When the mountains were young
And the trees were old
And the world had
But just one soul
With creatures that fly
And critters that crawl
In the meadow,
This is what we saw...
--Rick Jones/The Meadow

"I hope that this album demonstrates that we've been practicing--if nothing else, we should get high marks for perserverence."

Indeed. Horndance is Song of the Lakes' 4th album, Pearl of America, Walkin' the Plank and 1993's Live Bait being the previous releases. With Horndance, the group has taken a musical turn of sorts. Though there is still a rolling, nautical feel to the music, hard core fans may feel slightly bewildered at first listen. There is a polished quality to the pieces that separates Horndance from earlier works. Though the album treads down many musical paths, a unifying thread ties it all together in as winding and polished a manner as Lisa Johansson's flute work. Even when they assay a traditional tune or a piece from a previous work, such as The Dancer, there is very much a sense that they are playing it now. In other words--this is most emphatically not merely a rehashing of Song of the Lakes.

What's different about Horndance?

"Of course Crispin (Campbell) joined us for this album, and I think he adds a dimension to the music. The tunes themselves developed over the last 2 or 3 years. We've moved kind of off the maritime path. Rising of the Moon is the only 'traditional' tune, and I think that even there we've put our own interepretation on it. Horndance is a forest piece, and I think that in moving inland, we're also looking inward."

Do you have a favorite place to play?

"Well, Northern Delights in Benzonia has to be up there--it's a great room and you're not competing with all kinds of noise. Then for an outdoor venue, the Rennaissance Festival would have to be there. In terms of our tightest performance, that would have to be our show last year at J.R.'s. There were only about 50 people but we had an amazing performance--we were all on."

         H O R N D A N C E

  c  r  e  d  i  t  s
 flute, vocal:        Lisa Johansson
 string, vocal:     Ingemar Johansson
 string, vocal:     Micheal Sullivan
 percussion, vocal, bodhran: Rick Jones

 guests:
 bass:        Crispin Campbell
 vocal:          Linda Mueller
 recorded: Rawhide Jones' Studio
 art:         Charles Murphy
 photos:     M'Lynn Hartwell