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Twenty-one classic folk
tunes from the acoustic music of the
1960s and early 70s.
This is a live recording of
a 1999 reunion performance given by graduates of Emory & Henry College, who learned
and performed these songs while they were students on this
Appalachian-mountain campus during that era.
Features songs by Bob Dylan, Gordon Lightfoot,
Woody Guthrie, Tom
Paxton and more!
Includes four songs performed by Wayne Hamilton.
You'll want to sing along on every tune! |
The story behind this special recording (from the
liner notes):
On October 8, 1999,
a truly remarkable event occurred on the campus of Emory & Henry College, located in
the Appalachian mountains of Southwestern Virginia. Twelve graduates of the college came
together to perform the folk music they had learned and performed while they attended the
school, during the golden years of the folk revival, between 1961 and 1974.
Most of them knew or knew of the others, but had not seen each other for decades. But in
one way or another, each had kept in touch with the music that reunited them. In the true
spirit of folk, they supported each other through an afternoon rehearsal and an evening
performance. Almost no one performed alone. One player might have a banjo-playing friend
join in on one song and a bass player and another guitarist on another. They helped each
other with chord changes and words to forgotten verses. They opened the show together and
closed the show together. And they gave the alumni and current students two and a half
hours of magic. The current students heard songs they had never heard before, or songs
they only knew through their parents or grandparents. The alumni were transported back to
their days on campus through the music they had known 30 years earlier.
They performed in the college's old gymnasium, the scene of so
many musical events during those years. They stood on the same spot in the room where Pete
Seeger had performed in 1968. They played everything from "old-time" music (that
some call Bluegrass) to songs by John Lennon and Rod Stewart. There weren't enough chairs
to accommodate the audience, so some stood, some sat on the floor, and some perched on the
floor of the indoor track that surrounds the room at a higher level.
Captured on this recording is the result of that remarkable experience: Twenty-one songs
by the best writers of the era, played by people who came from all over the nation to take
part in the concert. This was a once-in-a-lifetime event, and a fitting way to celebrate
the final homecoming of the 20th century. One attending alumni summed it all up after the
show as he spoke to one of the performers; he said, "Thank you for the memory of a
lifetime!"
May each of you have such memories to share and enjoy!
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