by Cari norris

What is a ballad? A ballad is a long (usually) song that tells a story, which has been handed down through time and thus has been crafted and re-imagined many times over, gathering a sort of collective consciousness, though ever-transforming, as it travels forward in time. The ballads tell stories which seem to get to the heart, the transformative center, of human experience. They are tales of death, ressurection, love, hate, hope, beauty, the power of nature, the fun and silliness of life, mystery and desire.

Wole Soyinka wrote: "I would like to speak of the African world view in terms of three orbs within the infinite space: the world of the living, the world of the unborn, and the world of the ancestor... a cyclic world view. In other words the continuum of experience which is the lot of most societies which have not totally abandoned their roots with the earth."

It seems to me that the ballads are a means of connection between the three orbs that Solinka speaks of, where the worlds open and communication becomes possible.

South-eastern Kentucky has been a place where the ballads have lived and still live and have travelled out from there, finding homes in certain souls. Daniel Dutton, of Somerset, Kentucky is one of these. Dan has been living into a very large repertoire of traditional Kentucky ballads (coming to this state from all over the world) for the past several years. He has created monumental narrative paintings for twelve ballads and has recently released a recording of these twelve.

Daniel Dutton's new "Ballad" CD is the best recording I've heard in a long long time, and I'm picky. The metaphor that comes to me for his ballads is the image of a spectacularly made tightly woven basket, maybe of cedar — one that seems to contain life and spark. Dan brings all his many strengths to this work, as composer, feeler of the inner realms, person searching to find a voice in tradition carried from the past to the present. Matisse said something like the artist strives and strives to make something beautiful that defies the effort that went into it. Dan succeeds in doing this here. Each ballad is fresh and spontaneous, but I can feel the struggle and searching that went into giving each story its perfect form.

There are a wide variety of moods and themes, from the fun and silly (My two year old loves his "Froggy Went A Courtin'") to the deep and dark--(you really should check out "Tamlin" and "Reynardine") The stark arrangement of charango and voice in "The Boar Hunter" knocked my socks off. Dan is a musician's musician. This recording defies classification and combines the best of tradition and creative beauty making. You won't find any wilder stories anywhere. Check it out!!!

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Cari Norris’ music stems from the traditions of her grandmother, the late Lily May Ledford, original leader of the first all-women string band in radio, The Coon Creek Girls. Cari performs ancient ballads as well as original songs on guitar, clawhammer banjo, and mountain dulcimer. In addition to learning her grandmother's music as a child, she has studied with master Appalachian musicians such as Jean Ritchie, Lee Sexton, Rich Kirby, and Sue Massek. Cari has appeared all over Kentucky, surrounding states, and in New England at festivals, concerts, teaching workshops and school programs. She has been featured on several Kentucky Educational Television programs such as “Kentucky Life,” “Mixed Media,” and “Jubilee,” in which she performed with Jean Ritchie.