James Hewitt's popular tune from early nineteenth c. is used here for alternative setting. Pianist: Donna Long, In honor of The Defense of Fort McHenry on 09/14/14 . All four verses. Released on Folk_legacy Records lable.
In memory of the 09/14/1814 successful defense of Fort McHenry. Here's a cut (from my future Folk-Legacy album) of James Hewitt's setting of The Star Spangled Banner . I'm accompanied on piano by Donna Long, so well-known in Irish music circles. James Hewitt disliked the "Anachreon In Heaven" tune to which the poem had already been set. Why set such a fine patriotic poem to a familiar drinking song? He soon offered this substitute. I chose Hewitt's tune for its beauty but also because it helps people listen to all four verses with fresh perspectives.. They are complex and disturbing at times, but they help us see who we were at that time as a nation. For all the strutting and bellicosity, just remember we were a small country finally winning a key battle against a great power that saw us as a lapsed upstart colony. I learned this as part of "Yankee Frolics' -- a War of 1812 concert group I joined with two of my favorite singers, Peter Brice and Judy Cook. My voice may still need a little editing.
