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Released February 12, 2002

Neither Norman Blake nor Peter Ostroushko is well-known to the general public, but both are towering giants of American music, and this duet album plays to the strengths of both -- the exquisite taste, brilliant playing, and choice of material that plays to their combined strengths. Meeting on Southern Soil really is a tour below the Mason-Dixon line. And so they offer their take on the venerable ballad "Oh, Death," the sentimental "I Cannot Call Her Mother," and many other traditional songs and instrumental pieces, as well as originals that fit both the tone and the spirit, including the wonderful "President Richard Milhous Nixon's Hornpipe," which actually brings in the only other performer on the disc, Nancy Blake, on cello. The pair draws from many sources for their older material -- 78s, books, even the oral tradition -- keeping alive a style that's existed for many years, but in a refined way, thanks to the quality of performance. Albums like this renew the roots of American music, bringing new blood (tunes and songs) into what is really a flowing river of history. To hear these two together is a sheer joy and a triumph of musical skill and love. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide

TRACKS

1. Blackberry Blossom
2. Rise When the Rooster Crows
3. President Richard Milhous Nixon's Hornpipe
4. Blake's Railroad Blues
5. Muddy Creek
6. Little Bessie
7. Chickamauga
8. Only a Bunch of Violets
9. Oklahoma Redbird
10. I Cannot Call Her Mother
11. Marjorie's Waltz #3
12. The Old Hickory Cane
13. Oh Death
14. Mandolin Medley: Caperton Ferry/Ruins of Richmond/Valley Head
15. The Little Log Hut in the Lane
16. Christmas Eve Is Coming, Anna

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