"4/5 STARS - A collection of pianistic and minimal miniatures, delicate and fragile as a faint memory... Brian Harnetty continues an exploration of minimal piano as if he were looking through infinite tiny details to revive old memories… The result is a magnificent disc." —Benzine Magazine, France

"... a peaceful, contemplative salve." —Columbus Alive

MANY HANDS is about the rhythms of landscape and labor in Appalachian Ohio. The old phrase, “many hands make light work” is the starting point, where people work together toward a common cause and are greater for it. Throughout, the music evokes the emotions, natural environments, and communities that can be found in the region. The twenty-four movements musically amplify a very different Appalachia from recent stereotypes. They draw inspiration from a complex landscape of environmental damage and recovery, small towns with a long history of labor struggles, and current soundscapes that both celebrate and critically listen to the people that live there.

MANY HANDS is divided into two sets of twelve pieces each, based on LANDSCAPES (with “open” rhythms) and LABOR (with “structured” rhythms). The landscapes are named after small towns in Appalachian Ohio — from Moxahala to San Toy to Junction City (my father’s birthplace) — and evoke their natural and human rhythms. The labor portraits are named after past and present local people and their jobs, from prominent black labor organizers and boxing coaches to miners and moonshiners. They reflect the shared rhythms of manual, community, and care labor that form the fabric of the region.

Tracks:
1. New Straitsville
2. Richard L. Davis - Labor Organizer
3. Hemlock
4. Major Fountain - Miner
5. Murray City
6. Thomas Spare - Surveyor and Architect
7. Corning
8. William Agustus Harnetty - Tile Plant Worker and Apple Farmer
9. Shawnee
10. Adam Clayton Powell - Pastor and Miner
11. Glouster
12. Sam Jones - Boxing Trainer
13. Carbon Hill
14. Cheryl Blosser - Historian
15. Moxahala
16. Florence Paxton - Mother and Farmer
17. San Toy
18. Sophia Mitchell - Mayor
19. Millfield
20. Casey Jones - Moonshiner
21. Rendville
22. Bertha Eichenbaum - Chemist and Educator
23. Junction City
24. Paul Harnetty - Typewriter Repairman

released December 15, 2021

Mastering: Keith Hanlon, Secret Studio
Cover Photo: Courtesy of the Little Cities of Black Diamonds Archive