So Long on the Flood
by Jennie McAvoy 

$14.95

Jennie McAvoy’s music combines the magic of the traditional ballad singer with the intimacy of the folk-chanteuse. Her voice—she’s a trained mezzo-soprano—is at once angelic and wise. It floats above the current of a rock-solid, deftly fingerpicked acoustic guitar (think Joan Baez or Elizabeth Cotton) on either her vintage Martin or her handmade Nickerson.

McAvoy has an impeccable ear for collecting songs—and an uncanny knack for making them her own. Her vast repertoire spans decades—even centuries—and finally, at the encouragement of her many fans and friends, she has recorded eleven of her best and favorite songs. The resulting CD, So Long On The Flood, is an eloquent collection of traditional and not-so-traditional folk songs. Songs from such artists as Kate Rusby, John Renbourn, Naimh Parsons, Mary Black, and Van Morrison, to name but a few. So Long On The Flood features McAvoy’s voice and guitar surrounded by the lush acoustic guitar and octave mandolin playing of Brooks Williams, and the sonorous cello of Phil Helzer. It is an eloquent and intimate recording.

McAvoy was born in New York City, raised in the Hudson River Valley, and now makes Deerfield, Massachusetts, her home. Her interests in music have always been two-fold. There’s the classical side: her years playing cello, singing and playing in an Early Music group, singing in the Collegium Musicum (while a student at Oberlin College).

The other side, though, is the traditional folk side. She picked up the acoustic guitar in her mid-teens and immediately began learning and playing songs from the traditional folk songbook. (She even studied fiddle with Eileen Ivers.) At Oberlin, she performed her first gigs at the Cat In The Cream Coffeehouse and played guitar in the college's production of Spoon River Anthology. (The production was recorded and the sound track was released in January 1982. It includes an original song by McAvoy, which she reluctantly admits she has forgotten how to play!)

Tracks

1. Lady Franklin's Lament

2. Crazy Love

3. Anachie Gordon

4. The Good Man

5. When I Was in My Prime

6. Horo Johnny

7. Kilkelly

8. I Wish

9. Love at the Five and Dime

10. Hard Times Come again No More

11. Without the Fanfare