Hanukah in Spanish among the gifts  she brings.

It is no easy thing to write a good original Christmas song. Think, for one thing, about all the well loved standards already out there.  Hinojosa has done it, though, and more than once. Arbolito, in which she details her annual chats with her Christmas trees across the years, became a part of Christmas for people in Ausitn almost since she first released on an earlier (and now long unavailable) project nearly twenty Christmas seasons ago. It’s good to have the gently funny story about how time changes us and we change and stay the same over the years of holidays back on record again. English and Spanish language versions are equally popular with listeners, and both are on From Texas for a Christmas Night.

Tish Hinojosa Christmas Album

Building #9 is a look at  how the Christmas story might have happened in a place and time closer to our own. Milagro is a lively anticipation and celebration of the joys of the season. The title track, From Texas on a Christmas Night, offers a quiet seasonal invitation that both evokes and recalls winter under lone star skies. Hanukia is a festive traditional song for Hanukah in Spanish, with Hinojosa’s daughter Nina and son Adam joning in on violin and trumpet, respectively.

A la Nanita Nana is a song which often accompanies Las Posadas, a tradition especially in Hispanic communities at the Christmas season in which the Holy Family’s travel from inn to inn seeking a place to stay is  enacted. It is a meditative song that recalls both the Biblical journey and the southwestern traditions which have come from it.

Hinojosa brings her own touch to another traditional song, too. She frames Silent Night with an upbeat rhythm which is well in the spirit of the song, and sings verses in English, in Spanish, and in a nod to the song’s original language and Hinojosa’s current home base, in German.

Neither Tish Hinojosa nor I live in Austin these days, but there were a good few years there when it just wasn’t the Christmas season until I’d  been to at least one of her holiday concerts and heard her sing Arbolito and Milagro and Building #9. Neither of us lives in the Boston area these days either, but by a twist of circumstance I was in Cambridge one day last December when she and long-time guitar player and major presence on From Texas for a Christmas Night , Marvin Dykhuis, were playing. For a while that night, Club Passim in Harvard Square turned into a little piece of Texas at Christmas.

A Traveler’s Library has visited Texas before.  Texas author Ruth Pennebaker gave insight into another part of the Lone Star state in a guest post during The Great American Road Trip.

Kerry Dexter is a regular contributor  to A Traveler’s Library.

As a policy of A Traveler’s Library, we tell you about affiliate links. The links included here may make it possible for you to listen to excerpts of the music, and the ones to Amazon in this post are affiliate links. If you buy anything through the affiliate links in this post, you will be supporting the site Music Road. Thank you. The  photo of Tish Hinojosa is by Kerry Dexter and is copyrighted. Thank you for respecting this. 

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1. Showoffs Travel Bags $14.99 (for package of two small,two large, 3 plastic bottles) up to $35.99 for larger pack.

I have to admit that when I first saw these decorated plastic bags, (sent to me by the company) I thought “Who needs that? I have Ziplock™.  However, when you’ve had a grueling airplane flight, you’re adjusting to a new time zone in a blah hotel, it is awfully nice to have something pretty that makes you smile.

They come in many lovely designs, from feminine to tailored. And, worry not, I breezed through security with the smaller bags stuffed with liquids or creams with nary a frown from the uniforms.

Interlink Books

$$ 2. Interlink Books (Varied prices)

20% off your order if you’re a reader of A Traveler’s Library. When you order, tell them A Traveler’s Library sent you, and you want your 20% off.

I could not improve on the description of Interlink Books on their web site:

Using travel as a way to build cultural bridges has been part of Interlink’s fabric since its birth 24 years ago…(Our books) give you the background information to enrich your journey; they encourage you to connect with people; they nudge you to leave your comfort zone, and help you to discover the unfamiliar. If you would like to get to the heart and soul of a city, go there with an open mind—independently; read about the city’s history and indulge in its genuine cuisine culture; and most importantly sample the literature of its leading novelists.

