Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania

Using an obscure anthology of backwoods tunes for source material, David Bielanko and Christine Smith of the band Marah gathered a group of fellow players in a rural church to rekindle the spirit of an old-fashioned jamboree. Enlisting the help of the townspeople of Millheim, Pa. (population 900), Bielanko and Smith kept the recording tape rolling as assorted tuba players, bagpipers, whistlers, and barbershop singers joined in. The results are found on Mountain Minstrelsy of Pennsylvania, an album that both revives and extends the music of a bygone age with glee, zest, and imagination. You can hear the freewheeling fun in tracks like “A Melody of the Rain,” “An Old Timer’s Plaint," and “Ten Cents at the Gate,” as well as a quirky sort of American mysticism reminiscent of The Band and The Grateful Dead. More reflective pieces like “Luliana” and “The Old Riverman’s Regret” have a quietly elegiac quality that transcends time. Eight-year-old fiddle prodigy Gus Tritsch grabs the spotlight on “Harry Bell” and “Rattlesnake.” Filled with unexpected musical zigzags, Mountain Minstrelsy goes beyond nostalgia to enter fascinating zones all its own.