Search - Jerry Read Smith :: Heartdance

Rich and heartwarming. Fills you up!

Brianna Neal | USA | 12/31/2003

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is great stuff--spunky, creative arrangements of Celtic tunes played with soul, drive and heart. Sometimes edgy, sometimes warm and mellow, "Heartdance" features Jerry Read Smith's sparkling hammered-dulcimer playing with a lush and sophisticated array of backup instrumentalists: Tom Fellenbaum on bouzouki, Don Jackson on fiddle, bouzouki and guitar, Chis Abell on flute, whistle, pipes and bodhran, Drew Beiswenger on guitar, John Rees and Chip Smith on keyboards, Rob Hinson on mandolin, and Beth Magill on whistle. In all the selections, these artists combine a sense of fun and personality with technical mastery, richly full sound and comsummate professionalism, making for an album that is truly a delight to listen to time and time again. I really enjoyed Jerry Read Smith's previous album, "Strayaway Child", but was delighted to find that I like this one even better. It keeps me smiling the whole way through! Smith, who not only plays but builds hammered dulcimers, begins his musical journey in his prior album "Strayaway Child" and his trilogy concludes in "Homecoming". The three recordings together are also available as a set, "The Strayaway Child Trilogy". For more great hammered dulcimer compositions, try the work of Kate Price, and also "Step by Step" by John McCutcheon, the artist who introduced Jerry Read Smith to this versatile and expressive instrument."