Elizabeth Mitchell and Friends The Sounding Joy Review and Giveaway

The Sounding Joy album cover. Cover artwork by Brian Selznick.

We received product free from Smithsonian Folkways to facilitate this review.

The Sounding Joy by GRAMMY-nominated Smithsonian Folkways family musician Elizabeth Mitchell is a tribute to Ruth Crawford Seeger’s overlooked but deeply influential 1953 songbook, American Folk Songs for Christmas. This is Mitchell's first Christmas album and it is a wonderful collection of folk carols for all ages. These are recordings that celebrate a Christmas before commercialization, an all encompassing custom of people sharing music, telling stories and celebrating together. The album includes Mitchell’s family, friends and neighbors, including Peggy Seeger, Natalie Merchant, Aoife O’Donovan, Amy Helm, John Sebastian, Dan Zanes, Happy Traum, and many others. The great assortment of voices, musicians, and instruments on the album breathes new life into words first sung over a century ago by farmhands, country preachers, and small-town congregations and gospel groups.

I love Elizabeth Mitchell! I have many of her albums and enjoy them daily. Now Sounding Joy has become one of my favorite Christmas albums. Most of the songs on the album are a refreshing change from the Christmas songs that you normally hear on the radio during the holidays. There are a few recordings that are not from the original songbook which include classics “Joy to the World,” “Silent Night,” and an a cappella arrangement of “Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming,” a “family heirloom” arranged by Elizabeth’s father-in-law, Michael Storey Littleton. I also loved hearing yet another familiar voice, Dan Zanes, of which I also love, on this album! I now long to have and hear the 1953 American Folk Songs for Christmas songbook to accompany Elizabeth Mitchell's album. The Sounding Joy is a wonderful throwback to a time much simpler than ours where stories and songs were handed down through generations.

Sneak preview:
Listen to “Children, Go Where I Send Thee (Little Bitty Baby: A Cumulative Song)”.


The Sounding Joy Tracklist:

1. Oh, Mary and the Baby, Sweet Lamb
2. Mary Had a Baby
3. Rise Up, Shepherd, and Follow (feat. Mike Merenda)
4. January, February (Last Month of the Year) (feat. Amy Helm and Marco Benevento)
5. Joseph and Mary (The Cherry Tree Carol) (feat. Natalie Merchant)
6. Shine Like a Star in the Morning (feat. Simi Stone)
7. Joy to the World (feat. Jay Ungar)
8. Christmas Day in the Morning (feat. Peggy Seeger)
9. Mother’s Child (Child of God) (feat. Peggy Seeger)
10. Sing-a-Lamb (feat. Dan Zanes and Suzan Lori-Parks) 
11. Great Big Stars
12. Baby Born Today (feat. The Silver Hollers - Amy Helm, Ruthy Ungar and Chris Wood, with Larry Campbell)
13. Ain’t That a-Rockin’ All Night
14. Cradle Hymn
15. Bright Morning Stars Are Rising
16. Sing Hallelu (feat. Elizabeth Clark-Jerez)
17. The First Noel
18. The Blessings of Mary (feat. Larry Campbell)
19. Oh, Watch the Stars (feat. Aoife O’Donovan)
20. Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
21. Mary Was the Queen of Galilee (feat. Gail Ann Dorsey and Joan Osborne)
22. Silent Night
23. Singing in the Land (feat. Natalie Merchant, Happy Traum, and John Sebastian)
24. Children, Go Where I Send Thee (feat. Natalie Merchant, Amy Helm, Ruthy Ungar, Gail Ann Dorsey, Dan Zanes, Aoife O'Donovan, Simi Stone)

70 minutes, 32-page booklet with photos.
List Price $14.98 CD, $9.99 Download

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Prize: Elizabeth Mitchell and Friends The Sounding Joy (2 Winners!!)

I am trying out Rafflecopter on my blog. Please click on this post link if you do not see the script for it below. Also, if there is anything that is wrong with it let me know by emailing me: finamoon AT gmail DOT com I will try my best at fixing it. Thanks for being awesome readers!

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DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: I received product for free to facilitate my review and some to giveaway. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

Elizabeth Mitchell Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie Review and Giveaway

Oh how I love the "Little Seed" album sung by Elizabeth Mitchell. The simplistic humbleness of the songs are just so wonderful. They play tribute to the legendary Woody Guthrie and his album "Songs to Grow on for Mother and Child". Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie sung by Elizabeth Mitchell  nicely coincides with the Woody Guthrie Centennial.

I love how Elizabeth Mitchell is joined by her friends and family on every album that she does. Her daughter, Storey, is adorable and sings along with her mother, father and others on the album. Elizabeth Mitchell is acclaimed by Time magazine as one of the "Stars of Kindie Rock". Kindie Rock is Indie Rock for kids. One of my favorites on this CD is "Why, Oh Why?". This song is so perfect because children have so many questions and even though some of them are often silly they really want to know the answers and explore their world more. I also love the balafon in "Sleep Eye" on the album...it is one of my favorite instruments. "Who's my Pretty Baby?" is one of my favorites to sing to my little ones. Everyone knows "This Land is Your Land...at least the first verse...I was not aware of other verses, but sure enough Elizabeth sings all of them on this compilation. My daughter Teela's favorite is "Merry-Go-Round" for obvious reasons...she loves horses! There are many other great songs on this album. Elizabeth's re-imagination of the Woody Guthrie songs are pure and wonderful.

Here is Elizabeth Mitchell singing Sleep Eye:

You can also listen to "Bling Blang" and "This Land is Your Land" from “Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie sung by Elizabeth Mitchell” from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings.

Track List:
01 Riding In My Car
02 Bling Blang
03 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8
04 Why, Oh Why
05 Sleep Eye
06 Who's My Pretty Baby?
07 Rattle My Rattle
08 This Land Is Your Land
09 Merry-Go-Round
10 One Day Old
11 Little Sugar
12 Grassy Grass Grass
13 Little Seed

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You can purchase this album from Smithsonian Folkways for $12.98 or download it for $9.99.

WIN IT
Prize: Win a copy of Little Seed: Songs for Children by Woody Guthrie sung by Elizabeth Mitchell.

I am trying out Rafflecopter on my blog. Please click on this post link if you do not see the script for it below. Also, if there is anything that is wrong with it let me know by emailing me: finamoon AT gmail DOT com I will try my best at fixing it. Thanks for being awesome readers! 

DISCLOSURE/DISCLAIMER: Thanks to Beth Blenz-Cluc​as of Sugar Mountain PR for sending me product for free to review and letting me giveaway one. My thoughts are mine and my family's own opinion and have not been altered by anyone else. I did not receive any other compensation for doing this review.

a Rafflecopter giveaway