Traditional American Folk Music - 'Thoughts of Home'

I (Anne Milligan) have been a professional singer for a few years now and have just recently returned to my "first love" which is the style of music most typically found in southern traditional American folk music. Since I live in Kentucky, it's great to have the opportunity to jam with some excellent home-grown Kentucky talent, some of whom you will hear on this CD playing instruments and harmonizing vocally. Feel free to press "play" on each of the songs below to hear clips from this CD.
To purchase the CD, you can do so by using PayPal at the bottom of the page, or order via "snail mail" by sending $14.95 plus $2.00 postage to:
Anne Milligan
PO Box 22824
Louisville, KY 40252.
(Please put "Thoughts of Home CD" on your check). Please don't send cash.

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Keep on the Sunny Side
Written by A.P.Carter, who hailed from an Appalachian musical family headed up by their matriarch Maybelle Carter (or "Mother Maybelle"). Their work is considered to be the beginning of country music in this country. I recorded this with the "Rusty Gate Chorus" (see below).
My Old Kentucky Home
Stephen Foster wrote this song in 1853. It is not widely known that he wrote this song in defense of abolitionists and it was, in fact, a much-loved song for the abolitionist movement in the late 1800's. This song eventually became the official state song of Kentucky. I'm pleased to have recorded this song with Glen Rice, a very talented signer here in Kentucky.
I Wonder How the Old Folks Are At Home
The origin of this song is unknown, except that it is a very old traditional bluegrass-style tune. My buddies, (sometimes affectionately referred to as the "Rusty Gate Chorus"), Ronnie Benningfield, Eddie Black and Glen Rice, recorded this one with me also here in Kentucky.
Hard Times, Come Again No More
This song was written by Stephen Foster, in an earlier time of economic difficulty. I deliberately recorded this one acapella, to keep with the haunting, lonely quality of this song. There is no real glory in poverty. Just ask anyone who went through the Great Depression.
Angel Band
A very old traditional American folk song, most certainly written for the "passing over" time or, to put it more directly, "death". I sang all three harmonies, again with no instruments. I discovered from my previous work in Hospice that, though we may come into this world alone, we certainly don't leave alone. The writer of this song surely must have believed that.
The National Anthem
Not everyone is happy about the fact that this song, which appears to glorify war, is our country's national anthem. I've battled with that myself but have discovered that, since the song was written about the Revolutionary War, we might as well be grateful for that war or we'd probably all be speaking with British accents right now, poor peasant people forking over our taxes to a King or Queen, and forced to endure that dry British humor. Yikes!
God Bless America
Written by Irving Berlin in 1918 and revised by him in 1938. "God Bless America" is also something like a national anthem, and takes the form of a prayer for God's blessing and peace for the nation. Thanks to Mr. Irving Berlin, because we can sure use all the help we can get.
Amazing Grace
A very well-known and much loved song written by a reformed slave trader.
I'd Come Home Today, (If I Could Find My Way)
I (Anne Milligan) wrote this song for those of us whose sense of "home" will just have to be wherever we are at the time.
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