Search - Robin Spielberg :: Sea to Shining Sea: A Tapestry of American Music

Robin Spielberg s SEA TO SHINING SEA is a departure from many of her other recordings in that all of the tracks, save for two, are arranged for ensemble. The CD features fresh arrangements of the songs Americans have been singing for a long while: My Bonnie , Danny Boy , Aura Lee , In the Good Old Summertime , The Band Played On , Let Me Call You Sweetheart and more. From the Civil War to the Gold Rush to the great wave of immigration in the early 1900 s, these songs chronicle journeys, hardships and love in music, as a young nation discovers the beauty and the majesty of America. Forever ingrained in the American DNA, this music represents our collective experience. More personally, these are the songs Robin s grandparents sang to her, and when she began to teach them to her daughter, she realized the importance of preserving and sharing the music with a larger audience. I discovered early on that it was nearly impossible to capture the true essence of each song on piano alone, says Spielberg. She began arranging the music for ensemble and invited Grammy-winning oboist/English horn player Nancy Rumbel, cellist Catherine Bent, percussionist Paul Henle, and guitarist/vocalist/fiddler Kate MacLeod to join her in the studio. Robin s daughter Valerie, an eleven-year old aspiring marimbist, played bells and marimba on several tracks including Bicycle Built for Two and My Grandfather s Clock . In a way, I ve been working on this project since I was a toddler, says Spielberg. We had a little organ in our two-family house in Irvington, NJ that kept me quite entertained. My mother had purchased a book of Americana songs and I learned every one in the book by the time I was five. While visiting her sister s house in Massachusetts a few years ago, Spielberg spotted the organ in a storage room. I had forgotten she had it. It brought back all those memories, and all that music; I started thinking about re-visiting my favorite selections and recording them one day. It was loads of fun having Valerie involved, says Robin. Keeping this incredible music alive through the generations motivated this recording. Hearing her hum the songs around the house lets me know in some way I achieved that. The songs on SEA TO SHINING SEA fortified and comforted Americans as the country transitioned from wilderness to the quilted patchwork we now call home. Letters from Robin Spielberg s fans reinforce the impact of her music on their daily lives. Robin s music continues to provide the soundtrack for the American journey.