Gloryland: Folk Songs, Spirituals, Gospel hymns of Hope & Glory

Featuring

Marsha Genensky
Susan Hellauer
Darol Anger
Mike Marshall
Jacqueline Horner
Anonymous 4

Sarah Lancaster
William Walker
Anonymous
Anonymous (Traditional)
James C. Moore
T.W. Carter
William Houser
George Frederick Root
Florence Beatrice Price
Earnest S. Dean
H.W. Vanhoose

Did you know?

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Historical Context

Some revival songs on the album, like "I'm on my Journey Home," "Ecstasy," and "Saint's Delight," were arranged in three-part settings by nineteenth-century Southern tunebook compilers and itinerant singing school masters.

Compositional Technique

Shape-note tunebooks, which were popular in the first half of the nineteenth century, used four different shapes for noteheads (triangle for fa, circle for sol, rectangle for la, and diamond for mi) to help students learn music quickly.

Compositional Technique

Many songs on this album have traveled through both oral and written traditions, with melodies and texts often interchanging; for example, the tune for "Wayfaring Stranger" appears multiple times with different lyrics.

Recording & Production

This album was recorded in October 2005 at Skywalker Sound, a Lucasfilm Ltd. Company, located in Marin County, California.

Performer Biography

Darol Anger, a violinist, fiddler, composer, and producer, helped develop new techniques for playing contemporary music styles on string instruments with the jazz-oriented Turtle Island String Quartet.

Recording & Production

The album was produced by Robina G. Young, with Marsha Genensky as assistant producer, and Brad Michel as the DSD Engineer & Editor.

Composer's Artistic Vision

The songs on this album are filled with imagery of journeys, birds, flying, and crossing the Jordan River, often equating the soul with Noah's weary dove seeking rest.