Fourth week in Advent: music and meditation

Advent is a time of reflection, a time for seeking peace. It is a time for the work of solitude and the work of being in company. A time for preparation, quiet, and connection. Whether Advent is part of the faith you mark or not, winter is a good season for such things. Music is a way into into and through these ideas, as well.




Wintersong by Tammerlin makes a good gateway and companion for these journeys. From the opening song Winter’s Grace though the carol Silent Night, Lee Hunter and Arvid Smith. invite the listeners along on a journey well suits the contemplative nature of winter, with room for consideration of its changes and challenges along with its comfort and peace. In keeping with the music they’ve chosen, their arrangements are spare and rich at the same time. Hunter, who does most of the lead vocals, has a natural and relaxed storyteller's style which finds her moving through music from France, Appalachia, and contemporary folk as well as traditional carols which focus and grace. There are four brief spoken word selections included within the program as well, two from the writings of Henry David Thoreau and one each from Annie Dillard and Wendell Berry. In Hunter’s voice and in the duo’s choice of music, these prove natural extensions of their winter ideas, as they illuminate the the music and the music adds dimension to the words.

The music on Fine Winter's Night from Matt and Shannon Heaton illuminates the season, too. Sacred and secular aspects of winter dance with each other through the original and traditional music the two offer. Matt sings lead on his original take on a Christmas encounter a century or so ago in First Snowfall of December, and on the Wexford Carol, a hymn from twelfth century Ireland. Shannon takes a light touch with the tale of Julius the Christmas Cat preparing for the Holy Family, and offers a new setting to sixteenth century poetry for winter in her version of Star Song. There are a number of sessional instrumentals with Matt on guitar and Shannon on flute, as well as more carols, and original songs. These frame the centerpiece of the album’s idea and music, the title track Fine Winter’s Night, in which the connection and solitude of winter’s journey meet.

the photograph on the upper right is of holiday lights on Harvard Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and is copyrighted. thank you for respecting that.

you may also wish to see
Klezmer: Music for the Festival of Lights
Song of Solstice: music for changing seasons
Another Fine Winter's Night: Matt & Shannon Heaton

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Now playing: Tammerlin: No Small Thing

Tammerlin
No Small Thing


“It’s all about evolution,” Lee Hunter says. “Music has never stayed in one place and it’s not going to.” She should know -- as one half of the duo Tammerlin, the north Florida based artist makes music that crosses borders between folk, rock, tradition, contemporary, country, Celtic, ballad and rocker, and back again. The good thing about this that she and her partner, Arvid Smith, do all this musical traveling while keeping a strong presence and vision of who they are and what they have to say. That makes for quality original music and interesting takes on the material, traditional and contemporary, which they choose to cover.

On their latest album, No Small Thing, the music includes nine originals from Hunter, ranging from the meditative and instrumentally vivid opener, Autumn ReFrain, to the sea and love story Farewell and Shore and the atmospheric Meet Me In New Orleans. There’s Smith’s original instrument al Crosscurrents, on which he plays both twelve string guitar and sitar. Covers include a folk blues tinged take on Steve Winwood’s Can’t Find My Way Home and a visit to the English ballad tradition with I Once Loved a Lass. Smith leads the instrumental support to Hunter’s voice, all making a connection that really works and serves the stories of the the songs and the journey of the album as a whole. Peter Winter engineered the project, and Darol Anger and Joe Craven are among those who sit in. Tammerlin have shared stage with Emmylou Harris, Dar Williams, Doc Watson, and Pierce Pettis, none of which will surprise you when you hear them. And hear them you should. you may also want to see Music Road: Reflections with Mary Black

-->Your support for Music Road is welcome and needed. If you are able to chip in, here is a way to do that, through PayPal. Note that you do not have to have a PayPal account to do this. Thank you.