And if you need one more reason to shop at Interlink Books–they are a contributor to the Passports With Purpose fund raiser.

 $$ 3. OKA b shoes

15% discount on all the “shoes that love you” to readers of A Traveler’s Library. Go to Oka b’s web site and use the code: OKA15C4P in the box “Promotion Code”. Please read the  fine print here.

 I first came upon Oka b sandals at a resort spa at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Squaw Valley at Lake Tahoe. It was an impulse purchase that I have never regretted. That first pair of sandals became my house-shoes, my travel slippers, my emergency dressier-than-Keds shoes. They are soft and flexible, have a ridged surface that massages your foot as you walk, and they even fit my impossible-to-fit feet.  People with less difficult feet can select from a wide variety of slip-on shoes from Oka  b, but meanwhile, I’m accumulating a pair of my favorite, Jasmine,  in every color. Definitely a PERFECT gift for the male OR female traveler on your list.

Envirosax

4. Enviro Sax (Under $25)

This is the travel set of EnviroSax–one bag each with Paris, New York and Sidney on the side. The company sent me this set several months ago. I reviewed it here, and have used it constantly. How convenient to put that tiny little rolled-up bag in your luggage, and then be able to expand when you need to. Here’s one fully packed for a picnic.

The many designs are sophisticated and fun.

And here’s another idea–use a bag to wrap a present. No throw away mess.

5. Liberty Bottleworks: Water Bottles made in the USA. ($16-18)

I really mean to stop using plastic disposable water bottles. Honest, I do.  But I’ve had a hard time finding an affordable option that holds enough water for a thirsty Arizonan and doesn’t contain nasty BPAs.  Liberty Bottleworks to the rescue.  They sent me two of their travel-themed bottles–one  with a topo map of the Grand Canyon and one with a BART map (metro) for San Francisco. You can choose from many gorgeous-er designs (EG:See those by Audrey Kranz), but I thought you, as a traveler, would appreciate the map theme. Agree?

Feel good about this choice–100% recycled aluminum. 1% of their profits goes to charity. Think of all the money you can save by not buying $3 bottles of water at airports. And you can buy either 16 oz or 32 oz. The cap stays on tight. And the price is right.

$$ 6. Lonely Planet Book: Great Journeys. $39.99 a the Lonely Planet Site

20% off your order at lonelyplanet.com/shop when you enter the code “Travlib” at checkout. Good through January 15, 2012. Please read the fine print here.

Every holiday gift list must contain at least one block-buster book, and this is it. Great Journeys suggests routes by train, on foot, road trips by car or bus, and any other conveyance you can think of. In this exhaustive book, you’ll track famous trips (Marco Polo); scenic  wonders; cultural introductions; adventurous trips and easy ones. In typical Lonely Planet style the photos are luscious and the narrative practical. What time of year should you go? How long will it take? What are the don’t-miss components? Because the book is crammed with so many trips, some of the descriptions are a bit superficial (“Don’t forget to get a Visa for Iran” as though that is simple). However, think of this as a book of temptations rather than a guidebook.  If you actually decide to follow one of these treks, you’ll need to buy one or more LP Guide Books to help with the details.  Readers who travel (or travelers who read) will be particularly interested in the suggestions for books and movies at each stop.

$$ 7. Through a Dog’s Ear , C.D.s for your pet. Prices vary from $14.98 through $99.98 for one CD through a set of eight.

Discounts for readers of A Traveler’s Library  AND  Will My Dog Hate Me. Buy these TWO CDs: Driving Edition and Music to Calm your Canine Companion Vol. 3 and get 25% off until December 31, 2011. Use coupon code TravelWithCalmDog. Please see FINE PRINT here.

Not all dogs love to ride in cars. Many of them are stressed by the noise and movement — or by the idea that they’re heading for the vet. Our pet travel expert, Edie Jarolim, who writes Will My Dog Hate Me and reviews pet travel books for her Pet Travel Book Club here at A Traveler’s Library, offers a remedy.

