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Traveler’s Dream is an American folk group founded in 2000 by Michael Lewis (vocals, songwriter, guitar, mandolin, bouzouki, feet percussion) and Denise Wilson (vocals, songwriter, Irish flute and tin whistle, concertina, fife, and guitar) with various other artists participating on certain recordings and performances. The duo’s repertoire draws heavily from the musical traditions of Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales, French-Canada and early America.

Membership

Denise Wilson

Wilson's musical interests were heavily influenced by her family’s Celtic ancestry and her early interest in history and in French language and culture. Her first public performances were in 1971 while in high school with the Tippecanoe Ancients Fife and Drum Corps, a Lafayette, Indiana-based group that performs 18th Century music.. Except for hiatuses when she was in Europe, she remained active with the corp through 1989, including bi-centennial celebration performances and a European tour in 1988. Her first performances in Europe were with a group in Strasbourg, France while she studied there during college. Subsequent European tours were with the leadership of the LaSalle Expedition Re-creation and with the corp in 1988.

Soon after she returned from Strasbourg, Wilson joined with four other musicians to form the band Bon Jolais, a folk group that specialized in traditional music from Ireland, Scotland, France, and early America. They toured primarily in Midwest from 1987 until 1999 and during that period they recorded and published two CD’s "Spirits of the Wabash" and "Till the Storm Passes." During her high school and college years Wilson also performed with the Tippecanoe Ancient Fife and Drum Corps, a group of musicians that portrays La Compagnie Franche de la Marine, the French troops who were stationed in colonial North America, which she directed from 1978 to 1990.

Wilson went on to earn a B.A. in French at Purdue University in 1981 and a Ph.D. in History at West Virginia University in 1997. Her graduate studies focused on the history of early America and Midwestern regional history. and such has remained an element of her work, appearances and performances.

From 1989 to 1991 Wilson was the publisher and editor of "Folkstone News" a quarterly folk music news magazine which covered midwestern folk musicians, events, and topics of interest to folk musicians and folk music listeners. Wilson participated in the foundation of the Folk Alliance which grew out of a foundation meeting in Malibu, CA. The folk alliance is an international organization promoting folk music and folk dance.

Dr. Wilson taught history from 1993-2000 at Lakeland College in Wisconsin, and then returned to her home town of Lafayette, Indiana. In the winter of 2000, she began performing music with Michael Lewis as Traveler’s Dream.

Wilson has said that the research skills she acquired in school enabled her to research traditional music and place it in its historical context. Traveler’s Dream also does instructional programs which teach history through music at schools and colleges, historical conferences, and women's history programs. Wilson has received three grants from the Indiana Arts Commission to support her efforts to create musical programs which raise awareness and appreciate of Midwestern history and cultural heritage.

Michael Lewis

Michael Lewis first toured nationally in 1988 when he joined the folk music group “Stone Soup” following guest performances with them in 1987 (including on the CD "October Nights" in 1987) whose other members included Carrie Newcomer and Dennis Leas. He was part of this band when it was featured in a one-hour PBS special entitled “October Nights.” When Stone Soup disbanded, Lewis and Newcomer performed as a duo. Lewis is credited on Newcomer’s 1991 solo CD, Visions and Dreams(1991).

Lewis has said that his music has also been influenced by his family’s Celtic ancestry and by Irish, English, Welsh & Scottish performers including John Renbourn and Clannad. Contemporary elements include his percussive guitar style, choosing traditional songs with strong lyrical content, and creating musical arrangements (vocal and instrumental) for Traveler’s Dream’s which combine elements of traditional and contemporary folk music.

In 2001, the Indiana Arts Commission issued Michael an Individual Artist Fellowship to fund the creation of four songs relating to Midwestern history and culture.

