Across the Blue Mountains

Originally released by Folk-Legacy Records in in 1976, Harry Tuft’s Across the Blue Mountains is a collection of traditional and new folk songs in the spirit of the folk revival. First an important figure in the Philadelphia folk scene of the late 1950s, in the 1960s in Colorado Tuft went on to establish the Denver Folklore Center, one of the city’s most significant venues for folk music, welcoming the likes of Doc Watson and Leo Kottke. On Across the Blue Mountains, Tuft plays arrangements that sound both traditional and contemporary, inspired by trends in fingerstyle guitar playing from the 1970s. Highlights include a gorgeous 12-string rendition of The Mermaid (Child 289) featuring Ed Trickett, and a version of Lord Gregory (Child 76) taught to Tuft by the great Karen Dalton.