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ARTIST: LISSA SCHNECKENBURGER
TITLE: SONG
LABEL: FOOTPRINT RECORDS
By Barry Smiler
Lissa Schneckenburger is probably best known as one of the
finest New England contradance fiddlers in the
country. If you should happen to have the opportunity to dance to her playing
you are in for a treat.
Her lively fiddling has a magically unique way of energizing
the dancers and driving the dance.
Having said that ... this album is named Song; it isn't named Fiddling. That's because the focus here
is on Lissa singing old and traditional songs from Maine where she grew up. Now, the
instrumental work, by Lissa and others, is very well done, tastefully and
inventively modern, quite listenable stuff. But the playing serves mostly to
support the lyrics, not to stand on its own. If you're mostly a fiddling fan
you might want to wait until 2009 when Lissa releases Dance, a companion CD which will focus on her instrumental work.
Hopefully Lissa will have released Dance
by February when she comes to Los
Angeles for the Fiddling Frog 2009
dance weekend festival.
But as to Song,
if you enjoy unaffected, straight-ahead, classic folk song singing, accompanied
by imaginatively modern yet suitably understated arrangements (tastefully New
England reserved, as it were) you'll like this CD. They're fine songs, all from
Maine, mostly collected by the pioneering
ballad folklorist Phillips Barry from good Maine sources. Ayup.
But why take my word for it? Here on the intertubes we're
not limited by the tired old constraints of twentieth century dead trees media.
Want to listen to a few? Hey, you got it. Here are live
versions of The Fair Maid By The
Sea Shore, Lovely
Jamie, and The Old
Beggar Man.
Lissa also offers samples from the album on her website, her MySpace page, or
from sonicbids.
Her website also has a wonderful poem by Dudley Laufman, the
pioneering fiddler and dance caller who, with the Canterbury Country Dance
Orchestra recorded the very first contradance record almost forty years ago,
called How Contra Dancing Was Invented.
No, I won't tell you exactly where. Go poke around on Lissa's website till you find it. Not
only is the poem well worth the finding, but in the looking you'll discover
lots of other interesting bits she has kindly placed there for our interest,
edification, and amusement. Nice site, Lissa. Thanks for that.
And thanks for Song
too. It's a keeper.
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