Making Music Matter

2006 marks a family milestone - Falling Mountain's 15th year of bringing diverse acoustic music in our own eclectic and personal way directly to you. The celebration includes the release of our second sampler CD entitled Making Music Matter: Celebrating 15 Years, a compilation of tracks from our catalog of recordings since our first sampler, a collection from Falling Mountain Music, was released in 1998. The CD includes 20 tracks and over 75 minutes of music including three tracks not currently available anywhere else.

It is a warm sentiment to reflect on all of the growth and change that has occurred here since then. The inaugural compilation included tracks from all 5 of our recording artists and their recordings to date. Our stable of artists then included two singer/songwriters, a Celtic group, and two instrumentalists, all "home-grown" talents here and near the Shenandoah Valley. As we have been compiling tracks from the wealth of recordings we've released since then, it is especially gratifying to see those artists still here and joined by other groups, instrumentalists, singers and songwriters.

We continue to bring you a diversity of contemporary and traditional music from a larger and even more diverse group of artists. For us, just as exciting is to see the collaborative projects that many of these artists are involved with; for instance, Tabby Finch as a solo artist as well as a member of The Bog Wanderers and a collaborator with Linda Hickman, Keith and Joan Pitzer as a duo and with the group Wolf Creek Session, and of course Michael DeLalla having fun collaborating with several different artists over the past few years. While Randy Barrett is heard accompanying
Andrew McKnight on two cuts on the original sampler, he has since released two stellar CDs of his own right here at Falling Mountain, and we know you'll enjoy Randy, Keith and Andrew joining voices and instruments on "1845", a traditional song recorded specifically for this CD and suggested by none other than Debra Cowan.

You will hear award-winning songs from award-winning albums, celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Celtic trio The Unfortunate Rakes and a decade of singer/songwriter Andrew McKnight, and enjoy the many colored threads connecting musical traditions from many lands to deeply rooted contemporary works. Making Music Matter is a delightful audio family album of the many musical interests and explorations of Falling Mountain's artists.

Track List (* denotes previously unreleased)

1. "Halifax Hills" - Randy Barrett, from Lights of Home
2. "Beyond Borders" - Andrew McKnight , from Beyond Borders
3. "Infinite Loops: See Loops, Infinite" - Michael DeLalla , from Soli
4. "Schooner EA Horton" - Debra Cowan, from Dad's Dinner Pail
5. "When Are You Coming to See Me?" - Madeline MacNeil and Ralph Lee Smith, from Across the Blue Ridge
6. "Bitter Blood" - wild carrot, from Hope
7. "Do Still Waters Run Still Run Deep" - Keith & Joan Pitzer , from West Virginia Serenade
8. "The Faery Reel/Pigeon On The Gate/The Cameronian" - The Bog Wanderers, from Here's To You
9. "Keepers of the Mountains" - Elaine Purkey, from Moving Mountains: Voices of Appalachia Rise Up Against Mountaintop Removal Coal Mining
10. "1845" - Randy Barrett, Andrew McKnight, and Keith Pitzer (* Recorded Autumn 2005, Falling Mountain Studio)
11. "Bonnie Ship The Diamond/Fermoy Lasses" - Wolf Creek Session, from Between Two Shores
12. "Diary" - Andrew McKnight with Mary Byrd Brown, from Turning Pages
13. "Big Road Blues" - wild carrot , from Defined
14. "Red-Haired Boy" - Michael DeLalla and Andrew McKnight (* Recorded Winter 2006 at Falling Mountain Studio)
15. "Punta Allen/Ku Ha" - Linda Hickman with Tabby Finch, from The Windy Day
16. "Darlin' Corey" - Debra Cowan with Geoff Bartley, from The Long Grey Line
17. "The Silver Dagger" - Keith & Joan Pitzer, from The Long Journey
18. "Hold Me Forever" - Randy Barrett, from Each & Every Day
19. "Siguiriya" - Oxymora, from Thundering Silence
20. "Opening Air/The Unfortunate Rake/The Road to Lisdoonvarna/Morrison's Jig" - The Unfortunate Rakes, from Rakes Alive!