Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

Allison Krauss is one of America’s great national music treasures: a phenomenal fiddle player with an absolutely angelic voice. And she has the face of an angel to match. She and her group, Union Station play some extraordinary music. Here we feature Down to the River and Pray (hear it) and I dont believe you’ve met my baby (hear it).

Down to the River and Pray comes from the Down from the Mountain soundtrack. It’s sung a capella with gorgeous backup vocals by the guys in Union Station. I heard them perform it in concert here in Seattle and it sent chills up and down my spine:

As I went down in the river to pray,
Studyin’ about that good ‘ol way, (and who shall wear)
The starry crown, good lord, show me the way
Oh sisters let’s go down, let’s go down, come on down.
Oh sister let’s go down, down to the river and pray.

And I’m Jewish! It just goes to show you that music that is both spiritual and religious can travel far beyond the confines of a single religion. If you want to get right with all that is good, give a listen.

I Don’t Believe You’ve Met My Baby appears on Jerry Douglas‘ solo album, Slide Rule. Besides Krauss’ gorgeous vocal and Douglas’ breathtaking dobro playing, the story the song tells is gripping and powerfully dramatic. A young girl dreams that she meets her lover walking in the moonlight with another woman. She wonders whether he will betray her. The lyrics suspensefully build up the young girl’s fears until all is resolved joyfully in her favor:

Then we met out in the moonlight
The stars were shining in your eyes
But another was there too

“I don’t believe you’ve met my baby”
You looked at her, you looked at me
I wondered who you were taking to

I shook the hand of your stranger
But I was shaking more inside
I was still wondering who

Your arm was resting on her shoulder
You smiled at her, she smiled at you
Her eyes were filled with victory

She said “My brother wants to marry”
And then my heart was filled with ease
I knew that you would marry me

WARNING: This mp3 blog exists to spread the wonder and genius that is traditional music. It does NOT exist to enhance your private mp3 collection. So by all means come, listen, enjoy, then follow the links to buy the music. If you come, listen, download, then leave—you’re violating the spirit behind this blog and doing nothing to support the artists featured here. And if you link to my mp3 file at your own site, then you’re stealing my bandwidth and being pretty uncool. So please don’t do it.