• Can you tell me if this recording is faithful to the versions that Pa would have played in his time or are these later arrangements?

“In all cases, we started with the music from the 19th century, music that Pa would have likely known. (I'm working on a scholarly edition of the music referenced in the books, so this question is right at the heart of my work.) Beyond that, our problem in producing the recording was how to make that "old" music (and performance style) sound "new."

I could have made a record trying to replicate what the music sounded like on the prairie in the 1870s, but not too many people would have been interested in listening to it today, for the context, the expectations, and styles have changed.

So, I asked the question: "How would Pa and Laura want their music to sound like today?" Hard to answer, of course, but Pa was what we would today call an "old-time fiddler." So, the old-time style is behind all the music-making, as is the fiddle. It's acoustic music, because that's what they knew and loved. It's string-band based, because that's what they knew and loved. But (I hope) listeners (especially children) will hear it in 2005 and not go "Yuk!," but think "Cool!"

The recording starts and ends with Jep Bisbee, who was born 8 years after Pa and made fiddle recordings in 1923: that's the old; everyone else is alive today, and making today's music. How to make the old new again? You need to tell me if I succeeded. The sound clips on the www.pasfiddle.com website might help you decide if “Happy Land” is for you.

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