Bard Americana: The Songs of Shakespeare
Louise Rozett and Joe Hillyer
(photo by Michael Hillyer)
Love. Spring. Loss. Winter. Life. Death. Spring. Rebirth. Love Renewed. The seasons of the year, and the seasons of life. These are some of the consistent themes of the human condition, and the main occupation of poets and songwriters throughout the ages. William Shakespeare, the greatest writer of the English language and arguably of all time, certainly was concerned with these ideas, as they appear throughout all of his works. Bard Americana: The Songs of Shakespeare is an Americana musical chamber piece that focuses on these themes in the lyrics of the songs from Shakespeare’s works.
Joe Hillyer is a New York City area songwriter, and he has adapted 14 songs from the plays and poems of William Shakespeare and has given them a contemporary American Folk and Bluegrass musical setting. Bard Americana: The Songs of Shakespeare is the product of an all-acoustic collective of New York City area musicians and singers, and features an ensemble of guitar, bass, mandolin, dobro, fiddle, banjo, harmonica, and plenty of four-part vocal harmonies.
While this collection of original music explores the connection of Elizabethan musical traditions with it’s later American cousins Bluegrass and traditional mountain music, the main emphasis of these songs is still on the beauty of Shakespeare’s lyric structure, and how relevant they are to the modern listener.
Bard Americana: The Songs of Shakespeare is available for purchase at CD BABY