The Through a Dog’s Ear CD series, created by a scientist, a veterinarian and a Juilliard-trained pianist, helps calm your dog with classical music in a variety of stressful situations (including too many strangers in the house for the holidays). Edie elicited a testimonial of the CDs’ effectiveness from Wrigley the dog, who was surprised to discover a famous composer shared a name with a movie dog: see Roll Over Beethoven.

8. Travelon Bag $39.98 at the Travelon Site, less expensive elsewhere on the Internet.

Jane Boursaw, who writes about film at Reel Life With Jane and here on Wednesday Matinee,  has a three-compartment, expandable Travelon shoulder bag.  ”I have very specific requirements, mostly having to do with how much I can pack into an organized space, whether there’s room to sneak snacks into theaters, and how easily I can get to stuff inside the bag while sitting ina dark theater. ”  Travelon has many styles of luggage and handbags in sturdy microfiber fabric, but this one might be the perfect one for your travel gift.

9.Music for the Holidays: Winter’s Eve: Acoustic Music (blues and jazz) or Song of Solstice
(Celtic) $12.00 and $20.00.

Kerry Dexter, who writes about music at Music Road (where you will find more gift suggestons) and here on Music Mondays, suggests two albums to celebrate the holidays. You can match the musical taste of your gift recipient. (We have linked these two to Amazon for your convenience because you can listen to the tracks there, and the prices quoted are at Amazon, but you may want to buy at your local music or bookstore.) Kerry explains the music:

On Winter’s Eve, there’s a jazz bluegrass fusion banjo led take on a familiar melody in Carol of the Kings, a study of  grief and repentance in Absalom,  and a celebration of joyous renewal in New Night Dawning. Variety and diversity enough to reach across a range of faiths and musical tastes, and make them worth  the listening at the holidays and through the year.

On Song of Solstice, you may hear about the lively Celtic winter spirit of The Green Man, reflect on how Buddha, Christ, and the light each of us brings to the world are connected, and enjoy the meditative carol In the Bleak Midwinter.

10. Stray Boots Tours  (Per person price $12-for one tour zone, $30 for three)

Not really an organized tour kind of person, but you’d like to learn a bit more about the city you’re visiting? Stray Boots provides a cell-phone activated, do-it-yourself tour and scavanger hunt rolled into one.  This puts the fun back in discovering a city, and I can imagine that it would be super fun played with two teams or with a family.  Families with teens who think travel is “Bor-r-r-ring” might particularly benefit from the lively Stray Boots Tours.

The company sent me codes so I could sample a D.C. tour and a San Francisco tour.  I ran through some of the questions and challenges on my smart phone.  My small sampling of the game intrigued me enough that I’d definitely want to try this out the next time I’m planning a city jaunt.  Love finding those obscure places and bits of information as I travel.

Disclaimers, per the regular policy of A Traveler’s Library: I have mentioned above when companies sent me trial products. I frequently review books sent to me by Interlink books. however, when people send me no-good products or no-good books, I don’t recommend them to you. Photos were supplied by the companies, with the exception of the loaded Envirosax, which is my photo, and the CD covers which are Amazon links. If you shop by clicking on an Amazon link in this post,Music Road, as an Amazon affiliate, will make a few cents, but your price does not increase. 

And there you have it– a variety of gifts for the variety of people you are buying gifts for; a variety of prices for all pocketbooks, and best of all–DISCOUNTS!  I have some more ideas, so I will be back soon with some different kinds of suggestions.  So, which of these gifts would you be most likely to buy?? And why?

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Celtic Colours Festival, Cape Breton Nova Scotia

Destination: Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia

Music: Celtic Colours Festival

By Kerry Dexter

As October brings a crisp edge to the air and leaves start to take on their autumn colors, music fills the air even more than it usually does across the island of Cape Breton, in Nova Scotia. It’s time for the Celtic Colours International Festival.

