Album Notes

Bill Schilling has been singing and playing various folk instruments for over 30 years.

He has performed for audiences of all ages in many settings from coast to coast.

His high-energy performances may include songs, slide programs, and/or stories.

He regularly works with various singing and instrumental partners in different groups.

Since Bill believes that his music should be inclusive, he is involved in many organizations which share and promote music including Dulci-More: Folk & Traditional Musicians (Bill is the founder and leader); the annual Dulci-More Festival (Bill is the director); the Canton Folk Song Society (Bill is one of the original members); of Folknet (Bill is a charter Executive Committee Member & Vice-President); and others.

Bill has worked as the Folk Service Leader at the First United Methodist Church of Warren and with other churches. He has books available.

Linda Sigismondi's interest in folk music began with singing and playing guitar around the campfire at Girl Scout camp, and she has continued since, adding mountain dulcimer to her repertoire in the early 1980's.

Linda is the founder and leader of the Banks of the Ohio Dulcimer Club which performs in southeastern Ohio.

In addition to playing with the club, she teaches workshops on mountain dulcimer and performs solo, and with friends, at many festivals.

She co-directs the Fort New Salem Dulcimer Festival in Salem, West Virginia.

Linda has written a few of her own songs, mostly about nature, which seems very appropriate since she is a biology professor at the University of Rio Grande.

She also has written and published several books of her dulcimer arrangements with companion recordings.

Their format is also suitable for voice, guitar, and other instruments.

At various dulcimer and folk festivals, Bill and Linda had been singing around campfires, during workshops, and in concerts together for several years before starting this recording.

They drew from similar sources for different arrangements of many songs and found ways to make them work together, but they didn't have any of the material on this recording in their repertoires.

Each was approached separately during Dulcimer Days at Roscoe Village in 1997 by storyteller Harry Paisley looking for musicians to do background music for a video tape he was planning wherein he would play the role of Pearl Nye.

Bill and Linda each thought of the other to work on this, and they also recruited Marge Diamond for the project.

They started finding and arranging songs by Nye and by others about canals.

When Harry moved away from the area and thought that he could no longer market a video about the canal, Bill and Linda decided to continue with this CD project.

They searched for the right mix of songs to work on the recording.

Gradually they acquired and learned to use various pieces of recording equipment and some new instruments.

Living about five hours apart, each would occasionally pack up instruments and equipment and make the drive to work together.

The instruments and styles are not copies of what Pearl Nye used, but the mix is reminiscent of his tradition, using what was available.