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A
Great Review From Activist, Singer Songwriter Anne Feeney
Fellow Travelers' Advisory
from Anne Feeney
"Born of Fire" - The NewLanders
"Born of Fire" is 11 Songs of Steel and Industry collected by Paula
Purnell and innovatively arranged by the NewLanders for this project of
the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
I should have known that any musical project undertaken by regional
treasure Paula Purnell and multi-instrumentalist and engineer
extraordinaire Doug Wilkin would be of exceptional quality. In addition to
Doug and Paula the NewLanders feature Art Gazdik on mandolin and violins
and vocals and Gerard Rohlf on 6 and 12 string guitars. The project is
enhanced considerably by the budget provided by several area foundations,
enabling the NewLanders to engage the services of a wide variety of
talented musicians from around Pittsburgh.
In live performance the songs are accompanied by a powerpoint show of
paintings from steel and industry assembled by The Westmoreland. This
brilliant recording paints pictures of its own. The recording contains
some familiar material - Woody Guthrie's "Hard Travelin'" and a delightful
arrangement of "Bread and Roses" using Mimi Farina's melody. Deborah
Silverstein's classic song about strip mining - "Draglines" - is given
respectful treatment. Gerard Rohlf's original about riverboat captain
Spike Crain sits nicely in the project.
The most noteworthy contribution made by
"Born of Fire" is the breathtaking arrangement and performance of many
largely unknown songs written at the dawn of Pittsburgh's industrial era.
"Twenty-Inch Mill" (c. 1870), "Where the Old Allegheny and Mongahela Flow"
(c. 1910), "The Altoona Freight Wreck" (1926), "I Lie in the American
Land" (c. 1899), "Two Cent Coal" (c. 1877) and "In Soho on a Saturday
Night" (c. 1855) are beautifully revived in this recording. The NewLanders
vocal harmonies are flawless.
The show-stealer in my opinion is "Coal Diggin Blues," collected by George
Korson in 1940, but sung by African-American coal miners as early as 1840.
A must for any union member's record collection - and a much more
authentic expression of true Pittsburgh than overpriced sweatshop-made
sports items. Available at CDBaby ... and while you're there, buy
"Where the Allegheny Flows."
Exhibit Preview: 'Born of Fire' forges overview of steelmaking heritage
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
By John Hayes, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
The industrialization of Southwestern Pennsylvania meant more than commerce.
The region's culture had to first evolve to accept the concept that
entrepreneurs could legitimately seek unlimited wealth and later adapt to
the idea of servitude to patriarchal corporations.
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Francis Komperda's oil painting,
"Portrait of Mike Kessel" (c. 1938-40), is part of the "Born of Fire"
multimedia exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art in
Greensburg.
Click photo for larger image.
'Born of Fire'
 Where: Westmoreland Museum of
American Art, Greensburg.
When: Preview and reception 5:30
to 9 p.m. Saturday. Exhibit runs Sunday through Sept. 3.
Tickets: Free; 724-837-1500.
Preview and reception 5:30 to 9 p.m. Saturday. Exhibit runs Sunday
through Sept. 3.
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To this day, much of what we are as Pittsburghers, good and bad, is
rooted in those notions -- many of us are no more than a generation or two
out of the mills.
That's a lot of cultural anthropology to swallow, particularly when it's
explained through the abstract imagery of art. But that's the goal of an
ambitious, multidiscipline exhibition conceived by the Westmoreland Museum
of American Art in Greensburg.
"Born of Fire" attempts to tell the human story of industrialization
through period paintings, a catalog book of the collection, songs about the
region, a documentary film, historical analysis, a steelworkers' picnic and
a road tour, still under construction, that organizers hope will take
perceptions of Pittsburgh's industrialization across America and around the
world.
Like the wildfire industrial expansion that came to define Pittsburgh,
"Born of Fire" started as a spark and grew exponentially.
"We have a large permanent collection of paintings, 'Valley of Work:
Scenes of Industry,' " said Amy Baldonieri, the Westmoreland's director of
development and finance. "It's about 140 paintings in all, relating to the
steel and coal and glass industries in Pittsburgh and Southwestern
Pennsylvania. 'Born of Fire' began several years ago as an exploration of
ways to use the collection to increase earned income while forwarding the
museum's mission of educating the public about the region's steel heritage."
