Newsday Television February 4, 1999 CATCHING WAVES OF SOUND: ‘MISSISSIPPI’ MUSIC MAKERS GO WITH THE FLOW “It also poignantly highlights the struggles to keep the musical lifeline flowing in depressed communities....Overall...‘River of Song’ is both engaging and informative. In articulating the vital role that music continues to play [in] this nation’s ethnic and cultural identity, it provides a deep, thirst-quenching cocktail of sound.” Los Angeles Times Television Review January 23, 1999 ‘RIVER OF SONG’ HONORS THE MISSISSIPPI’S VOICES “...the series leaves no doubt that the Mississippi is just as much the essence of America today -- no matter how diverse it may have become -- as it was when Huck and Jim floated on that raft long ago.” The Hollywood Reporter January 29, 1999 THE MISSISSIPPI: RIVER OF SONG “It is what Public Television still does best, and whether viewers sample here and there or watch the whole four hours straight through, they will feel immeasurably enriched by the experience.” The Plain Dealer Cover January 10, 1999 DOWN OUR RIVER OF SONG: PBS SERIES EXPLORES MISSISSIPPI, U.S. MUSIC “ ‘The Mississippi: River of Song’ couldn’t have occurred at a better time. With the close of the 20th century, America’s most musical century, upon us, ‘River of Song’ traces the past, celebrates the present, and points optimistically to the future of American Music.” New York January 11, 1999 THE MISSISSIPPI: RIVER OF SONG “On the first Wednesday alone we hear from and talk to Chippewa drummers, Scandanavian fiddlers, Twin Cities rockers and post-punk riot grrls, folkies and/or bluesies, Southeast Asian Hmong qeej players who break-dance while whistling into bamboo reeds, gospel, soul, Dixieland jazz and a button concertina unleashed on polkas-from-hell.” Rolling Stone What’s Going On January 8, 1999 THE MISSISSIPPI: RIVER OF SONG “The Smithsonian presents the first in a four-part series focusing on the music along Ole Miss, with narration by Ani DiFranco.  Look for the companion radio series, CD set and book.” Entertainment Weekly Television January 8, 1999 RIVER OF SONG “The four-part documentary, which traces the Big Muddy’s role as the cradle of nearly every strain of American music, forgoes a sepia-toned history lesson for present-day expressions of that heritage.” Atlanta Journal Constitution January 7, 1999 4 HOURS ON MISSISSIPPI NOT ENOUGH FOR ANYONE “The farther south, the more seemingly disparate musical styles and makers overlap -- and the more significant becomes the presence of the Mississippi. No better illustration exists than the final hour, ‘Louisiana: Where Music is King.’  Early on, crusty country singer Merle Haggard sits in with 98-year-old legend Jimmie Davis, a former governor of Louisiana and a pioneering gospel artist who penned ‘You Are My Sunshine.’  Next, D.L. Menard, ‘the Cajun Hank Williams,’ joins performer Christine Balfa... “ The Arizona Republic January 6, 1999 AMERICA’S SONG NAVIGATES ‘THE MISSISSIPPI’ ON PBS “River of Song takes a trip worth writing home about.” The Boston Globe Television Review January 6, 1999 ‘MISSISSIPPI’ MUSIC FLOWS EASILY “The panoply of voices and rhythms makes for a rich, satifying tapestry of sound ... A colorful American poetry spills from the mouths of the more than 40 musicians interviewed as they reflect on why they play, and why they do it along the river.” The Boston Herald Television January 6, 1999 WGBH GETS INTO THE FLOW WITH THE SONGS OF THE ‘MISSISSIPPI’ “If ‘River of Song’ says anything about American culture it is that while the great U.S. melting pot experiment may not have come to fruition yet, at least where racial tolerance or economic parity are concerned, it is humming right along when it comes to music.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune January 6, 1999 A RHYTHM RUNS THROUGH MUSICAL DOCUMENTARY ON MISSISSIPPI “The Twin Cities gets a more than fair shake from the series ... the filmmakers check out Soul Asylum’s rehearsal loft in Minneapolis’ Warehouse District, chat with members of the defunct rock trio Babes in Toyland at Bryant-Lake Bowl and sit in on a wonderful folk-blues jam session that features Spider John Koerner, Tony Glover, Willie Murphy, Dakota Dave Hull and Peter Ostroushko.  Speaking as he plays an exquisite mandolin solo, Ostroushko tells the lovliest anecdote of the series: how his father back in the Ukraine read Mark Twain and dreamed of one day seeing the Mississippi.” The Minneapolis Star Tribune January 6, 1999 CD TRAVELS FROM ECLECTIC MINNESOTA TO RICH NEW ORLEANS “The 36-song CD ... convincingly argues that the big river is a thread that weaves together a rich, diverse tapestry of distinctly American musical forms. This double-disc companion to the four-hour PBS documentary is instructive in its inclusiveness and sprinkled with magical moments...” St. Louis Post-Dispatch January 5, 1999 DIVERSITY IS THE SOUND OF THE RIVER CITY “The production team was careful to avoid the well-intentioned cliches of American musicology -- an excessive focus on jazz and the blues to the exclusion of other traditions.  