Track Listing

1. Simple Gifts / Lovely Love
2. Square Check Tune / When Cheer Fills The Hearts Of My Friends
3. O Lord Protect Thy Chosen Flock / My Carnal Life I Will Lay Down
4. Back Manner Tunes
5. And Now My Dear Companions
6. My Robe Is New / Mother Ann's Song
7. Father James' Song / Treasures Of The Gospel / I Will Bow And Be Simple
8. Mother Ann's Song
9. Come Dance And Sing / Quick Dance
10. Saviour's Universal Prayer, The / And Again Heavenly Father
11. Hop Up And Jump Up / Simple Gifts - (reprise)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #104884 in Music
• Released on: 2001-08-14
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
As an independent label, we've worked hard to develop a distinctive sound — part-folk, part-classical, all-acoustic instrumental music. We feel our music is indeed unique, and we've never compromised in our determination to produce only the highest quality, most beautifully packaged recordings.

We include detailed liner notes for those who are curious about the history and background of the music.

Gourd has licensed music to Warner Bros. Music, Narada, Hearts of Space, Windham Hill, The Disney Channel, A&E and The History Channel. Selections from the Gourd recording The World Turned Upside Down were featured on the Ken Burns documentary Thomas Jefferson. Three Gourd recordings were featured on Ken Burns’ latest project ( a documentary on Susan B. Anthony & Elizabeth Cady Stanton) on PBS.

InMusic Editor's Choice, December 15, 1991
...all the beauty of traditional music and all the excitement of modern instrumentation, arrangement, and performance.

About the Artist
Exhuberant dance tunes, lively marches and reverent hymns were part of the daily lives and worship of the Shakers, who flourished in mid-19th century America. Like their highly-prized crafts, the Shakers' music was an outward expression of their faith and celebrated their ideals of simplicity and love. Barry Phillips and William Coulter, along with guest artists Shelley Phillips, Mike Marshall, Robin Petrie and others, create exquisite blends of guitar, cello, fiddle, mandolin, flute, harp and dulcimers. From the title track (made famous by Aaron Copland in Appalachian Spring to little-known gems from the Shakers' vast treasury of song, these are melodies born directly of the Shakers' spiritual life, yet deeply rooted in the Anglo-American folk tradition - music to cheer the heart and lift the spirit.

Customer Reviews

Great arrangements - excellent guitar and strings
Like the Shakers, sometimes somber, sometimes "kick-up-the-heels" dancing, this album has a wide range of mood and tempo. If you like guitar and strings, as well as spatterings of dulcimer and other "Celtic" instruments, you'll like this collection. I found the contrast of the tracks refreshing, a reminder of the way life is. Unlike the Shakers, I hope these guys have many more "children". I'm going to try some of their other albums.

Truly a classroom favorite!
I use this album in my classroom when I study Shakerism with my students. They love the soothing, melodic hymns of the Shakers, and even request it long after we have finished with the unit!

One of my favorite albums
I first bought this on cassette over ten years ago and was thrilled to find it on CD recently, since I no longer own a tape player. It is such a soothing, joyful album. The companion CDs are great, too, but this one remains one of my favorites.