Baddeck, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

Cape Breton, a small island in the far north of Atlantic Canada, has nurtured its own style of music over the centuries, fueled equally by immigration and isolation, by warmth of community and by the astringent life required to make a living from sea, forest, and mine. Many of those who found their way to Cape Breton came from Scotland, and Scotland has remained the strongest presence  as Cape Breton created its own piano, fiddle, and pipe based music  Every year in October, Capers invite the world to share this music on its home ground. Communities across the island host concerts, in venues which range from small community halls, schools, churches, and historic buildings to large performance spaces. Each year they invite musicians from the Celtic traditions of Scotland, Ireland, and the United States as well to join in.

This year, the festival takes place from 7 through 15 October. Musicians who have taken Cape Breton music around the world will be there, among them Mary Jane Lamond, Ashley MacIsaac, and Kimberley Fraser. There will be local and regional favorites as well.

From Ireland, international stars Mary Black  and Niamh Ni Charra will be on hand, Bruce Molsky  and Michael Doucet will come from the US, and Karine Polwart, Emily Smith, and Kathleen MacInnes will be among the artists from Scotland.

The concerts are designed to create and explore connections in the music, with each event (there are several to choose from across the island each evening) hosting three or four artists or groups. Each plays a set on their own, and then all join together at the end of the evening, always a creative and lively experience for musicians and listeners alike.

The warm and welcoming presence of  Cape Breton is found in the music, and in related events which go on during the festival time, including community meals, talks, art exhibits, jam sessions, and the always popular festival club, where people gather just as the scheduled events for the evening are winding down. This takes place at the Gaelic College at Saint Ann’s in the center of the island. Music and craic (good conversation) at the festival club often are still going strong as the sun rises. Baddeck, which A Traveler’s Library visited earlier this year, is also a crossroads for festival goers. You’ll find music and community events going on across the island, from Judique to L’Ardoise to Louisbourg  to Mabou to Sydney to Whycocomagh. (See map here)

There’s nothing quite like being on Cape Breton for Celtic Colours, but there are many fine recordings of the music of Cape Breton. Two of them:
Blueprint  from Natalie MacMaster, finds the top class fiddle player offering a mix of contemporary tunes, traditional ones, and a dash of country influence now and again, reels, jigs, and waltzes along with a lovely slow air, called My Love, Cape Breton, and Me, a song which was sung at her wedding.

Natalie MacMaster Album Cover

Kimberley Fraser plays the fiddle as well, and she’s also a step dancer and plays piano. That triple threat skill at three things which get to the heart of Cape Breton music make her an inspired teacher of the music, and a gifted ambassador for it as well. Her love for all this comes through in her playing  on both sparkling reels and jigs and graceful slower pieces she’s recorded on her album Falling on New Ground.

Original, creative, based in the fiddle traditions of the island and taking those forward a few more steps. each of these albums will make a fine introduction to the music of Cape Breton, and a great refresher course as well.

Kerry Dexter, from Music Road,  is a regular contributor  to A Traveler’s Library, writing about music-inspired travel. 

As a policy of A Traveler’s Library, we tell you about affiliate links. The links included here may make it possible for you to listen to excerpts of the music, and the ones to Amazon in this post are affiliate links. If you buy anything through the affiliate links in this post, you will be supporting the site Music Road. Thank you. The scenic photo of Baddeck is the property of Vera Marie Badertscher. 

Have you ever made your travel plans to coincide with a music festival? Where in the world were you going?

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Album Cover

Destination: Scotland

Musical Album: Adoon Winding Nith (Whitefall Records) recorded by Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan

A GUEST POST by Kerry Dexter

Today, as I settle in to my Paris apartment, Kerry Dexter brings us musical travel to Scotland with the Scottish National poet, Robert Burns.

