Dan Berggren and Dan Duggan are seasoned solo performers who have released over twenty albums between them. With their traditional folk roots and original songs, they teamed up for this 2001 release with some unique and fun arrangements. Rooted in the Mountains is a collaboration of their 30 year friendship as well as their music making.
Berggren is an award-winning educator and songwriter who grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York. His songs have crossed the country on public radio airwaves and gone around the world in performances in Belgium, Bulgaria, the British Isles, Central Africa and Transylvania. Author Bill McKibben says: \"Dan is a throwback to the old role of the folk singer . . .he’s articulating things that need to be said right now. \"
Duggan is known from Maine to California for his wizardry on hammered dulcimer and flat-picking guitar, for dulcimer workshops, square dance calling, and as recipient of the National Hammered Dulcimer Championship. In fact, Paul Simon asked him to play on his album You’re the One. Dan’s original tunes range from graceful waltzes to intense foot stompers, and have been published in the collection Coming Home.
The Dans\' musical fun is genuine and contagious, as they present a diverse blend of blues and folk, ballads and dance tunes.
Reviews
“A stone cold winner.”
- John Shelton Ivany, New York Times Syndicate
“. . .wonderful CD. This is really the best I`ve got from this musical style this year.”
-Dirk Stursberg, Radio 98.6 Berlin
“The production and recording quality is excellent . . . The musicianship is peerless; Duggan plays hammered dulcimer like rain on the roof in fall, notes cascading almost too fast for the ears to follow. Berggren plays an excellent banjo, bringing out the instrument’s inherent emotional feel . . . [and he] has an expressive, conversational voice, rich and textured. Damn, it’s fun. ”
- Duke Egbert , The Daily Vault
“Together they provide gentle, rustic, and singalong-type songs, sometimes bittersweet and introspective but other times completely frivolous. The tracks on this album represent four decades of songwriting from Berggren, yet flow together with a natural continuity rarely displayed in collections spanning almost 40 years.”
- Dave Sleger, All Music Guide
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