ANNA & ELIZABETH
Anna and Elizabeth
Free Dirt Records

www.freedirtrecords.com
 

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Anna Roberts-Gevalt and Appalachian singer Elisabeth LaPrelle have combined to produce a beautifully crafted collection of songs of sorrow, survival and redemption.

“Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow” shows off their fine vocal harmonies. Elizabeth’s vocal strength is set off by the delicacy of Anna’s softer tones. The stark guitar playing is the perfect setting for the tragic lament of their exquisite voices. This song was learned at the Kentucky Center for Traditional Music, from a 1937 recording of Ms Martha Williams of Leslie County.

The “Soldier and the Lady” tells a familiar tale of failed love but with a jauntier tune and wry humor: “One wife is a plenty too many for me.” Again it has an authentic lineage, via Cari Norris from her grandmother Lily May Ledford who sang this in her band the Coon Creek Girls.

Anna and Elizabeth’s adaptability to different eras of music is revealed in the 1950s track “Father Neptune” (by Connie Converse) about a wife waiting for her errant husband. It’s a light and jazz infused interlude in this historical compendium of music and history.

“Orfeo” sounds like an ancient Celtic song. Enhanced by the atmospheric playing of piper Joey Albarta; it’s a fairy tale version of the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. The ballad is sung beautifully before the song bursts into a fiddling reel. Another Celtic tinged piece is the sinister “Greenwood Sidey.” Austere strumming and haunting voices capture the listener.

“Goin’ Across the Mountain” is a hearty track, again with sublime harmonies and delicious banjo. It’s written by Frank Proffitt about his Civil War ancestry. “Don’t want to Die in the Storm” is unaccompanied and all the more harrowing for the vulnerability and plaintive quality of their voices. Masterful banjo playing opens the uplifting “Troubles”. Yet again, economic poverty inspires the richest art.

Redemption is sought in “Voice from on High.” Their voices weave so divinely you have to believe someone would be listening! Memories of old time church are drawn on in “Won’t you Come and Sing for Me.” Their gentle voices belie the strength of the sentiment in “Very Day I’m Gone (Ramblin Woman)”. This song hails from the Kentucky Ballad singer Addie Graham. Anna and Elizabeth pieced together this song from a short recording provided by Graham’s grandson Rich Kirby. It exemplifies the unaffected independence of spirit and musical integrity which pervade this wonderful CD. “The song will always travel far from the source,” Anna says, “But we remember.”

If you like fine singing, great playing and pure virtuoso performances of Appalachian music, you’ll love this CD. I did!

— Rosa Redoz