Lewis has performed as a guest or studio musician (primarily guitar, bouzouki, and mandolin) on the recordings of many Midwestern musicians including Sharon McKnight's "My Backyard" CD (2000), Dream Journeys' "The Magic Carpet" CD (2003), Sharon McKnight's "Factory Girl" CD (2005), The Squatting Toad Band's "The Worst of the Squatting Toad Band" CD (2007), Clint Brandt's "Ruined" CD (2007), Linda Hicks' "In the Corner" CD (2007), Kent Heckaman's "Song from Those Days" CD (2008), Joe Peters' "Pilgrimage 2008" CD The Squatting Toad Band's "The Hoax" CD (2008), "Sacred Scripture Rosary" CD (2009), The Vagaband's "The Vagaband" CD (2009), and Marsha Musleh's "Tearing Down These Walls" CD (2009). Lewis is also owner of Middle Earth recording studio.

Performances as the group

By 2001, Traveler's Dream had played at larger historical events. Following chiding by fans who were enamored with rare recordings of them performing in harmonized duets, recent articles & reviews have indicated that their 4th CD marked greater inclusion of those types. Other changes including a trend towards a heavier predominance of original works, and increasing guest appearances (vs. band membership) by others. Currently, Chance Heasty frequently performs as a guest fiddler with Traveler's Dream.

Traveler’s Dream performs at historical, cultural, and educational venues in addition to other venues including those that feature folk and acoustic music in addition to other venues including those that feature folk and acoustic music.

Musical style

Traveler’s Dream’s performs several musical styles. These include traditional music of the British Isles (with an emphasis on Irish and English traditional music), songs which were popular in early America. This includes the music of the French-Canadian voyageurs and the French-speaking people who settled in villages located in the Great Lakes and Mississippi regions. At one end of this spectrum are performances of historical versions of folk music. At the other end of this spectrum are original songs inspired by the same histories and more recently original works not of historical style. Their works also include contemporary arrangements of historical songs.

Normally the group performs in English, with a few songs in French. On occasion they perform entirely in French at specialized cultural & historical events.

Venues

Traveler's Dream has played various types of venues, from being main stage performers at 50,000+ attendance historical events such as the Feast of the Hunter's Moon, to a self-stated stated preference to continue to play some very small venues of various types including academic programs. Venue types in their "core" exhibit similar variations including historical, cultural, and educational venues, venues including those that feature folk and acoustic music, and concert type venues. Inclusion of their work in broadcasts is generally in folk music programs such as The Midnight Special (radio)program and Wisconsin Public Radio's state-wide "Simply Folk' program.

Historical Overlay

History is a prevalent theme of Traveler’s Dream to the extent that some of their programs are non-musical presentations and instruction.

With respect to writing and adaptation of music, Wilson and Lewis draw from different periods and locations. Lewis’s musical writing, and adaptations draw primarily from the historical British Isles and seafaring from the sailing era. Wilson’s articles, studies, musical writing emphasis is on what is now the Midwestern and north central United States from the late 1600’s through the early 1800’s, and on the Voyageur era. The French were prominent in those places in that era. Wilson’s PhD, doctoral thesis, previous professorship, approximately 39 years of historical musical performances are in the same field as the historical portion of her current work. her current work.

Discography

Traveler’s Dream has produced four CD’s

The Road Home (2002)

1. Will Ye No Come Back Again
2. Grain de Mil
3. St. Anne's Reel / Highlander's Farewell
4. Leave Her, Johnny
5. Two Recruiting Sergeants
6. End of Summer Waltz
7. Yellow Tinker / Brenda Stubbert' s
8. Whup Jamboree
9. Aux Marches du Palais
10. Bold Lad On a Rock / Granny Didn't Stay too Long
11. Soldier's Promise
12. Par un Jour
13. Waterway West
14. Road to Boston
15. Will Ye No Come Back Again (Reprise)
16. The Road Home plus hidden song
17. What do you do with a Drunken Sailor? (hidden track)

The Willow Tree (2004)