First came a search for funding to compile a catalog documenting the
permanent collection. At about the same time, a local folk group, The
NewLanders, approached the West-moreland about marketing its first CD, a
collection of old songs written about the region's heritage.
"In a meeting somebody said, 'Wouldn't it have been great if they had put
one of our paintings on the CD cover?' " said Baldonieri. "Then it was,
well, why don't we commission them to do an album? And if we're going to
have an album about the collection, why not exhibit more than just the 50 or
60 paintings that we had on view?"
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The NewLanders, from left, Gerard Rohlf,
Doug Wilkin, Art Gazdik and Paula Purnell, will perform Saturday at the
Westmoreland Museum.
Click photo for larger image.
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At the same time, Massachusetts filmmaker Bill Mosher was taping a
segment about the museum for the PBS TV series "Visionaries," hosted by Sam
Waterston. Mosher wanted to do a documentary film about Pittsburgh told
through the paintings of the permanent collection. Baldonieri tied the
expanding exhibit to a line of "Born of Fire" merchandise, from T-shirts to
a box set including the CD, the documentary film and the catalog. And since
they were showcasing the lives of steelworkers, why not invite former
steelworkers to the opening? And why stop there? Why not take the whole
project on a tour of industrial cities of the world?
Each time the Westmoreland threw another brick into the hopper, more
foundation money and donations were collected to pay for it. The result is
an expansive multimedia exhibition that attempts to chronicle through art
the cultural costs and benefits of our region's "valley of work."
The Valley of Work: Scenes of Industry.
On exhibit for the first time, the complete collection of more than 140
paintings, photographs and works on paper, 1900 to the present, documents
Pittsburgh's industrial past. Many of the works are 100 years old or more,
but local contemporary artists represented in the collection include Ron
Donoughe, Mark Perrott, Clyde Hare, Aaronel deRoy Gruber, Cynthia Cooley,
Pam Bryan and Raymond L. DeFazio. After the exhibit closes in September, it
will travel through 2009 to museums in other industrial towns. The first
overseas show will be in Oberhausen, Germany, in February.
"Born of Fire: The Valley of Work."
A catalog book documenting the permanent collection was written by
Westmoreland curator Barbara L. Jones, with analysis by Edward Muller of the
University of Pittsburgh and Joel Tarr of Carnegie Mellon University.
"Born of Fire: Songs of Steel and
Industry." Pittsburgh folk group The NewLanders researches old songs
about the region and gives them new life through contemporary
interpretations that range from acoustic to electric. The group, named for
the marketeers whom William Penn sent to Europe to recruit Colonists for his
new Pennsylvania, debuts its CD with a release party, 6:30 p.m. Saturday, at
the Westmoreland museum.
"We wanted to tell the human story of steel in art and music," says the
band's Paula Purnell. "Researching these songs, I've found a much deeper
respect for industrial culture than I had before. Growing up here, the steel
mills were big stinky places that smelled like rotten eggs. But the
experience of researching the songs and connecting to other people who
worked on the trains and in the mines and on the barges and in the mills has
transcended my childish visions of what it all represented."
"Born of Fire: How Pittsburgh Built a
Nation." The 60-minute documentary film by award-winning producer Bill
Mosher includes paintings from the permanent collection, period photos,
analysis by historians and the music of The NewLanders. It premieres at 5:30
p.m. Saturday at Greensburg Middle School, across the street from the
museum.
"It's not a traditional historical documentary, not a chronicle of
events," says Mosher. "It's about how the steel industry impacted on
American culture, as seen through the eyes of art. A decision was made by
the American public that defines who we are even today: We had to accept
that an individual could have unlimited wealth and make decisions about the
lives of other people. It's a belief that Americans didn't have before the
late 1800s, that any kind of progress is good as long as it leads to more
jobs in greater convenience. Initially, artists thought the Industrial
Revolution was ugly, but later a new group of artists found astounding
beauty in the industrial process."
Born of Fire: A Steelworkers Picnic.
Starting at 6:30 p.m., includes free ethnic food, a cash bar and "Bessie the
Bessemer," a larger-than-life inflatable public artwork on loan from The
Sprout Fund and Pittsburgh Roars. It's on Park Street, Greensburg, between
Greensburg Salem Middle School and the Westmoreland Museum of American Art.
(John Hayes can be reached at
jhayes@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1991. )
The NewLanders
'reinvent' old songs
By Amanda Cochran
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Sunday, September 11, 2005
Their songs tell the story of a bygone era of mining kings and
smokestacks billowing over the southwestern Pennsylvania landscape, but The
NewLanders' tunes have a contemporary flavor.
