MARGARET MACARTHUR & FAMILY: On The Mountains High

Margaret MacArthur & Family

On The Mountains High

© 2001 Living Folk Records (783707488028)

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Traditional and contemporary folk songs from America and the British Isles, featuring Margaret's legenday dulcimer and harp playing.

notes

Margaret MacArthur grew up hearing traditional music, first in the mountains of northern Arizona where her forester step-father was cruising timber for the Forest Service in the Tonto National Forest, later in southern Missouri where he was raising seedlings for the Mark Twain National Forest, then in Southern California where he was raising guayule rubber plants during the war.

The Vermont Arts Council, in 2002, gave her an Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. Yankee Magazine, July & August 2001, selected her CD Vermont Ballads & Broadsides as one of The Yankee Top 40 of all time. On Vermont Day May 1, 1997, at the invitation of Senator James Jeffords, Margaret MacArthur performed at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. In 1988 she received a commendation from the American Association of State and Local History, an honor from the California Traditional Music Society, and the Eistedfod Award from the University of Southern Massachusetts, North Dartmouth. The 1985 University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Art Biennial Committee named her a "New England Living Art Treasure." She received the Midsummer Festival Award in Montpelier, Vermont, in 1984, and a Citation of Recognition from the Vermont Council of the Arts in 1973.

"On The Mountains High" is a vintage family recording which includes 8 songs that Margaret collected in Vermont, 5 that she collected from Florence Fowler in Kentucky, and 2 songs from the Flanders Collection. It was originally recorded in 1971 but re-released by Living Folk Records in 2001.

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  • Margaret MacArthur
    author: Aron Garceau

    With the Millions and Millions of people in the U.S, it's sad to think that there are so few Margaret MacArthurs. And now the U.S. is one short as Margaret passed on just a year and a half ago. We are lucky however in the fact that Margaret left us with tangible evidence of her life with us in the audio recordings she made and the published work that she shared with us all. On the Mountains High is pure folk music at its best. Just a recording of a family sitting down and sharing music together. If pure folk music is what you're looking for, by this album. If nostalgia and a glance at a time when communication was limited but the substance of communication was great, buy this album. My only complaint does not have to do with the production, the recording or the musicianship on this album but in something that can't be helped and that is that there is just very little in the way of pure Vermont music. We are a young country with very old parents and just like young children today, we learn much of our music from our parents. That is why, even though much of this music was collected in Vermont, 6 of the 8 pieces have strong origins in the British Isles including Ranadine (which is better known as the song Reynardine, you can check wikipedia for info I don't think Margaret had in the 1970s). The two obviously Vermont based songs happen to be about tragic events that happened around the turn of the century. The Stratton Mountain Tragedy and the Central Vermont Railroad Tragedy (shortened to "Central Vermont", track 15) both really live up to their titles. I guess it's fitting for the times that two surviving Vermont ballads from that period aren't about a really great party or some historic barn raising. Folks in the 19th century really had a thing for the macabre but still, I was hoping for something as uplifting as a mountain fairy tale song or something along the lines of an Irish Pub song. If you're looking for a CD of mainly Vermont music, this album is not for you. If you are looking for an album of songs your great-grandparents might have sung then this album IS for you. Margaret released an album later in life which may appeal more to folks interested in Vermont Folk Music. She wrote a number of songs based on historical Vermont figures and events. While regional folk music seems to be a dying tradition due to the wide availability of television, radio, the internet and recorded music, making our world a little bit smaller, parents can get her later CD and start singing this stuff to their children... traditional folk music has to start somewhere... right? All in all this is a fine CD and one I'm glad to have in my collection. I sincerely hope that I, someday, will be able to sit down and make music with my little family just as the MacArthurs did back in 1971.

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