Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer & Chao Tian - FROM CHINA TO APPALACHIA (2024)

GRAMMY Award winning American Roots artists Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer join with Chinese classical hammered dulcimer player Chao Tian in this folk infused world music exploration. Chinese and American songs are accompanied on yangqin (Chinese hammered dulcimer), gourd banjo, five-string banjo, ukulele, guitars, dumbek, cello-banjo and mandolin.
The group’s repertoire includes traditional Chinese and Appalachian music as well as contemporary and traditional music from around the world. Unusual combinations explore new arrangements to old music, such as “Dark Eyes.” Ukulele, yangqin and guitar create a new pallet for this Russian folk song turned jazz manouche tune. Cathy and Marcy join Chao in singing a Chinese lullaby, “Nani Wan” and Chao easily adds her love of American Old-Time music to fiddle tunes and songs.
“From China to Appalachia brings together disparate musical traditions in the spirit of thoughtful inquiry and free artistic collaboration.” Greg Reisch, PhD, Director, Center for Popular Music, MTSU

“What do Chinese and Appalachian music have in common?” is not really the central question in the minds of Cathy Fink, Marcy Marxer, and Chao Tian, whose From China to Appalachia concerts may first appear wildly random in their combination of instruments and styles. To these expert folk musicians, the real question is, “What don’t Chinese and Appalachian music have in common?” The latter would have a much shorter answer.

There’s a sense of belonging, of homeyness, of ease to this musical collaboration. With their primary configuration including Chinese hammered dulcimer played by Tian, clawhammer five-string banjo played by Fink, and cello banjo played by Marxer, those overarching moods could feel surprising, but for this trio there is really no such thing as not belonging. Fink and Marxer have constructed every facet of their lifelong careers with community building centered – that’s how they connected with Tian, after all, when she participated in an artist in residence program at Strathmore Arts Center nearby their home in Maryland. Fink & Marxer host their hugely popular UkeFest at Strathmore, and Fink is often a mentor of fellowship artists such as Tian. When the three began making music together, they realized the seamlessness of their musical and cultural vocabularies almost immediately.

Justin Hiltner, The Bluegrass Situation

Tracklist
[2:37] 1. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - August Flower
[3:47] 2. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - High On A Mountain
[4:04] 3. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - The White Snake Song
[4:44] 4. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Pig Ankle Rag
[3:21] 5. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer;Chao Tian - Three Rules of Discipline and Eight Points for Attention
[3:26] 6. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer;Chao Tian - Yongjun Yangko
[4:29] 7. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Mary Don’t You Weep
[2:20] 8. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Glory in the Meeting House/ Leader’s Glory
[4:13] 9. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Ruby
[3:21] 10. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Nan Ni Wan
[5:22] 11. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Little Betty Ann/Kitchen Girl/Midu Mountain Song
[2:58] 12. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Beautiful Grassland, My Home
[3:43] 13. Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer - Hold Each Other Up