Listen to Audio Clips!
When I first heard Julee Glaub sing, I was amazed at how her voice sounded equally at home singing Celtic, Old Time or Gospel songs. Growing up in North Carolina, Julee fell in love with the songs that she heard in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Later, while living in Ireland, she was equally moved by the traditional songs she heard in the Irish countryside. On her return to the USA, the similarities between the Irish and the Appalachian song traditions and their common roots intrigued her. Her selection of songs on this CD explores those connections.
— Robbie O'Connell
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
"Songbird" is a term that was often used in the 18th and 19th Centuries to describe the rare female vocalist whose singing is as natural and pleasing as the singing of a songbird. As I listen to Julee move seamlessly from the Appalachian music of her native North Carolina to the music of her Celtic roots, I realize she truly is a "songbird."
Pete Sutherland's arrangements and musicianship brilliantly compliment Julee's vocal performance here to make Blue Waltz one of the most enjoyable and satisfying recordings I have heard in many years. Well done!!
— Bobby Horton, Birmingham, AL
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Beginnings and endings. Rhythms of joy and regret. Life lies in between. It is both fitting and surprising that Blue Waltz would begin so simply, with a young woman's sad farewell to her sweetheart, then close with the whimsical desire to be with one's lover "floating down a river on a tube". Rooted in the enduring folklore of Irish and Appalachian music, these tales become bookends for a feast of simple stories: stories of people, places, and the deep yearning for a true life. With careful yet never anxious awareness, Julee's selection of songs suggests that heartache is both the cost and reward of love. To ache for something we cannot name (a lover, a place, a possibility) and still persevere, is painful, yet sweetly and profoundly human. Irish-born writer C.S. Lewis thought longing was inseparable from joy, part of its true essence. Blue Waltz invites you to enjoy the ache of longing. It is a musical journey that effortlessly blends what is blue and blushing, sad and true and toe-tapping about life. Let the music begin!
— Steven Purcell, Schloss Mittersill, Austria
Produced by Pete Sutherland
Engineered and Mastered by Lane Gibson at Eller Studios, Charlotte, VT
Julee Glaub, 5305 Ventura Drive, Durham, NC 27712