Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Land

At the end of this hard week, how wonderful was it to open up a musical treasure from the library hold shelf? This morning we played songs from Happy Land: Musical Tributes to Laura Ingalls Wilder. I was entranced as these wonderful songs (all of them referenced in the Little House books) rolled out of the player, some of them sounding just like I imagined them sounding when played by Pa Ingalls. A few I know from other sources, but many I only know because of "hearing" Pa play and sing them in the books.

Dancing in the kitchen to "Arkansas Traveler" with my husband at lunchtime, inventing harmonies for the "Sweet By and By" while listening with the sweet girl this morning...I just really needed this today. Beautiful fiddle music, beautiful bright bits of Americana.

You can see the disc I'm talking about here.

And oh, I needed the old-time hymns especially. Doesn't this lyric make your heart soar?

To our bountiful Father above, we will offer the tribute of praise;
For the glorious gift of His Love, and the blessings that hallow our days.
In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.
In the sweet by and by, we shall meet on that beautiful shore.


(Joseph Philbrick Webster - tune; Sanford Fillmore Bennett - words)

2 comments:

Erin said...

Can we expect a review of this at some point? :) Sounds like a great album!

Beth said...

I hope so! I'm still loving it and listening to it a lot this week. Just not getting much review time right now. :(