ABOUT JAY & MOLLY
It started with a chance meeting in the late 1970s.
Jay & Molly were each performing at the Towne Crier, a rural New York club.
They hit it off musically and played together from time to time until Molly headed off to Minnesota to work in the house band of a new radio show: Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion.
Meanwhile, back in New York, Jay put together a band with fellow fiddlers Evan Stover and Matt Glaser and guitarist Russ Barenberg. When Fiddle Fever, as the collaboration was called, needed a bassist, Molly signed on.
The group recorded two classic LPs, now available on CD as The Best of Fiddle Fever (Flying Fish Records).
Fun HistoryHe was a Bronx kid.
She grew up in Washington State.
He was raised on pop music of the 1940s and ’50s.
She had a fondness for traditional fiddle music and ’30s and ’40s popular tunes.
He hung out in Greenwich Village coffeehouses and roamed North Carolina and Tennessee in search of traditional players.
She played clubs and colleges on the West Coast and took a liking to the jazzy sound of the Swing Era.
Since joining forces—both artistically and romantically (the two would marry in 1991)—
Jay Ungar and Molly Mason have become one of the most celebrated duos on the American acoustic music scene.
The early ’80s also saw the beginning of Jay’s Ashokan Music & Dance Camps, a world-renowned destination for enthusiasts of American music and dance traditions. Several years later, Molly became a full partner in designing and running these programs, which are still going strong.
1984 found Fiddle Fever band members Matt Glaser and Russ Barenberg working with a young filmmaker on a documentary called The Brooklyn Bridge. They gave Ken Burns a copy of Fiddle Fever’s second LP, Waltz of the Wind, which included Jay’s Ashokan Farewell. Burns was so taken with the evocative and haunting melody, he used it in his next film, Huey, about Louisiana Governor Huey Long, and he wound up inviting Jay & Molly to provide music for many of his projects.
The high point to date of this long relationship was the selection of Ashokan Farewell as the main theme of Burns’ landmark PBS documentary The Civil War. The result: an Emmy nomination for Jay and a Grammy for the soundtrack album. And the tune seems to have taken on a life of its own. Now considered an American “folk” classic, it is played by fiddlers and classical musicians worldwide. In the British Isles, a recording of Ashokan Farewell by Her Majesty’s Royal Marines has remained high on the classical charts for several years. It has been performed by major orchestras, and has been recorded by artists from Mark O’Connor to Pinchas Zuckerman, James Galway to Charlie Byrd, Jerry Garcia, David Grisman and The Osborne Brothers to Polka King Jimmy Sturr.
After signing with Angel Records in 1991, Jay & Molly—in collaboration with baritone Thomas Hampson and pianist David Alpher—released American Dreamer, a collection of the songs of Stephen Foster. They followed with Waltzing with You, their score for the film Brother’s Keeper, a Sundance Film Festival prizewinner. Perhaps the duo’s best-known composition is the title track of The Lovers’ Waltz, an album of romantic fiddle music from Appalachian, Scandinavian, Celtic, Klezmer and Swing traditions. The CD also features a medley of melodies written by composer James Horner—ones that Jay had previously performed with the London Symphony in Horner’s score for the Sony Tristar film Legends of the Fall. Harvest Home, Jay & Molly’s 1999 release on Angel Records, culminates in their 20-minute orchestral work, The Harvest Home Suite, in which they are joined by the Nashville Chamber Orchestra. In 2002, Jay & Molly produced, arranged and performed on A Song of Home, a collaborative recording for RCA, with flutist Sir James Galway, mandolinist Peter Ostroushko and bassist Steve Rust. Now, with Relax Your Mind (Angel Records), Jay & Molly, with their band Swingology, take a slightly different direction: American dance music with a focus on country blues and swing. Included are more of the beautiful waltzes that have become their signature pieces.
On radio and television, Jay & Molly have appeared on CBS Good Morning, The Rosie O’Donnel Show, All Things Considered, A Prairie Home Companion, and the BBC’s Transatlantic Sessions. And they have no shortage of future musical projects.
Quite the odyssey for the West Coast girl and the kid from the Bronx.
OUR BANDS
THE Jay Ungar
& Molly Mason
FAMILY Band
with Mike + Ruthy
of the Mammals
If you love American roots music, don’t miss this amazing family band!
Jay & Molly are masters of music and storytelling who generously share their lives and their music with audiences. They achieved international acclaim when their performance of Jay’s composition Ashokan Farewell became the musical hallmark of Ken Burns’ The Civil War on PBS.
You may know Ruth Ungar and Mike Merenda from their groundbreaking singing and songwriting careers as Mike + Ruthy and as leaders of the Indie-Folk band The Mammals. Growing up in a musical family, Ruth cut her teeth on traditional music. Mike favored rock and ska before he found his way into acoustic music. They bring their impressive multi-instrumental skills and compelling vocal performances to the mix.
Double fiddles, sweet harmonies and rhythmic energy abound as two generations collaborate, entertaining you with music from the heart and soul of America.
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Swingology
If you’ve loved Jay Ungar and Molly Mason in concert, know this: It’s even better when Swingology takes the stage.
The group, including some of Jay & Molly’s all-time favorite musicians, morphs from string band to swing band, Cajun band to Celtic band, country band to Civil War-era dance orchestra! Expect to hear tunes from Fats Waller, Stephen Foster, Hank Williams and Leadbelly-plus Jay & Molly’s classic originals like Ashokan Farewell and The Lovers’ Waltz. Long known for performing a wide range of musical styles, Jay & Molly and their friends explore each idiom with remarkable fidelity.
Swingology grew out of the strong musical ties Jay & Molly have enjoyed while running their annual Ashokan Music & Dance Camps near Woodstock, New York. The group’s personnel may vary from show to show, but frequently includes Peter Davis (clarinet, sax, piano, banjo, mandolin, guitar, whistle and vocals), and Dave Davies (trombone and vocals), plus bassist Harry Aceto and drummer Jerry Marotta who never fail to provide the infectiously perfect groove for every tune and genre.