They rejected the archival recordings and grainy black-and-white footage ... The focus, instead was on still-thriving traditions ... The finished project amounts to a giant family album that redefines our notion of indigenous American music.” Associated Press January 5, 1999 THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI, A RIVER OF SONG “River of Song takes viewers on a journey through nearly a dozen states and into scores of cultures, where songs are sung in uncounted variations of Spanish, French and English ... Along the way, (John) Junkerman, a veteran documentary filmmaker, and (Elijah) Wald, a music writer for the Boston Globe, uncover seemingly every American musical form, from blues to bluegrass, gospel to jazz, Cajun to zydeco, rock to folk, Indian chants to inner-city hand claps.” Chicago Sun Times January 3, 1999 PROJECT EXPLORES MUSIC OF THE MISSISSIPPI “As you grow older, you come to appreciate the benevolence that shapes the banks of the Mississippi River.  The residents of riverfront towns are distinguished by the Big Muddy’s slow-moving humility and spirit of self-reliance.  That’s the drift that connects the 40 acts and 500 musicians who appear in ‘The Mississippi: River of Song.’” Dallas Morning News Television Review January 3, 1999 A FLOOD OF FINE MUSIC IN ‘RIVER’: DOCUMENTARY LOOKS AT FASCINATING ARTISTS ON THE FRINGE “Although the producers did include a few brand names among the 41 vignettes (most notably, the rock band Soul Asylum), they focused their spotlight on artists who perform on the fringes of mainstream music.  The decision paid off ... In place of the usual ramblings of musicologists, we hear folk singer John Hartford explaining why ‘Ol’ Man River’ makes him cringe.  Instead of critics and authors pontificating, we get acordianist Karl Hartwich talking about the dance-crazed polka fans who follow him from gig to gig in their mobile homes: ‘They’re nuts.’ he says, ‘but we love ‘em.’” Arkansas Democrat Gazette January 3, 1999 AMERICAN STUDIES: SERIES FOR TV, PUBLIC RADIO SKIMS THE TALENT OF THE GREAT HANDS, MOUTHS ALONG THE MIGHTY MISSISSIPPI “A reminder that music is not necessarily a commercial enterprise ... The project was imagined by Boston filmmaker John Junkerman, who saw the river less as a metaphor than a narrative device capable of tying together dozens of otherwise disparate styles.” Time Magazine Television January 3, 1999 SOUNDING THE WATERS: PBS EXPLORES THE MUSIC ALONG THE MISSISSIPPI “We get to know these musicians not as representatives of trends and genres but as regular folks trying to make a living and a little music as well.  We see them sweating through performances; straightening their hair with hot combs in their kitchens, jamming with their friends in their living rooms ... They display a commitment that’s deeper than celebrity: for them, music isn’t simply a means to acquire wealth or fame; it’s a method of preserving traditions and a way of life ... Pop music suddenly seems like just a glass of tap water ... How much other water is unexplored?  Tune in to this series and drink deep.” The Washington Post Sunday Arts January 3, 1999 ROLLING ON A ‘RIVER’: SMITHSONIAN PROJECT RIDES HIGH ON MUSIC’S MISSISSIPPI CURRENTS “The multitudinous character of ‘River of Song’ suggests a vibrant patchwork quilt whose outline, color and design is best revealed from a distance but whose individual elements are enjoyed close up...Step into this ‘River of Song’ and you’ll be swept away by the powerful currents of creativity that lie just below the mainstream of American popular culture.” The Washington Post Pop Recordings January 3, 1999 GOING WITH THE FLOW: ‘RIVER OF SONG’ CDS TAKE LISTENERS ON A REWARDING CULTURAL TOUR “Modeled after the television series, the CD set is programmed to create the illusion that the listener is actually traveling the full length of the river, north to south, with ample time to stop in neighboring cities and towns to sample music as varied as the terrain that nurtured it ... In the end, all of the musicians, however famous or obscure, are equally responsible for making this musical journey both rewarding and revealing.” The Boston Phoenix Arts/Music January 1, 1999 MYTH AND THE MISSISSIPPI: PBS EXPLORES THE SONGS AND HEART OF MIDDLE AMERICA “One of the joys of the film is that it depicts everyday people, from bluegrassers the Bob Lewis Family to Canary Island descendants Irvan and Alan Perez, deriving sheer enjoyment from making music.  