Search - Matthew Sabatella :: Ballad of America Volume 1: Over a Wide and Fruitful Land

This is the story of the United States of America vividly told through a wealth of traditional folk songs. The early settlers in the New World played and sang a variety of songs from their native homelands as they worked, prayed, and enjoyed leisure activities. By the time of the American Revolution, they were adapting these songs and creating new ones that reflected their ever-changing circumstances and environment. The journey on this CD begins in the latter part of the eighteenth century when the United States of America became an independent nation. It follows the paths of the pioneers, sailors, lumberjacks, immigrants, '49ers, farmers, slaves, soldiers, cowboys, and railroaders who moved the country across the continent and into the twentieth century. The all-acoustic "Ballad of America Volume 1" features Sabatella on guitar with a host of musical guests who make contributions on banjo, fiddle, concertina, resonator guitar, bodhran, harmonica, mandolin, and upright bass. But the focal point of the album is Sabatella?s mesmerizing baritone voice, which infuses the nineteenth century songs, many virtually forgotten, with an immediacy and intimacy that belies their age.