Lover’s Waltz – Fiddle Tune a Day – Day 121

I really like Jay Ungar’s fiddling, and his song writing. He has a unique style that resonates with me, and obviously with lots of other people. Jay’s biggest hit was Ashokan Farewell, which was picked up as the them song for the Civil War Series that Ken Burns did on PBS. Lover’s Waltz, is his second most well known tune.

I think you will agree that this is a beautiful tune that will stick in your head. Don’t blame me if you are still humming it tomorrow. 😉

The Story Behind The Lovers’ Waltz – From JayAndMolly.com

When we began putting this album together, we knew it would include ‘The Lovers’ Waltz,’ our most requested new tune. The idea was to focus on our own compositions, as well as some longtime favorite melodies by other artists. As we gathered material, it became obvious that this was going to be a romantic album, as well as an eclectic one. Our list included an Irish air (‘Give Me Your Hand’), a Fats Waller Song (‘Honey on the Moon”), a Klezmer classic (‘Chosen Challe Mazeltov’), plus some gorgeous waltzes and fiddle tunes. Also, the album was mostly dance music from a wide variety of different traditions, such as a Finnish Waltz (‘Metsakukkia’), a ’40s swing tune (‘It’s All In Your Mind’) and a Cajun two-step (‘Louisiana Wedding Bells’).

How would we tie this all together?

Steve Murphy, President of Angel Records, was familiar with many of our recent film scores, and he suggested that we think of the album as a soundtrack to a story. We looked at our list of songs, and every one of them seemed to suggest dance or romance. So we imagined a love story in which two people meet at a dance, fall in love, have misgivings, then finally follow their hearts and get married. With this in mind, things began to fall into place. The album became even more personal when we added ‘The Montague Processional’ a Swedish-styled piece that had been played at our own wedding.