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In March of 2002, Peter Ostroushko was booked for a month of consecutive appearances on A Prairie Home Companion, and decided to challenge himself to write new music for each show. The result is Coming Down From Red Lodge and is, like his earlier Heart of the Heartland, a tribute to the roots of American music, using primarily fiddle and mandolin, but also acoustic and electric guitars, accordion, piano, bass and drums. Ostroushko, like Antonin Dvorak and Aaron Copeland before him is able to grasp the kernel of music at the center of "the American experience", and transform it into a larger, more colorful whole. Listen to the bright, double fiddling in the opening piece, or the atmospheric, classical "New Smyrna Serenade" and you hear a composer who has an ear for nuance. Listen to "President Bush's Hornpipe" and hear how he takes the simple dance form one step further into an unexpected wackiness. Of course, Ostroushko also has a genius for choosing his partners, and this recording is no exception. PHC regulars "Guy's Allstar Shoe Band", Dan Newton on accordion , and Ritchie Dworsky on piano round out a band that can take Ostroushko's music anywhere he wants it to go. It goes to Donegal, to East Texas, and even to New York in his "Hymn Page 9/11". Coming Down From Red Lodge is destined to become one of Ostroushko's most popular recordings. Mary DesRosier |
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Sing
Out, Summer, 2003