There’s an ‘I love this, and you can do it, too’ sensibility to virtually every live performance, even if bluesman Big Jack Johnson’s vibrato and string-bending on acoustic guitar does seem a bit superhuman.” BPI Entertainment News Wire January 1999 MAPPING THE MISSISSIPPI’S MUSIC “The director (John Junkerman) saw the Mississippi as a natural metaphor for the diversity of American music: ‘There’s probably no symbol that stands for the expanse of America the way that the Mississippi does ... By traveling the course of that, you really touch base with almost every kind of music that’s been played in America.’” CD Now Country/Folk January 1999 A MUSICAL JOURNEY DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI “The multimedia project ‘River of Song’ -- watch the PBS special, read the book, listen to the CD -- just might re invigorate your faith in America as a melting pot of numerous peoples, beliefs and ways of living.” The Sonoma County Independent Spins December 31, 1998 RIVER DANCE: MISSISSIPPI TRIBUTE AN ECLECTIC TRIP “To say that ‘River of Song’ is eclectic is an understatement ... Black spirituals, jazz, a Mexican ranchera, bluegrass, folk, blues, rockabilly, Cajun - a marvelous mélange that throughout the life o of the nation has helped replenish our thirsty souls.  ‘River of Song’ gives new meaning to the term Americana: more than a radio format, it’s the very essence of our collective core.” Tribune Media Services December 31, 1998 “American music is a mix of hybrids, one strain unimaginable without the others.  ‘The Mississippi: River of Song’ ... illustrates the rich loamy musical hybrid with a vast array of artists and styles from all along the rolling river.” New York Daily News December 31, 1999 MUSICAL LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI: THE SMITHSONIAN TAKES A JOURNEY AND WE’RE INVITED “From time to time, the federal government has gone out to take the musical pulse of America, and it invariably turns out to be an encouraging trip .. The most famous government chroniclers were the Lomaxes ... So it’s very much in the Lomax spirit that the Smithsonian is unveiling next month a series it calls ‘River of Song’...” PBS TeacherSource December 30, 1998 EXPLORING TODAYS HOMEGROWN MUSIC "Folk-rock musician Ani DiFranco says that 'beneath the surface of mainstream popular culture, there is the ever-present undercurrent of organically generated music.' And it is this music that tells us more about who we are. It is the 'sound of a culture becoming itself in the streets, bars, gyms, churches and back porches of the real world.'" Sonic Net December 23, 1998 PBS SERIES ON MISSISSIPPI RIVER MUSIC TO AIR IN JANUARY “(John) Junkerman, who received an Academy Award nomination for his film ‘Hellfire: Journey From Hiroshima,’ made his way along the entire course of the mighty river, seeking out music along the way ... The program focuses on good music, but also music that is representative of the community that spawned it.” The Memphis Commercial Appeal Hot Sounds December 19, 1998 RIVER OF SONG: A MUSICAL JOURNEY DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI “Starting in Inger, Minn., with a Chippewa powwow group and ending with a Spanish fisherman’s song from Delacoix Island, this field-recorded travelog made in 1996-’97 sets out on a captivating, if nearly impossible, pilgrimage ... What it gladly proves, however, is that traditions don’t always disappear; in the case of the Mississippi, they evolve.” Kirkus Reviews December 15, 1998 RIVER OF SONG: A MUSICAL JOURNEY DOWN THE MISSISSIPPI “A fascinating glimpse of the ways in which American music continues to reflect and to shape American life.” San Francisco Sunday Examiner Datebook December 6, 1998 A GUMBO OF MUSIC FROM THE HEARTLAND “The two-CD soundtrack to the upcoming PBS series offers 36 vivid snapshots of contemporary music - from the indigenous to the chart-topping - along the Mississippi River’s variegated 2,000 miles.  Three months of recent field recordings yielded a crazy-quilt of the sounds that course through America’s heartland, organically blurring the boundaries of genre, geography and ethnicity.  From an Ojibwe powwow near the Canadian border to a raucous crawfish boil in Cajun guitarist D.L. Menard’s backyard, a portrait of the archetypal American musician emerges, encompassing major-label acts, trailblazers, young lions and congregations.” Billboard Newspaper Arts & Music December 5, 1998 MAPPING THE MISSISSIPPI’S MUSIC: PBS, SMITHSONIAN, OTHERS CREATE AMBITIOUS MULTI-GENRE DOCUMENTARY “The grand expanse of American Music played along the nation’s greatest river is the subject of ‘The Mississippi: River of Song’... Involving nearly simultaneous marketing of a TV series, record, radio series and book, ‘River of Song’ bears comparison to such high profile PBS projects as Ken Burns’ series ‘The Civil War’ and ‘Baseball.’”
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