Review: No Loose Threads - Marcy Prochaska

Marcy has done a great job on this album. So good that it sent me looking for information on this album. This is what I found on www.cutedogmusic.com:

"No Loose Threads is Marcy Prochaska's debut CD. Marcy is a talented and artistic young woman who Rick Davis first met at the Spring 2001 Upper Potomac Dulcimer Festival in Harpers Ferry, WV. To celebrate her first anniversary of playing Hammered Dulcimer, she put on a house concert in Richmond, VA, which included music that was important to her throughout her life. This CD is a studio recording which was developed out of that concert."

Debut album? Folks, this is way better than most debut albums! The songs she's included in this collection are not ones I'd pick for a debut album. These are complex arrangements of some great tunes. Expect to be impressed by this album.

On this album the instrumentals are the stand-out tracks. Each are outstanding arrangements, with just the right instrumentation. Any of these peices could be slipped onto a Maggie Sansone album and they would blend right in.

That's not to say that the 5 vocal tracks were not very well done. They didn't fit as neatly into the mood of the album, but enjoyable just the same.

The opening track on No Loose Threads sets the tone for the whole experience with an outstanding arrangement of waltzes; Rowena's Waltz and Harper's Waltz.

The hammered dulcimer throughout is measured out in pleasing amounts and accompanied by many supporting instruments that round out each song. This was the part of the album that most impressed me. The instrumentals were not over, or under, done.

Other instruments included are guitar, recorder, autoharp, bowed psaltery, whistle, flute, bodhran and lastly (Oh my goodness!) an _electric_ bass.

You will not be disappointed with this album. Myself, I can't wait for her next effort!!

Here's the track list:

1. Rowena's Waltz (T. Seaman) / Harper's Waltz (M. Prochaska)
2. Variations on a Three-Year-Old Theme (M. Prochaska)
3. Let the People Praise (B. Red / G. Hawthorne)
4. Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (J. S. Bach)
5. Be Glorified, Lord (M. Prochaska)
6. Praeludium I (J. S. Bach) / On the Loose (J. Keller)
7. Rad Te Mam (J. Markovova)
8. Soldier's Joy (Trad'l) / Cincinnati (Trad'l)
9. Road to Lisdoonvarna (Trad'l) / South of the James (M. Prochaska)
10. Of the Father's Love Begotten (Trad'l) / Infant Holy (Trad'l)
11. Front Porch Waltz (R. Thum) / Galician Waltz (Trad'l)
12. Timberline Wander (T. Seaman)
13. Carolan's Draught (T. O'Carolan) / Sleepers Awake (J. S. Bach)
14. Winter East and Kensington (M. Prochaska)
15. Big Meadows Twilight (T. Seaman) / Evening's End (M. Prochaska)

If you'd like to hear samples and learn more about this album, go to:
http://mp-dulcimer.tripod.com/noloosethreads.html