"We don't try to recreate the songs; we reinvent them," said Doug Wilkin,
52, of Greensburg, who performs vocals and plays guitar, bass guitar and
harmonica in the acoustic band.
The quartet of area musicians -- Wilkin; Paula Purnell of
Greensburg; Art Gazdik of Pittsburgh; and Gerard Rohlf of
Pittsburgh -- perform a variety of ballads, from pre-revolutionary British
soldiers' songs to tunes of the strip-mining industry in the 1960s.
Wilkin said the band's name, which refers to William Penn's ambassador
agents who enticed early immigrants to come to Pennsylvania, is more than a
name. He said it identifies the band's calling, similar to that of Penn's
advocates.
"That's essentially what we do," Wilkin said. "We're telling people how
cool western Pennsylvania is. We bring these old stories to new audiences by
making them hip."
Just as Penn's newlanders wore new clothing to attract immigrants, The
NewLanders' new sound reaches listeners with rock, jazz and pop interests.
Wilkin said each of his bandmates brings his or her own style to the band.
"We all play differently but when we get together, somehow the four
pieces fit," Wilkin said. "It's very serendipitous."
Wilkin said that the members aren't highly trained, adding that the
majority of their knowledge comes from watching other players. The lack of
extensive classical learning doesn't hamper the group's performances, he
added.
"We've played in a lot of bars and in a lot of bands," Wilkin said.
"We're not new pickers. There's not a weak link."
Some elements of their historical songs, found in library and Smithsonian
records, pose a challenge to the musicians. Repetitive melodies and an
excessive number of verses, Purnell said, can influence the performance
quality. She said the band works to add new elements to the song, like a
bridge, or pick out the most important verses, while still working to
preserve the song's original message.
"We try to maintain the feel (of the song)," Purnell said.
Wilkin said the band occasionally starts out with a couple of lyrics and
chords and they make the song over completely.
"They're almost unlistenable," he said. "We really make them rock."
Mainstream instruments, such as the acoustic and electric guitar and
violin, join folk instruments such as the Appalachian dulcimer, the bones,
jaw harp, mandolin and harmonica in the NewLanders' music.
The bones, a percussion instrument that makes a rhythmic click-clack
sound, shows how much people of the past loved music, Purnell said. Now
plastic and wood, they were once real bones.
"They used whatever was around (as instruments) -- including their
leftovers," she said.
The NewLanders continue that love for music in their ongoing work
together.
In their four years as a band, The NewLanders produced two albums, "Where
the Allegheny Flows" and the currently unreleased "Born of Fire," a
corroborative effort with the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and the
Rivers of Steel National Heritage Area.
The band performed in Harrisburg last year in the House of
Representatives, as well as several historical engagements across the
southwestern Pennsylvania area.
The NewLanders will perform Sept. 17 at Fulton House in New Derry to
benefit the Derry Area Historical Society membership drive. Bob Reintgen,
president of the Derry Area Historical Society, said the society chose the
NewLanders because they respect history, but have a refreshing sound.
"It's neat and novel," Reintgen said.
Reintgen hopes the drive will boost a younger membership of teens and
young families. He said a buzz is already building in the Derry Area High
School about the September event.
"We're expecting an eclectic crowd," he said. "We're redefining what a
young member is."
He said The NewLanders will attract many people from the area, primarily
because of the music's subject.
"This area was built on the blue collars' shoulders. The NewLander stuff
is their cup of tea."
Appreciation of The NewLanders' music transcends generations, as Purnell
discovered.
Purnell often performs during residencies and workships on historic folk
music and songwriting for the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. She said
when she lectures, she talks with family members who have been singing The
NewLanders' revamped songs for years.
"It's so nice to hear that these songs are connected to these people's
lives this way," Purnell said.
There's no end in sight for The NewLanders, according to Wilkin.
"We all enjoy it so much," he said. "We'd probably do this even if we
didn't want a band and even if we didn't want to record." |
BORN OF FIRE
Bands get signed all the time, but how many sign with a museum? The
NewLanders are a Pittsburgh-area folk group that researches and revamps
songs written over the centuries about southwestern Pennsylvania. They've inked
a deal with Greensburg's Westmoreland Museum of American Art that links the
band's next CD to an upcoming exhibit examining the century of steel that built
Pittsburgh. "Born of Fire," the exhibit, CD and film documentary, will premier
in June 2006.
