Great American Music Trip: Massachusetts

The Great American Road Trip over at A Traveler's Library is in Massachusetts, particularly an area near the sea coast town of Gloucester. The music of the sea, and the lives of those who live by it, inspire music of all sorts. Two modern day musicians take a look at the seafaring past of Gloucester, both serious and funny, in the album Souls of the Sea.

From Gloucester to the Apalachee Bay, from North Uist in the Outer Hebrides of Scotland to the China Sea to the Straits of Magellan to Galway Bay and back again, and all seashores and waters in between, there’s great music and inspiration for music in and on the water.

for more music of the waters in America, Ireland, and Scotland, you may also want to see
Music Road: Oceans & Journeys: Road Trip in Maryland

Cathie Ryan: The Farthest Wave

Dual: Julie Fowlis & Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh

and to learn about the Great American Road Trip and the musical ideas I'll be adding to the journey, you might want to see this: Great American Road Trip: Music begins

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now playing: Souls of the Sea

Souls of the Sea




The sea has its own music, both the music of the waters themselves and of those who live and work along its borders. Gloucester, Massachusetts, is a town whose heart beats with the sea. Allen Estes and Frank Tedesco have heard that beat and transformed it into song (and more recently, a stage play as well). Those who work out on the waters, those who wait for them, those who face the sea's challenges and dangers and survive, those who don’t, and those who wait for them, love them, sometimes lose them, and survive, are all part of the music here. Not With Your Hands is hearty and optimistic, for example, while Anchor Blues is funny and sarcastic, and East of the Sunrise is graceful and thoughtful. Souls of the Sea comprises a dozen original songs which draw from country, folk, and blues sounds and always, the work, and the life, and the love of the sea. Part of the proceeds from the project go to organizations which assist fishermen and their families. If you are planning to go down to the seas this summer, this is one to listen to, before and after.


Another original and very different look at the sea through music
now playing: Jennifer Cutting & the Ocean Orchestra