Album Notes

To listen to Lee Murdock's music is to visualize the long, heavily laden deck of an iron ore freighter being tossed by the waves, to envision a choir singing, feel a lover's lament, nurture a love for an isolated shoreline ... and much more. Murdock's songs create an unforgettable image of commerce and recreation as they coexist on the Great Lakes today, with huge cargo ships traversing vital shipping lanes while pleasure craft of all types and sizes share the water's along North America's fourth coast.

The Freshwater Highway CD takes its title from lyrics of two songs included in the collection, "The Great Lakes Song" (by Pat Dailey and Shel Silverstein), which says

"The Great Lakes are a diamond on the hand of North America,
A bright shining jewel on the Friendship Border ring,
It's a Freshwater Highway, coming down from Canada,
and all along the coastline you can hear the people sing"

and "The Cold Freshwater Trade," written by Warren Nelson, and part of his Big Top Chautauqua production, "Keeper of the Light."