Search - Jay Ungar, Molly Mason :: Harvest Home

Nice fiddlin' & guitar pickn'

John P. Grider | Orangeburg, SC USA | 12/15/1999

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you're a fan of acoustic music, Harvest Home is a very nice album to listen to. Ungar & Mason are very talented musicians and songwriters, and buddy good fiddle & guitar players are irresistable to listen to. This album also contains a number of tracks, including the Harvest Home Suite, that combine Ungar and Mason with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. It's a nice blend. If you've listened to the radio show Praire Home Companion or watched a Ken Burns film you've heard the work of these outstanding musicians. They're welcome inside my head any time!"

Bountiful, satisfying, profound; it left me begging for more

Robert Bruzgo | 11/26/1999

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Harvest Home opens with a deceptively simple piece composed by Molly Mason. The sound is cool, clear and soothing, like the trickling of a stream. Jay Ungar is on fiddle and Molly Mason plays acoustic guitar and sings. Somehow, the world seems less crazy than it did just a minute ago. Molly drives home the point in her lyrics. "Each seed holds a perfect plan, in harmony with earth and man."The first track is just a portal to a bountiful land where the trees grow tall and roots go deep. Harvest Home is filled with wonderful music and musicians -- fourteen tracks, 59.6 minutes: The Farmer's Set, Prairie Spring, Haymakers's Hoedown, Solstice Hymn, The Harvest Home Suite performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and so much more. One of my favorites is La Chanson De Mardi Gras, a delectable Cajun piece featuring Christine Balfa on vocals and triangle. Christine Balfa's thin and sexy voice and oh that triangle she plays just drive me crazy.But really, to focus on any one track in this CD is not fair. I have listened to Harvest Home now many times and always play it through from beginning to end. It is an experience that I look forward to and seem to enjoy more every time I play the CD.I also treasure my other CDs by Ungar and Mason. If you buy Harvest Home and then like me go begging for more, try The Lovers' Waltz. You won't be disappointed with that one either."

This CD has legs...

Don Johnson | Idaho | 03/23/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"In the 6 months since Harvest Home was released I have found that I now love it more than ever. It's the kind of CD that will appear on my playlist for many years, with its timeless quality that expands several musical boundaries. The deceptively simple and deeply moving Solstice Hymn and Thanksgiving Waltz are my highlights, straight from the heartland. The classical oriented Harvest Home Suite making up the last half of the CD changes the mood and requires real listening to capture all the nuances. Great stuff.My only complaint - very minor! - is that Ashokan Farewell again appears on a Jay and Molly CD. It's a great tune but I think it deserves a rest for awhile. On the other hand, if someone has never heard it, this is about the best version they've ever done.Anybody who loves fiddle music needs to have Harvest Home in their collection!"