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About the Music
If The Creek Don't Rise features live performances of acoustic-based music that reflects traditional folk and "Americana" styles. Instruments include guitar, bass, banjo, recorder, harmonica, and piano, all played by the actors themselves as the action unfolds.
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Over fifteen original songs tell the stories of eight generations of people who lived along the National Road. Featured songs include: |
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National Road |
Folk, sung by Ben in "present day" |
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You Can Change This Land |
Anthem, sung by a Shawnee girl who married a white settler in the early 1800's |
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Small Kindnesses |
Folk, sung by an escaped slave who was protected by white friends in the 1840s |
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A Mother's Eyes |
Ballad, sung by a woman who started a hospital in her home during the Civil War. |
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We'll Know it When We See it |
Western, sung by a pioneer family in the late 1800's |
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Yellow and Green are the Colors I Wear |
Celtic, sung by an Irish immigrant girl in the late 1800s |
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What Are They Thinking |
Barbershop, sung by a witness to the Wright Brothers' early efforts |
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If the Creek Don't Rise |
Hoedown, sung by midwestern farmers in the early 1900s |
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Fish in the Corn |
Folk, sung by a young farmgirl in the early 1900s |
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Long and Open Highway |
Bluegrass, sung by a band of hobos during the Depression |
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I'll Never Be the Same |
Gospel, sung at a camp meeting just prior to WWII |
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Who Taught You How/Invisible Son |
Pop, sung by a family reeling from the "generation gap" in the 1960s |
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Heart of the Heartland |
Folk, sung by an "exiled" playwright in the early 1990s |
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Carry the Flame |
Anthem, sung by the family in "modern day" |
Each song is arranged for performance using traditional folk instruments with
the occasional addition of piano, bass, and drums. In addition, a piano arrangement of each song
has been prepared for practice purposes.
If you would like to view lyrics and hear complete MIDI arrangements of these
tunes, please contact us for more information.
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All material, illustrations, and content of this web site are copyrighted © 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 by Paul D. Race. All rights reserved.
For questions, comments, suggestions, trouble reports, etc. about this play or about this web page, please
contact us.
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