Harvest Home opens with a deceptively simple piece composed by Molly Mason. The sound is cool, clear and soothing, like the trickling of a stream. Jay Ungar is on fiddle and Molly Mason plays acoustic guitar and sings. Somehow, the world seems less crazy than it did just a minute ago. Molly drives home the point in her lyrics. "Each seed holds a perfect plan, in harmony with earth and man."
The first track is just a portal to a bountiful land where the trees grow tall and roots go deep. Harvest Home is filled with wonderful music and musicians -- fourteen tracks, 59.6 minutes: The Farmer's Set, Prairie Spring, Haymakers's Hoedown, Solstice Hymn, The Harvest Home Suite performed with the Nashville Chamber Orchestra and so much more. One of my favorites is La Chanson De Mardi Gras, a delectable Cajun piece featuring Christine Balfa on vocals and triangle. Christine Balfa's thin and sexy voice and oh that triangle she plays just drive me crazy.
But really, to focus on any one track in this CD is not fair. I have listened to Harvest Home now many times and always play it through from beginning to end. It is an experience that I look forward to and seem to enjoy more every time I play the CD.
I also treasure my other CDs by Ungar and Mason. If you buy Harvest Home and then like me go begging for more, try The Lovers' Waltz. You won't be disappointed with that one either. (Amazon Review)