Toasting the New Year with Auld Lang Syne: when the name of Robert Burns comes up, that might be what you first call to mind . A well known song indeed, and he wrote a few others you likely know, among them My Love is Like a Red Red Rose and Comin’ Through the Rye. When Emily Smith and Jamie McClennan started thinking about doing an album of Burns songs, though, they wanted to go beyond the expected.

McClennon and Smith

They did that, in several ways in Adoon Winding Nith. Smith, award winning Scots Singer of the Year, and McClennan, who plays fiddle, guitar, and other instruments,  began building the album around songs connected with Dumfries and Galloway, an area in the southwest of Scotland which was the poet’s home for much of his life. It is also where Smith grew up, and in her own writing,  a landscape she often explores. The pair added several lesser known Burns songs, and a few well known ones, Smith says, “just because we like them!”

The result is a balanced and engaging program, which serves the Scottish national bard’s work well and showcases Smith’s and McClennan’s individual gifts and their creative work as a duo.

• The opening cut, Adoon Winding Nith, is an upbeat treatment of a happy song in which Burns moves quickly from musing on the charms of the River Nith to the charms of a lovely lady. It will have you taping your foot to the beat as the story unfolds.
• Silver Tassie is  a reflective ballad of a man heading off to war and leaving his beloved, which Smith and McClennan handle with gentleness and grace.
• You can almost see the lively farmer and his happy wife dancing along  in The Plooman.
• The eleven tracks wind to a quiet yet powerful close with Burns’ song of brotherhood and equality, A Man’s a Man for a’ That.

Smith and McClennan invite you in to the songs with singing and playing which, while staying true to spirit and tradition, make the music sound as fresh as though the songs were written yesterday. You have to think Robert Burns would approve.

Kerry Dexter suggested songs for Scotland last year, and she gives us music to accompany the Great American Road Trip each Wednesday over at Music Road. Thanks, Kerry. I love Robert Burns down to earth poetry, and I’m sure I’ll like the musical version as well.

What music do you listen to that reminds you of a country you’ve visited? Remember that your comments enter you in the Bella Italy Contest. And please share this interesting post with friends on Twitter or Facebook (handy buttons below).

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John McCutcheon

Destination: Everywhere

Music: John McCutcheon’s album Mightier Than the Sword (Appalsongs Records)

A GUEST POST by Kerry Dexter

John McCutcheon a musician who has written songs for children and adults,  has released more than thirty albums, and  is respected as a teacher and player on hammered dulcimer, banjo, and many other instruments.

McCutcheon is also a reader. One afternoon while on tour with his music he was browsing in a bookstore and came across Barbara Kingsolver’s book Small Wonders. Reading one of her essays, he heard the words of a song. The idea for the album Mightier Than the Sword was born.

Across fourteen tracks on the album McCutcheon collaborates, in varied ways, with writers ranging from Kingsolver to Pablo Neruda to Rita Dove. McCutcheon’s  hand is distinct in the songs — this isn’t setting prose or poetry to music — and so is the voice of the author with whom he works. If you’re familiar with Lee Smith’s southern novels, Neruda’s vivid images in poetry, or Kingsolver’s forthright essays, you’ll have no trouble figuring out which songs come from whose work without referring to the liner notes. In some cases songs were simply inspired by McCutcheon’s reading; in some cases he collaborated with living authors; and in others he drew from the works of those who have passed on.

Though some songs work better than others, one commonality they share is McCutcheon’s respect for story. With that, he’s able to translate the ideas in these diverse written works into the spare and poetic forms required by song. Sail Away, for example, was inspired by Carmen Agra Deedy’s story The Yellow Star, about Denmark during World War II. McCutcheon sings, in a section connecting verses about a couple separated by the conflict

I number the stars
In the heavens each night
Across these seas that divide us
We are guided by their light

In the liner notes, McCutcheon offers lyrics and often, a bit of back story about how each song came to be. There’s also a section with short biographies of the authors, who in addition to Kingsolver, Smith, Dove, Deedy, and Neruda, include Wendell Berry, Woody Guthrie, and Sister Helen Prejean.

