Media Review: The Happy Land Companion: Music from the World of Laura Ingalls Wilder

Abstract

Happy Land Companion: Music from the World of Laura Ingalls Wilder. CD. Edited by Dale Cockrell. NDX Press, 2005. $14. Laura Ingalls Wilder books have provided insight into the lives of nineteenth-century American frontier peoples. All of her books refer to the music of the day, (e.g., Pa played on his fiddle), yet the written word does not allow the reader to hear the music, leaving the reader to imagine the sounds. Happy Land Companion: Music from the World of Laura Ingalls Wilder adds a new dimension to the stories, as the reader can now enjoy the songs loved by Laura and her family. Most of the songs were recorded by contemporary artists between 2002 and 2005. However, two of the tracks feature fiddler Jasper Jep Bisbee and his 1923 recordings. result is a collection of music representing the nineteenth-century that appeals to the twenty-first-century listener. While the more contemporary artists used scores published in the nineteenth-century, they shaped and changed the music so that necessarily became expressive of contemporary musical sensibilities; it was informed by the idioms of an earlier time. (1) Many of the songs are representative of nineteenth-century social occasions. first and second tracks are recordings of The Girl I Left Behind Me. first track, by Jep Bisbee, was a contemporary of Pa and who, like the Ingalls family, moved west. This is the most authentic recording on the disc, and therefore a good introduction for the songs that follow. second track of The Girl I Left Behind Me includes vocals and a more contemporary approach. These two versions provide an example of changing performance practice in American folk song repertoire. vocals for the second version originate from a collection by folklorist John Lomax and tell the story of a cowboy on the trail. This is the same vocal version mentioned in the Wilder book, On the Banks of Plum Creek. Fiddle music was often used for nineteenth-century social occasions and dances. Track eight includes the two fiddle tunes, The Arkansas Traveler and The Devil's Dream. Another version of The Devil's Dream is included as a bonus track and once again features the fiddle playing of Jep Bisbee, presenting another look at authentic fiddle tune performance style. CD liner contains short program notes for each song and refers to the Wilder book(s) wherein the song is mentioned. notes also include a brief synopsis of the events in the book that lead to Wilder's song reference. notes enhance the listening experience, referring to the social condition surrounding the song's time period, its historical context, and reception. These references make the CD a useful supplement for courses focusing on American music or nineteenth-century American history. …