-- By John Hayes, Post-Gazette
staff writer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette 8/25/2005
NEWLANDERS OPEN FOR
HISTORIAN DAVID McCULLOUGH AT THE ANNUAL SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE'S MILLENNIUM
LECTURE AT THE STATE CAPITAL IN HARRISBURG
"Your songs, just like David
McCullough's message, provide powerful images of our nation's heritage and raise
the spirit of Pennsylvania's rich past." Mr. John M. Perzel, The Speaker of the
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Speaker of the House John M. Perzel Names
Pulitzer Prize-Winning Writer and Historian David McCullough as the
Speaker’s Millennium Lecturer 2004
Harrisburg – Speaker of the House John M. Perzel has
arranged for acclaimed writer and historian David McCullough and the
Pittsburgh based band the NewLanders to present a free public
lecture and musical performance in the Hall of the House of the
Pennsylvania State Capitol. The event will be the fifth consecutive
Millennium Lecture in the 323-year history of the Pennsylvania House of
Representatives.
The Speaker’s Millennium Lecture is
scheduled for Monday, November 8, 2004 at 6:30 p.m. In addition, the
Pennsylvania Cable Network will broadcast the event live across the state.
Perzel has invited the Pulitzer
Prize-winning writer to deliver remarks on the value of history to the
House and Senate, guests from the Governor’s Cabinet and Office, the
Judiciary, the Pennsylvania Humanities Council, the Pennsylvania
Historical and Museum Commission, the Office of Commonwealth Libraries,
statewide scholars, students and other guests.
“In his writings, McCullough provides
us with powerful images within our nation’s heritage,” said Perzel in
making the announcement, who continued, “We are honored to have one of our
Commonwealth’s greatest historians share his thoughts and insight on the
value of history with Pennsylvanians.”
Michael Tomor, Executive Director of
the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art, and Chair of the Pennsylvania
Humanities Council remarked, “We at the Humanities Council are extremely
pleased that David McCullough will present this year’s Millennium
Lecture. McCullough reminds us that our history is full of vibrant,
powerful stories and that these stories are an important part of our lives
as we look to the future.”
The state Humanities
Council again is a partner with the Speaker’s Office in producing the
event.
Joseph J. Kelly, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania
Humanities Council, commented, “Less than a week after the election, David
McCullough will give us a perspective on American life that comes from
deep learning in history and critical understanding – truly a humanities
perspective.”
The event will also include a musical
performance by Pittsburgh-based folk musicians, the NewLanders, playing
historic songs from McCullough’s home town.
Following the lecture there will be a reception in the Rotunda of the
Capitol where guests will have the opportunity to meet McCullough, who
will be signing books at that time. Books must be purchased in advance.
McCullough, who lives in Maine,
spent the early years of his life in Pittsburgh, PA., and is twice winner
of the National Book Award and twice winner of the Pulitzer Prize. He has
been called a "master of the art of narrative history." His books have
been praised for their exceptional narrative sweep, their scholarship and
insight into American life, and for their literary distinction. John
Adams, his most recent work, hit the New York Times bestseller
list at number one and has remained on the list for more than a year.
His books include The Johnstown Flood,
The Great Bridge, The Path between the Seas, Mornings on
Horseback, Brave Companions, and Truman. As may be said of few
writers, none of his books has ever been out of print.
The
NewLanders are a Pittsburgh based band that promotes the history of
Western Pennsylvania by performing our forgotten songs was voted by
Calliope, the Pittsburgh Folk Music Society, as having one of the “10
Best” CDs of 2003. Their CD titled “Where the Allegheny Flows” was
included with CDs by such artists as the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Bruce
Cockburn and Gillian Welch. The list was published in the Pittsburgh City
Paper on 12/31/2003.
The NewLanders CD, “Where the Allegheny Flows,”
includes 10 historical songs by and/or about, the people of southwestern
Pennsylvania. Culled from Library of Congress files and local folklore,
the songs document the evolution of the region from the 18th
century to the mid-20th century. Contemporary arrangements
combining elements of folk, rock and the blues make old tunes sound new
again. A NewLanders performance includes richly layered harmony,
traditional instruments including the Appalachian lap dulcimer, fiddle,
mandolin, jaw’s harp and the bones, as well as electric guitar, slapping
bass and driving percussion.
