'' Heart of the Heartland'' is the first album in

Peter Ostroushko Peter Ostroushko (August 12, 1953 – February 24, 2021) was an American violinist and mandolinist. He performed regularly on the radio program ''A Prairie Home Companion'' and with a variety of bands and orchestras in Minneapolis–Saint Paul an ...

's "heartland trilogy", released in 1995. ''Pilgrims on the Heart Road'' and ''Sacred Heart'' complete the trilogy. Music from ''Heart of the Heartland'' was used by

Ken Burns Kenneth Lauren Burns (born July 29, 1953) is an American filmmaker known for his documentary film, documentary films and television series, many of which chronicle United States, American History of the United States, history and Culture of the ...

for the PBS documentary '' Lewis & Clark: The Journey of the Corps of Discovery'' and his arrangement of "Sweet Betsy from Pike" was used in Burns' ''

Mark Twain Samuel Langhorne Clemens (November 30, 1835 – April 21, 1910), known by his pen name Mark Twain, was an American writer, humorist, entrepreneur, publisher, and lecturer. He was praised as the "greatest humorist the United States has p ...

''. "Dakota Themes" are a series of pieces Peter originally wrote and recorded for the PBS documentary "The Dakota Conflict" (1993) directed by Kristian Berg. The melody for "Kaposia" (a Dakota village on the Mississippi River near present-day St. Paul, Minnesota) is a variation on a Native American flute piece Peter learned from Dakota flute player Kevin Locke's rendition of "Zuni Sunrise". Music from the album was also later featured in the film '' Into The Wild'' (2007).

Track listing

All songs by Peter Ostroushko unless otherwise noted. #"Seattle (The Fantasy Reel)" – 7:20 #"Prairie Sunrise" – 3:26 #"Puppy Belly Dance" – 5:07 #"Montana" – 4:50 #"Dakota Themes: Kasposia/Pioneer Waltz/Pigs Eye Reel" – 5:48 #"Heart of the Heartland" – 3:26 #"Nicaragua (Prelude and Dance)" – 8:30 #"Sweet Betsy from Pike" (Traditional) – 5:03 #"Virginia Reel from Hell Medley: Spotted Pony/Mississippi Reel/Wrystra" (Ostroushko, Traditional) – 5:00 #"(Twilight on) The Sangre de Cristos" – 3:35

Personnel

*Peter Ostroushko –

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

Richard Dworsky ''A Prairie Home Companion'' is a weekly radio variety show created and hosted by Garrison Keillor that aired live from 1974 to 2016. In 2016, musician Chris Thile took over as host, and the successor show was eventually renamed ''Live from Her ...

–

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, Hammond organ *

Dean Magraw Dean Magraw is an American guitarist and composer. Biography Magraw was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and grew up in St. Paul. He began playing guitar at the age of 13. Magraw performed in a duo for many years with Peter Ostroushko and has also ...

– guitar *Gordon Johnson – bass *Bruce Kurnow –

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

*Cecilia Rossiter -

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

*Sarah Lewis –

*Marc Anderson – percussion *David Bullock – violin

Production notes

*Produced and mixed by Peter Ostroushko *Bob Feldman – executive producer *Engineered and mixed by Tom Mudge *Artwork and design by George Ostroushko *Photography by Dan Corrigan

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Peter Ostroushko albums Red House Records albums