Call Of The West: A Song History

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“Call of the West” is one of Jay Ungar and Molly Mason’s own tunes, and their mountain dulcimer edition credits it to Mason.[1] Mason sings and plays piano and guitar alongside fiddler Ungar in a duo based in New York’s Catskill Mountains; the pair are most widely known for music they contributed to Ken Burns’s PBS documentary series The Civil War, and they lead the Ashokan Center, where the Ashokan Music & Dance Camps are held.[2]

Painting of a river valley between towering granite cliffs and mountains, with tall pines and a calm stretch of water

Albert Bierstadt, Merced River, Yosemite Valley, oil on canvas, 1866. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). A Sierra Nevada landscape, shown for its subject; it has no connection to the tune.

A track of this name, performed by Mason and Ungar, is number 17 on The Divide (Original Soundtrack).[3][4] The album comes from The Divide, an independent feature made with actor and director Perry King, which the duo describe as a western played out on a small Sierra cattle ranch in drought.[5] The film’s own site credits the score to the pair and places the story in Northern California in 1976, around a rancher living with Alzheimer’s disease and his estranged daughter.[6]

The tune is also printed in the couple’s songbook Catskill Mountain Waltzes and Airs, which gathers waltzes and airs written over several decades, including pieces used in documentary soundtracks.[7] The mountain dulcimer edition arranges 22 of the book’s tunes, setting “Call of the West” in DAD tuning.[1]

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Sources

  1. Jay Ungar & Molly Mason (official shop): "Catskill Mountain Waltzes & Airs for Mountain Dulcimer".
  2. Library of Congress, Folklife Today: "Homegrown Plus: Jay Ungar and Molly Mason".
  3. Spotify: "Call of the West" (Molly Mason, Jay Ungar).
  4. Last.fm: "The Divide (Original Soundtrack): Jay Ungar & Molly Mason".
  5. Jay Ungar & Molly Mason (official shop): "The Divide Soundtrack CD".
  6. The Divide (official film site): "The Divide".
  7. Jay Ungar & Molly Mason (official shop): "Catskill Mountain Waltzes and Airs".