Recorded at Cedarhouse Sound, New London, and Fishtraks, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Includes liner notes by Jack Beard, Lynn Martin and Kate Van Winkle Keller.
All tracks have been digitally mastered using HDCD technology.
New Hampshire is one of the American locales in which square dancing is most popular, both in contra dances (in which two lines of partners face each other) and square dances (in which four couples arrange themselves in a square formation). This 67-minute disc has 16 tunes suitable for the purpose, recorded in early 1999 by half a dozen bands active in the New Hampshire square dancing community. It's heaviest, as you might expect, on the fiddle, also including some dulcimer, mandolin, flute, and other instrumentation. The repertoire concentrates on music derived from British Isles and Celtic folk, including reels, jigs, and a couple of slower waltzes that break up the pace nicely; some of the songs include dance callers. It's more fun to dance to than listen to, but it's well recorded and annotated, and indeed probably good fodder for practicing these styles of folk dancing. ~ Richie Unterberger
Professional Reviews
Dirty Linen (2-3/00, p.87) - "...fills the gap [of] the traditional dance music of the New England states....Fiddles predominate, pianos are the main accompaniment, and the musical style could be likened to Canadian dance bands and Irish Ceili bands..."
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