After more than 20 years of musical friendship sharing stages, studios and even membership in the same band, "Under American Skies" is the first full-length recorded collaboration between Tom Paxton and Anne Hills, two of the best songwriters and folk singers in the world. Their new CD on Appleseed Recordings was created with the dual intention of reviving some of the finest topical but timeless songs of the last four decades and capturing two great artists reveling in each other's voices, words and music.
"Under American Skies" was inspired by a conversation between Anne Hills and Appleseed Recordings president Jim Musselman at an outdoor folk festival a few years ago. Both were lamenting the fading status of meaningful songs written in the Sixties and Seventies - while fine new songs are continually being created, some of the earlier classics were receding from performance and memory.
Who better to enlist in a musical reclamation of ever-relevant and moving original folk songs from the genre's heyday than Tom Paxton, who had authored so many of them and already had a history of working with Anne? Of the 14 songs on "Under American Skies," four were written by Paxton alone, two by Hills, and most of the others drawn from the "folk movement" songbooks, including Richard Farina's "Birmingham Sunday," about the 1963 racially motivated church bombing that killed four little girls; Malvina Reynolds' gently metaphorical "God Bless the Grass"; the anthemic "Carry It On" by Gil Turner, and more recent compositions by Tom Russell ("Manzanar," about the Japanese-American internment camps during World War II) and the late Kate Wolf (her previously unrecorded "Links in the Chain"). The title song, a brand new Paxton/Hills composition, decries the American judicial system and the plight of its victims.
Regardless of authorship, Paxton and Hills split or share vocal honors unselfishly - he sings some of her songs, she sings some of his, and their voices frequently alternate and unite in heartfelt counterpoint and harmony. Strong, sensitive acoustic accompaniment is provided by a group of musicians that includes guitarist Al Pettaway, pianist Jon Carroll (from Mary Chapin Carpenter's band), and Anne herself on banjo and harmonica. The disc concludes with "And Lovin' You," an archival 1985 live radio performance by the Best of Friends trio of the early Eighties that comprised Paxton, Hills and Bob Gibson; Appleseed is releasing the rest of that live "Best of Friends" show in February 2004.
"Under American Skies" embodies all the best impulses and achievements of modern day folk music - it is conscious of history, heart and humanity, and incorporates personal, social and political concerns without preachiness or overt sentimentality.
Bios:
The mutual admiration society between Tom Paxton and Anne Hills that reached full fruition on "Under American Skies" has its roots in the early Sixties, when a young Tom Paxton started performing in New York City's Greenwich Village coffeehouses during and after his six-month stint in the Army reserves in Fort Dix, N.J. The Chicago native helped to define the burgeoning folk movement with his original songs, which ranged from the lighthearted ("Bottle of Wine," a Top 40 hit for The Fireballs) to the personal ("Ramblin' Boy," "The Last Thing on My Mind") to the politically pointed ("Whose Garden Was This," "Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation," "Jimmy Newman"), templates for generations of folksingers to come. Between his own recordings (over thirty albums), worldwide tours, and a myriad of cover versions of his songs by artists ranging from Pete Seeger to Willie Nelson to Placido Domingo, Tom Paxton has won his place as a voice of many generations. As Nanci Griffith put it, "I think we are all born singing Tom Paxton songs." His series of critically acclaimed and award-winning recordings and books for children has kept his influence fresh and active.
Anne Hills, born in Moradabad, India, to American missionaries, was far too young and far too far away to be among Tom's first fans. She finally connected with his music as a student at the Interlochen Arts Academy in Michigan in the Seventies. "I remember being in my dorm room at Interlochen and hearing him sing for the first time," she recalls in their new CD's liner notes. "I didn't know that it was possible to do what was done in theater and speeches in just one four-minute song. I didn't know that a writer could turn the world for the listener and change their political point of view from a personal place."
After forming a folk trio at Interlochen, Anne moved to Chicago's fertile acoustic music scene in 1976. Before the decade had ended, she found herself overdubbing backing vocals on Paxton's "Up and Up" live album (in his absence). "The harmony vocals were added after I'd left town, so all I knew of Anne in the beginning was that she sure could sing," says Paxton.
After a few more studio sessions together, Tom and Anne and singer/songwriter/producer Bob Gibson banded together in the early Eighties as "Best of Friends," a trio that lasted several years without making any formal recordings (although a 1985 live CD will be released by Appleseed in February 2004. The group eventually dispersed and the members returned to their separate careers.
As the world-renowned Paxton resumed his schedule of recordings, performances and writings, Anne Hills was just starting to move up the ladder of achievement and recognition, with other collaborations playing an important part. Her solo albums, starting with 1984's "Don't Explain," have been interspersed with projects co-billed with other musicians, most frequently Cindy Mangsen and Priscilla Herdman. Her latest collaboration is as a member of Fourtold, a quartet consisting of singer-songwriters Mangsen, Steve Gillette, and another frequent Hills associate, Michael Smith; their self-titled CD was released in 2003. Anne has also recorded songs for prestigious tribute albums to Pete Seeger ("Where Have All the Flowers Gone" and "Seeds" on Appleseed) and Phil Ochs ("What's That I Hear"). Anne's commitment to social justice and to children has led her to perform in numerous benefit concerts and community service programs, and she has expanded her creative palette to include occasional theater projects and (shades of Paxton!) authorship of a children's book, 1997's Dreamcatcher, based on one of her songs. She currently lives in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, with husband Mark Moss, editor of Sing Out! magazine, and their daughter.
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