On return from a trip to the Ozarks to record nature sounds in stereo, I played Connie's song for producer, Mike Murphy, as he was about to fall asleep in the car, suggesting that it might work as a theme for the show. When he awoke, he said, "Let's do it!"

Connie Dover, internationally known as a celtic singer, was born in Arkansas, raised in Missouri, and lives near KC in Weston, MO. She was excited to hear a piece on the Ozarks was in the making and enthusiastically agreed to let us use her music. Remarkably, she was already scheduled for a March release of her latest CD, "The Border of Heaven," coinciding with the television premiere of "Water and Fire."

Connie sent us all of her CDs from which we found several other lyric songs that related well to the show. Visual montages were created to fit a verse from each: "May Morning Dew" for summer; "Brother Green" for the Civil War; "Wondrous Love" for winter, "Who Will Comfort Me" for the close. She even tracked down composer Brian Keane (from whose music the latter was adapted) for permission, and retrieved some master tapes from Scotland so that certain instrumental breaks from other songs could be edited to work with the narrative.

Connie is known for digging up old, old songs and with producer Phil Cunningham, arranging them for the modern ear. Tunes such as "Jack of Diamonds" are recorded in a contemporary style but trace their origin to the southern Missouri region. "Brother Green" was adapted from a version printed in "Ozark Folksongs." "Miss Lillian Williams" (used under the fish hatchery) was written by Connie for her grandmother, who lived in West Ridge all her life and provided Connie strong memories of rural Ozark life.

Although many of Connie's musicians are from Scotland, her CD with the group Scartaglen is locally performed and recorded. A pair of tunes in the "Day After Christmas" medley used over the children in summer is by local fiddler Mike Dugger, now playing with the group Sun Rush. The penny whistle solo "Fair-Haired Child" over the autumn scene is played by Kirk Lynch.

Several other local recordings became a part of "Water and Fire" in much the same way.

Roger Landes' tender guitar performance of "Hector the Hero" appears several times (the conservation movement, meeting the Fasts, farm auctions, the houndmen) in the show. Roger performs on many of Connie's recordings and continues to perform live with her on occasion.

For the darker sections in the show (axe wounds, firestorms, lynchings) and even the murky "gigging suckers" scene, I remembered a haunting sound that I had heard by two local performers, Thomas Aber and Dwight Frizzell from the New Ear ensemble, generated with strange fingerings and harmonics on the bass clarinet and clarinet. They also generously provided a master tape from which I could extract just the sounds needed to enhance the mood of the score.

For traditional music of the Ozarks, I consulted several scholars of Ozarks fiddle music. Howard Marshall provided a fiddle tune ("Tiehacker Hoedown") for the tiehacking scene from his Grammy-nominated "Fiddling Missouri" CD on the Voyager label. When it was decided to add effects to some of the old B&W movie segments, the tune "Happy Jack" was also used, sped up to a different key to fit the dancing on screen. Thanks to Voyager and their large collection of fiddle music.

Gordon McCann, claiming a collection of "over 3,000 fiddlers" in his basement, sent recordings of the best traditional fiddlers of the Ozarks. Included in the show are two tunes "Lay Your Good Money Down" for the tomato canneries and "Daddy Blues" for sinning, featuring the fiddling of the late Art Galbraith accompanied by Gordon on guitar.

Recordings of these tunes were originally released by Rounder Records but the ownership was retained by the original producer, Mark Wilson. With Gordon's help, I found Mark on the east coast. Although everything was packed away due to a recent move, Mark dug out his original masters and sent me transfers pronto! The tunes used are out-of-print but Mark hopes to re-release them soon. Mark is tireless promoter of American folk music and his recordings can be found on the American Music Traditions Series at Rounder Records.

To enhance the original music recorded for the show, I collaborated with two local brothers, Dan Grotewohl on fiddle, and Chris Grotewohl on banjo. They improvised with an Ozark twist for the misadventures of Schoolcraft and performed in a more subtle style for the passage on early black life. Dan's fiddle can be heard sprinkled about in other parts of the underscore, including the dying sucker's last gasp. They had recently recorded a pair of traditional Ozark tunes, "Brickyard Joe/Sally Goodin," for an NEA grant application---these became the underscore for the building of Bagnell Dam.

Also thanks also to Chuck Haddix from the Marr Sound Archives for providing an historical perspective on music of the period and region, Tom Mardikes for permission to use Scartaglen's "Last Night's Fun" CD, Greg Mackender and Don Maxwell for providing Indian chants, Kaw Valley Films for the dulcimer tune, Dr. E.D. McKinney for his long list of fiddle players, Sam Platt and Kelly Werts for helpful references, and RSRT for their music recording services.

The original inspiration for the musical score, "How Can I Live At the Top of the Mountain," is heard as a flute solo at the opening, and again with lyrics at the very end of the show over the credit roll. To tailor the words to the show, Connie re-recorded the last two phrases to end with the show's title (in reverse order to fit the melody),

across the land that stirs my soul,
the land of Fire and Water.

I am very grateful for the cooperation and inspiration provided by all of the musicians, producers and scholars who graciously contributed to the making of this soundtrack.