The name, NewLanders, is taken from the name
given to the agents that William Penn hired to tell Europeans about the
opportunities awaiting them in the “new land.”
The NewLanders CD is available at
www.westsylvania.org. Visitors may also download song
samples, and order the CD at
www.newlanders.com
NewLanders - Paula Purnell, Gerard Rohlf, Doug Wilkin and Art Gazdik,
with bassist David Yates, have been playing music together in a variety
of venues for many years. This new project allows them an opportunity to
blend their musical styles, while exploring southwestern Pennsylvania’s
rich history and musical heritage.
Last year,
over 450 guests attended the Speaker’s Millennium Lecture 2003 when
novelist and Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Anna Quindlen delivered the
address. Other past speakers include historian, author and W.E.B. Du Bois
Professor of Humanities at Harvard, Dr. Henry Louis Gates, Jr.,
World-famous radio broadcast celebrity and author, Studs Terkel and
historian and Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Dr. James M. McPherson.
NATIONAL PBS PROGRAM "THE VISIONARIES" FILMS THE BAND
Our Partnership
the Westmoreland Museum of American Art will be featured on TV series
By Jennifer Reeger
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Thursday, April 29, 2004
Judith H. O'Toole understands most people probably don't think of museums as
agents of social change.
They might think organizations that feed the hungry and shelter the
homeless make the only difference. Or that museums are static institutions
that only offer people a place to go to see paintings.
As director and chief executive officer of the Westmoreland Museum of
American Art in Greensburg, O'Toole knows that museums can change people. They
can offer insight into the past. They can be interactive. They can be
visionary.
"We feel as an art museum, it's the whole notion that if you didn't have
the art, if you didn't have history ... these are the things that really make
a culture. These are the things that really make a human being."
The interaction between the Westmoreland Museum of American Art and its
community will be highlighted in an episode of "The Visionaries," a public
television series set to film there next week.
Since 1995, "The Visionaries" has profiled the work of nonprofit
organizations throughout the world. The Greensburg museum will be the first
museum and only the second cultural organization to be featured on the
program, O'Toole said.
"We are extremely excited about this," O'Toole said. "We are gratified to
get this kind of recognition. We are thrilled that we're the first art museum.
We've been trying to think in innovative ways for a good number of years."
Bill Mosher, creator and executive producer of "The Visionaries," could not
be reached for comment yesterday.
But the program's Web site describes each 30-minute documentary episode as
showing "that ordinary people are making a difference."
"The goals of the series are simple: honor the work of these otherwise
unsung heroes while simultaneously inspiring viewers to take up a cause of
their own choosing," the Web site said.
O'Toole said museum officials applied in early February to be featured and
were accepted later that month. O'Toole said the museum has been visionary
through its innovative partnerships and programs and some risk-taking.
Filming will occur over three days next week and will highlight three of
the museum's programs.
One, called "Every Picture Tells a Story," connects fourth-graders' study
of Pennsylvania history with the paintings in the museum and with guest
speakers.
Another program under development, "Born of Fire," is a collaboration among
the museum, the Rivers of Steel National Heritage Corridor and the
NewLanders, a folk music group.
Together, they are developing a CD-ROM focusing on the region's industrial
era through artwork, the sites of steel mills and the songs of the time.
"The Visionaries" program also will focus on the museum's support of
regional artists, O'Toole said.
Jennifer Reeger can be reached at
jreeger@tribweb.com or (724) 836-6155.
OUR FIRST CD HITS "TOP 10 LIST"
Pittsburgh City Paper
12/31/2003
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Top 10 CDs of 2003 FROM THE CD PLAYERS OF THE STAFF OF CALLIOPE, THE
PITTSBURGH FOLK MUSIC SOCIETY
not necessarily in any particular order
Gillian Welch, Soul Journey (ACONY)
Marcia Bail, So Many Rivers (ALLIGATOR)
The Iguanas, Plastic Silver 9 Volt Heart (YEP ROC)
Vasen, Trio (NORTHSIDE)
Pierre Bensusan, Anthology (ENG)
David Long, Midnight from Memphis (BIG EVE MUSIC)
The NewLanders, Where The Allegheny Flows
(WESTSYLVANIA)
Lunassa, Redwood (GREEN LINNET)
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will the Circle Be Unbroken (CAPITOL)
Bruce Cockburn, You've Never Seen Everything (ROUNDER)
As Published in the Pittsburgh City Paper December 31, 2003
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THEY LOVE US
IN NEW ZEALAND
The NewLanders are getting airplay in New Zealand
DJ Eddie O'Strange, the host of the Town And Country radio show writes:
"This is the most attractive album I've heard for some time. What lovely
voices. What interesting arrangements. What feel. And diction to boot. What
more could anyone ask for! You've made everything sound fresh and relevant
again. Just hearing you has restored my faith in music from the heart."