Album Cover

Listen to and buy the songs at Indie music DigStation.

The photo above is from McCutcheon’s web site and the album cover comes from DigStation.

Leave it to Kerry to find an album that fits so well in the Traveler’s Library. I love to see the arts mix and mingle like this. Thanks, Kerry, for this lovely find. Kerry is our partner in the Great American Road Trip, and each Wednesday you can click over to Music Road for her suggestions to accompany our road trip stops in individual states.

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Cathie Ryan, Irish singer, Photograph by Kerry Dexter

Destination: Ireland

Music: The Farthest Wave (Cathie Ryan)

Here is the second post by Kerry Dexter of Music Road. This time she talks about a recording that introduces you to Ireland.

Music for Ireland

Contemporary Ireland is a country of connection and intersection. History, myth, and legend live as part of to the present in both landscape and people. It’s also a completely twenty first century country, whose people laugh and grieve, enjoy family and face uncertainty, as their ancestors have and as people in the rest of the world do.

Singer and songwriter Cathie Ryan walks those intersections  in her recording The Farthest Wave.[Note: you can listen or buy from Amazon by following the link] There’s Dance the Baby, a lively set of slip jigs in Irish which Ryan’s grandfather used to sing while playing with Ryan and her brother and sister when they were small, and there’s Peata Beag do Mhathar, a loving and lively song between mother and child.

Cathie Ryan, Photograph by Kerry Dexter

Ryan’s own What’s Closest to the Heart is a swirling, sensuous dance of  quite another sort, an enigmatic invitation and reassurance framed in both Irish and English. Rough and Rocky is an American song which remains, in Ryan’s hands, both American and Irish in its reflection on  choices, journeys, and leaving loved ones behind

The Wild Flowers is a powerful and graceful song “for anyone who’s ever felt cast out of the garden,” Ryan says. It was written by contemporary Irish musician, John Spillane, and while his version is full of grit and hard knocks, Ryan sees that same determination as a flame of resilience and hope.

What Will You Do Love? a duet between Ryan and top Irish singer Sean Keane, is a traditional ballad of tests and persistence in love, framed in two voices whose connection is a thoughtful conversation.

The title track, The Farthest Wave, is a journey from grief to understanding to  the possibility of healing, framed in images of the natural world and touched by legend. It is also one Ryan wrote.

Ryan is a singer whose power and grace lies in restraint,  and a deep understanding of the words she sings, whether her own or others, whether in English or Irish. She’s been praised for her voice, and deservedly so. She’s also a writer and poet of vision, whose work is both contemporary and timeless.

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Photograph by Kerry Dexter, All rights reserved.

A Traveler’s Library wholeheartedly thanks Kerry Dexter for these two music posts–taking us to Scotland and Ireland in song. For more, see Kerry’s interview with Cathie Ryan at Music Road.

I hope you have enjoyed the two posts by Kerry Dexter about music for the traveler.  If you would like to have more posts about music and travel, please let me know in the comments section.  I always appreciate suggestions of books, movies, and music and people who might share their expertise here. See you around the Web, Kerry. VMB

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Music: Eddi Reader Sings Robert Burns (Eddi Reader) and Cuilidh, (Julie Fowlis)

When I travel to a place, I frequently buy music along the way, and when I get home, the music takes me back. I like to put New Orleans jazz on while I’m writing, or listen to bouzoukis when I’m writing about Greece. So I sought the advice of musicologist and traveler Kerry Dexter when I was planning a trip to Ireland last year.  Who should I listen to? Where were the best places to hear traditional music?  What should I buy?

It suddenly occurred to me, that if I am interested in music of a destination, perhaps the travelers who visit A Traveler’s Library would also like some musical advice. So I turned to Kerry Dexter again. She writes here about music for the traveler to Scotland, and tomorrow she will write about music for a traveler to Ireland. You can read more of her recommendations at Music Road, her blog about music and travel.

