Melody's Blog

Today I'm going to write about one group of songs that all have the same performance group singing them and was I ever surprised a few years or so ago when I found this music. I just happened to see a notice that 2015-16 would be Anonymous 4 's last year of performing together. They started singing in 1986 and have only had one change in personnel, an amazing feat. Then I discovered that, as last projects, they had made a trilogy of Americana. Surprise, because over the years, A4 has forged ahead as a quartet of women singing mostly medieval music, with some newly commissioned works thrown in. They have won award after award for their impeccable style and attention to details of historical research. And it is no surprise that the Americana trilogy has been equally researched and equally praised by classical and folk music aficionados. The trilogy consists of American Angels: Songs of Hope, Redemption and Glory ; Gloryland , with folk artists Darol Anger and Mike Marsh...

Another group of songs to reflect a wide range of genres. The first is: " How Beautiful Heaven Must Be " or We Read of a Place That's Called Heaven. The version I love is by George Jones. George Jones, "The  Possum," for you non-country lovers (of which group I used to belong) is possibly (if such a thing can be decided) the greatest country singer of all time. Oh, how I hated him as a child and teen. Now I know better! Two of his greatest hits are, and you should definitely listen to both — your education is not complete unless you know these — " He Stopped Loving Her Today " and " She Thinks I Still Care ." News flash!! Miriam and I hosted a singing at my house Saturday afternoon — I'm really finally just up and about after it as it took all my energy from me, but it was the most fun I've had in ages. Absolutely satisfying in so many ways. We plan to keep doing this. I'll write more about our plan (not that we have one)...

This post is just a selection of different genres — something for everyone! I'll just go in alphabetical order. " Blessed City, Heavenly Salem " — This beautiful English hymn is a translation from a 7th century Latin plainsong, Urbs Beata. The translator is the ubiquitous John Mason Neale, an evangelical Anglican who lived in the 19th century. Although he only lived for 48 years, he packed a lot of writing and translating into that life. We owe a great debt (we hymn-lovers, anyway) for his unceasing work in translating Latin and Greek hymns, writing original hymns as well. If you flip through any standard hymnal you will find many, and I mean really many, hymns with his name on the page. Several others that I will discuss are also from his pen. There is a fairly concise story of his life in Julian ( reproduced in Hymnary.org ). I can see that I really must write a blog post on Julian or on sources for hymnology research.  He was of poor health but wound up being...

Today I thought I'd write about some heavy hitters in my playlist —each there for a variety of reasons. There really is something here for everyone — from classical sacred music, to gospel, to popular, you name it. These five songs have been learned at various times in my lifetime, so I'll start with the one I learned first and maybe one of the first hymns I learned period. "I'll Fly Away " —due to the popularity of this song in the soundtrack of the film, O Brother, Where Art Thou? , this song entered into world of standards, you might say. It was sung by Gillian Welch and Allison Krauss and that is the version I initially had on my playlist. First about the song itself. I alluded to it in an earlier post —it's by the famous (to me and my ilk) Albert E. Brumley. Brumley wrote zillions of songs (well, I read somewhere around 600) and this is, I would say, undoubtedly his most popular. We sang it often in church as I was growing up. I sang in a trio with t...