Cheers, Eddie O'Strange
Town and Country Radio Show, 783 KHz AM, New Zealand |
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Local Seen 1/30/2004
Calliope: The Pittsburgh Folk Music
Society has issued a list of its best records of 2003, and along with artists
like Gillian Welch, Marcia Ball and Bruce Cockburn, it includes Pittsburgh band
The NewLanders, which released "Where the Allegheny Flows." The CD features 10
historical songs by or about the people of southwest Pennsylvania. For more
details, go to www.newlanders.com.
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Wednesday, 8/20/2003
City Scenes: Johnstown fest offers 60 acts
This year's annual Johnstown FolkFest,
Aug. 29-31 [2003], will be a family affair including more than 60 performances
on five main stages. Musical genres range from rock to roots and from Latino to
Irish, spotlighting performers as diverse as the back-country blues of the
Tarbox Ramblers, Those Darn Accordions and the NewLanders' historical songs from
and about Western Pennsylvania.
Produced by the Johnstown Area Heritage
Association, the outdoor festival will be held in a 10-block area of the
historic Cambria County town. For schedules, directions or more information call
1-888-222-1889.
John Hayes
Pittsburgh Post Gazette, 3/03/2003
Music Preview: Family history inspires
Newlanders
By John Hayes, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
The story begins in 1778 when Englishman William Foy
took the Oath of Pennsylvania and settled near Fort Pitt. Some 200 years later,
one of his progeny, Greensburg's Paula Purnell, was researching songs about
Pennsylvania when she uncovered details of her family history and forged a new
appreciation for the region.
Seven albums into her career, Purnell is a full-time
musician playing folk-rock originals with Zen Again, cover tunes with various
duos and trios, and children's programs at school assemblies. She's also a
rostered songwriter with the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. But she doesn't
write the music performed by her new project, Newlanders; some of the songs are
as old as the state itself.
"The research started focusing on Western Pennsylvania
history," says Purnell. "Growing up, I didn't know anything about it, so I got
excited about the music."
Pouring through library volumes and the Library of
Congress Web site, she found folk ballads based on ancient English marching
songs and newer tunes about the region.
"I was telling [family members] about some of the songs
we're doing," says Purnell, "and they started telling me about my
great-grandmother's brother, William Henry Foy, who was shot by the Pinkertons
at the Homestead Strike."
Purnell invited some friends, Gerald Rohlf and Art
Gazdik, to work with her on the old songs. Coincidentally, Rohlf's
great-grandparents had been killed and his grandmother orphaned in the 1889
Johnstown Flood.
"So these songs are part of very personal histories,"
says Purnell. "We very quickly realized that a lot of people in this area share
the history that's in these songs."
Greensburg guitarist Doug Wilkin was recruited to help
give the songs contemporary folk sensibilities.
"A lot of the melodies are based on old English
marching songs," says Purnell. "'The Homestead Strike,' for instance, is based
on the same tune as the Oscar Mayer wiener song, and no matter what we did with
it, it would remind you of hot dogs. So we had to find a new voice for these
songs, preserve the spirit, but do them in our own voice."
The result is "Where the Allegheny Flows," a 10-song
collection of Western Pennsylvania history recorded at Wilkin's Greensburg
recording studio. "Monongahela Sal" becomes an up tempo blue tune about a tough
young Monessen woman. "The Homestead Strike," written during or shortly after
the landmark 1892 steel lockout, gets a fresh melody, and "The Johnstown Flood"
loses its bouncy beat, taking a more contemplative look at the death of 2,200
people under a 40-foot wave.
"We got the name Newlanders from William Penn, who has
become a hero of mine," says Purnell. "He was a visionary who had a concept that
was unheard of at the time, that you could invite people of all backgrounds and
religions to come and live together in peace. He printed up pamphlets and hired
people to go spread the word of this new colony, and they were called
Newlanders."
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