Kerry says, “As a musician and a writer, I’m most often following the music when I travel. Sound really brings you into a place, I find, whether that be  a place you’ve visited often or one where you’ve yet to travel.”

Sounds of Scotland

Eddi Reader singing at Celtic Connections in Glasgow

When Eddi Reader was growing up in Glasgow, she thought the poetry of Robert Burns she had to read at school — he is Scotland’s national bard — was not for the likes of her, that it was set apart and too fancy. But as a Scot, and as a musician, she began to be drawn to his writing of daily life, of laughter, of love, of the Scottish landscape. Asked to do a couple of Burns songs with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Reader agreed. It wouldn’t be your usual orchestral concert, though.

“I wanted it to be a bit of a rough diamond,” she says, “so it’d sort of have that band in bar sound, circa 1787.”

Working with classical arranger Kevin McCrae and folk fiddler and producer John McCusker, she came up with a set of songs which bridged the two ideas. This music became the core of the album Eddi Reader Sings Robert Burns. [Note you can buy, or sample her songs at this Amazon link.] From the inviting Jamie Come Try Me through a quiet take on the familiar Auld Lang Syne, and as well with six bonus tracks added to the original release for the year of Homecoming Scotland, Reader invites the listener in to a musical experience at once conversational and reflective.

There’s  a rollicking Charlie Is My Darlin’, a passionate plea for social justice in Ye Jacobites,  affirmation of friendship in Willie Stewart, and a celebration landscape and reflection on change in Leezie Lindsay, a song which Reader developed from a fragment of  a chorus left by Burns. There’s also Wild Mountainside, by John Douglas, which sets love and trust in Scotland’s highland landscape, and several new jigs and reels interweaving the songs. It’s a set you have to think Robert Burns himself would enjoy.

Julie Fowlis at Celtic Connection, Glasgow

Julie Fowlis knows a bit about history in song too. She sings in Scottish Gaelic,  which she grew up speaking in North Uist in the Western Isles off the north coast of Scotland. No museum pieces on her album Cuilidh,[Note: sample or buy at Amazon at this link] though — even though some of the songs go back centuries, they tell of life and love and work, laughter and humor and what’s for dinner? Whether you understand Scottish Gaelic or not, you’ll hear all those things, along with rhythms of the sea, stories of history, ideas of change, and a taste of how people lightened their lives with song in earlier days, just as we do today.

“The weather was extreme, and the conditions were hard,” Fowlis says. “But they were very expressive people. They were always singing and writing poetry. It could be something light-hearted, like the food on the table or what washed up on the beach, or it could be something completely beautiful.

Hug Air a’Bhonaid Mhor, in English called Celebrate the Great Bonnet, makes a fine and lively opener, and ‘Ille Dunn,’S Toigh Leam Thu, My Brown Haired Boy, is a thoughtful ballad. There are English translations of the twelve songs in the liner notes for Cuilidh (that word means treasure or hidden, and is pronounced cooley), but really, just listen.

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Kerry Dexter is an independent writer, editor, and photographer. She’s the former folk music editor at VH1.com and at Barnes and Noble Music, and a long time contributing writer to world music magazine Dirty Linen. Her work has  appeared in Strings, Ireland and the Americas, CMT, CBC, Symphony, The Music Hound Guides, and The Encyclopedia of the World History, among other publications. She writes about Irish, Scottish, and other sorts of music, and the creative practice of being a musician, at  Music Road.

Photographs by Kerry Dexter.

If you want to see more about Scotland: Books Suggested by a Reader and Mysteries  Set in Scotland and Kerry Dexter on more Scottish music at Music Roads. And don’t miss Kerry’s  recommendation on Irish Music.

Thanks, Kerry. Kerry will be checking in to reply to any questions or comments you have about her recommendations for Scottish music.

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©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.