Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology

 (22 customer reviews)

I must admit, when I first saw this CD, I was skeptical. Frankly, Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell are not names that I readily associate with Appalachian music. Fortunately, their imaginations were not so limited as mine, and the result is this perfect collection of music that is at once new and familiar.When a group of artists like the ones who made this album come together, the results have to be impressive, but this album is absolutely amazing. An anthology pulled from several earlier albums, this is a musical journey through Appalachia. It swings from the delicate vocals of Alison Krauss and James Taylor (on "Slumber, My Darling" and "Johnny Has Gone For A Soldier," respectively) to the jubliant exuberance of the charmingly named "Death by Triple Fiddle" (the "fiddles" in question being those of Bell, Sam Bush, and Mike Marshall.) Add Mark O'Connor's haunting fiddling on "Amazing Grace" and "Song of the Liberty Bell" and...Read more

"Heartland: An Appalachian Anthology" is something of a "Best of" package gathering melodies from "Uncommon Ritual" (Edgar Meyer, Bela Fleck, and Mike Marshall), "Midnight on the Water" (Mark O'Connor), "Appalachia Waltz" (Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor), "Appalachian Journey" (Yo-Yo Ma, Edgar Meyer, and Mark O'Connor again), "Short Trip Home" (Joshua Bell, Edgar Meyer, Sam Bush, and Mike Marshall), and the soundtrack to "Liberty" (Mark O'Connor). If you're familiar with these CDs, then you know that the musicianship and composition is uniformly excellent and truly innovative.Most of the melodies included in "Heartland" are upbeat and catchy- the kinds of tunes that feel like they've been around for centuries (indeed a few, like "Johnny has Gone for a Soldier" and "College Hornpipe," have). Those who have the original CDs know that they're also quite eclectic-...Read more

This compilation draws from various Sony albums that feature popular and classical artists collaborating in presenting traditional American music, as opposed to the glitzy stuff mainstream country-western has become. It is thoroughly enjoyable. Joshua Bell and Yo-yo Ma ease right into the general tone of relaxed geniality alongside Mark O'Connor, Edgar Meyer and others, though Bell on the whole seems more comfortable with the traditional idiom. Only on a few of the more repetitive fast numbers is there a bit of a sense of too much musicianship being brought to bear on too slight material. But this is more than compensated for by some of the heartbreakingly beautiful slow tracks, among them Edgar Meyer's hypnotic "Sliding Down" and Mark O'Connor's moving take on the familiar "Amazing Grace," done unaccompanied. As if there weren't enough talent among the instrumentalists James Taylor and Alison Krauss contribute two vocals in their inimitable styles. All in all,...Read more