CD: KAREN MUELLER – Landscape of the Heart


KAREN MUELLER

Landscape of the Heart

Hangman’s Reel – Green Green Rocky Road –
My Cape Breton Home – Our Kansas Traveler – Spanish Fandango – Fly
Around Pretty Little Miss/Barlow Knife – Fields of Gold – Little Martha –
Landscape of the Heart – Heart of the Heartland – Sarah Armstrong’s –
Birdland – SLO Twilight/Julia Delany – Josefins Dopvals – I Ride an Old
Paint – Forked Deer/Blackberry Blossom

 

This amazing CD is an incredible showcase of Karen
Mueller’s incredible musical talent.  I first met and heard her a long
time ago in a land far away called Avoca.  It was there that Karen, just
a young princess then, entered an autoharp playing competition.  She
won of course, and went on to visit many far away lands, continuing her
pursuit of a landscape of her heart.  Autoharp of course being her major
musical instrument, but she added mountain dulcimer, guitar, and
mandolin on her trek in life, and asked some of her close musical
friends to make some contributions to this magical musical
presentation.  The mountain dulcimer (Janita Baker), fiddle (Tom
Schaefer), cello (Michelle Kinney), bass (Pete Mathison), drums (Art
Dougall), bass & vocals (Mark Anderson), and herded them carefully
to Sutton Sound in Atascadero, California, to create this simply
beautiful musical experience.  Karen is not just an autoharp player. 
She’s a kind of ‘wizard’ on that instrument, and her own beautiful voice
forces the autoharp to step back, quiet un-noticeably, to let the
‘voice’ emerge, beautiful and lovely.  She selected some beautiful and
lovely traditional songs for this adventure, and they all turned out
exceptional.  In her own words, “Places from our past can have great
power to call up unexpected memories when we return there.”  The title
song ‘Landscape of the Heart’ is in the middle of this delightful
recording.  The beauty of Karen’s home state of Kansas and the great
plains landscape, often ignored by those unfamiliar with it, is brought
to the forefront of everyone’s imagination as they listen to this lovely
anthem to those very old and far away principles that Karen brings to
the forefront so easily.  Karen goes on to say, “While much of this song
(and this CD I might add), relates to her experience growing up in
Kansas, it becomes universal when you consider the landscape of your own
heart and the memories that continue to live there.  Music also has the
power to transport us to another place and another time.  That’s
exactly what happened to me sitting in the sunshine in California,
listening to this incredibly lovely musical tapestry of memories from
far away and long ago.  What a simply wonderful feeling to tap ones
fingers to the delicious melodies she plays on her autoharp, and tap
ones toes in a meaningful step toward wizardry and a time long past but
still very alive in the musical art of Karen Mueller. Thank you Karen
for this wonderful experience. Searching for the stars in the landscape
of my own heart is easy as I listen to your wonderful guidance, no
mountains to climb, no clouds in the way, searching for the stars.  I
will be passing your CD along to the Rural Roots Music Commission who
are already looking forward to listening to your delightful memory
maker.

RECORD REVIEW BY BOB EVERHART – www.ntcma.net

for Country Music News International Magazine 

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