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about this album |
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Like most true Missourians, Cathy Barton and Dave Para have a healthy respect and deep love of the two great rivers that dominate their state. For much of their musical careers, Cathy and Dave have been fascinated with the folklore, the legends, and the music of the Mississippi and Missouri. Now, for the first time, they have drawn upon their years of singing, playing, and collecting river songs to bring them together in one wonderful album. And what a rich and satisfying concotion it is. Remember that Cathy and Dave are not hothouse folksingers who learn their music from books and magazines; for a generation now they have been scouring the backroads of all parts of Missouri. gathering and learning from a wide variety of traditional and grassroots artists. They have devoted much of their time to preserving and presenting these performers and their music to a wider audience, and to share the music with others in venues that range from the Delta Queen riverboat to the folk festival stage. Along the way, Cathy and Dave have established a reputation as the best interpreters of Missouri traditional music. Here again they show their amazing versatility, with a program that ranges from old fiddle tunes to newly crafted historical ballads by composers like Bob Dyer. It's a spicy and hardy river burgoo, and, as the legendary Grandpa Jones used to say, "Come and dine!" — Charles K. Wolfe, author of Kentucky Country, The Devil's Box, and co-author of Grandpa Jones' Everybody's Grandpa. |
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Cover illustration by Thomas Hart Benton for Life on the Mississippi, by Mark Twain, Limited Editions Club, 1944. The disc illustration is of Natchez Under the Hill, from 1867. The inside sketch, by F. Chesnutt, of Pleasant Green, Mo., is of the legendary Old Al, King of the Mississippi River, the giant alligator who sleeps at the bottom of the river and changes the river and its weather. Here he is smoking his pipe to make fog over the water. Cathy and I have drawn from a number of books for river history and lore, including the Rivers of America series, and books by Ben Lucien Burman, Least Heat Moon, John Barry, Michael Allen, and G.B. Merrick, with Mark Twain topping the ever-growing list. For notes about fiddle tunes, we are especially indebted to Andrew Kuntz' Fiddler's Companion, at www.ceolas.org/tunes/fc. Special thanks to Charles Wolfe, Sandy Paton, Bob Dyer, John Hasse, Ed Trickett, Claude and Ruth Barton and Dan Levenson.
Dave and Cathy can be reached at P.O. Box 33, Boonville MO 65233, Ph. 660-882-7821. |