1. I'm Seventeen Come Sunday
2. While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping
3. Jim Ward' s Jig / Old Copperplate
4. Bad Girl's Lament
5. Au Bord de Jean de La Fontaine
6. Old Bean Waltz/Mrs. Isabella MacKenzie Sutherland
7. The Willow Tree
8. First of May Waltz
9. Cotton Mill Girls
10. Scots Wha Hae
11. P'tit Cordonnier
12. Bowery Girl / Grandpa Joe's Polka
13. Maggie's Reel
14. Meg's Waltz

Home Comes the Rover (2008)

1. Black Calvary
2. Dans les Prisons de Nantes
3. The King's Daughters/ Reel Saint-Jean
4. Mary and the Soldier
5. Star of Munster / Torn Jacket / Sally Gardens (reels)
6. Paddy West
7. Au Bois Marguerite / Curly Shingles
8. Donnybrook / An Grianan / Banish Misfortune (Jigs)
9. Holy Ground
10. Nantucket Sleighride / The Essex
11. Planxty Hewlett / The Ash Grove (Tunes)
12. Ah! Si Mon Moine Voulait Danser!
13. John O'Dreams
14. Say, Darlin' Say (Hush Little Baby)

Cold Blows the Day (2009)

1. Gloucestershire Wassail
2. Rise Up, Jock!
3. Coventry Carol/ Il Est Ne
4. Good King Wenceslas
5. Pagan Carol for Winter
6. I Saw Three Ships
7. Winter's Mythology
8. Deck the Halls
9. Bring a Torch Jeanette, Isabella
10. Maggie in the Woods / Road to Boston
11. Holly and the Ivy Revisited
12. Auld Lang Syne

References

1. ^ Niles Michigan Gazette August, 2001 pp 7-8 interview of Wilson "The Harmonies of History"
2. ^ http://travelersdream.net/bio_info.htm Bios by Traveler's Dream
3. Newsweek magazine, July 4,1976, Wilson performances on pages 3,12 & 13
4. http://travelersdream.net/til_the_storm_passes.htm Credits for Bon Jolais CD's
5. ^ Wilson, Denise, "Vincennes: From French Colonial Village to American Frontier Town, 1730-1820." Ph.D. dissertation, West Virginia University, 1997. (Dr. Wilson's Ph.D thesis)
6. ^ Dr. Denise Wilson “The Material Culture and Daily Lives of Women in Colonial Vincennes,” Le Journal Center for French Colonial Studies (Centre pour l’etude du pays des Illinois)Vol. 17, No. 2 Spring 2001 pp. 1-5.
7. http://www.folkalliance.org/ Folk Alliance
8. Nevins, Patrick (February 2009). "A Passion for Music: Traveler's Dream". Helen Magazine. Lafayette, Indiana. pp. 57–58.
9. ^ "Day Job, Dream Job". Krannert Magazine. Vol. 9, no. 2. Purdue University Krannert School of Management. Fall 2008. p. 21.
10. ^ http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,138618,00.html "Visions and Dreams" review and performer information
11. ^ "Review of 'Home Comes the Rover'". Dirty Linen. Vol. 142. July/August 2009. p. 45. Retrieved 2010-03-24. {{cite magazine}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
12. ^ "Music notation and lyrics to Lewis's song "The Essex"". Sing Out!. Vol. 52, no. 3. Autumn 2008. pp. 74–76.
13. ^ Muzzle Blasts Magazine November 2009 Issue, pages 62-63
14. ^ FRoots Magazine, London England, March 2010 issue (#321) page 69 http://www.frootsmag.com/ Retrieved March 2010
15. Scouting (USA) Magazine,September 2007, Article "Getting Excited about High Adventure" http://www.scoutingmagazine.org/issues/0709/a-high.html
16. ^ "Partial List of Past Performances". Traveller's Dream. Retrieved 2010-03-24.
17. ^ "Program Play List, July 2009". Simply Folk. Wisconsin Public Radio. Retrieved 2010--03-25. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
18. ^ "November 28th 2009 Playlist". The Midnight Special Radio Program. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
19. ^ "December 19th 2009 Playlist". Midnight Special Radio Program. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
20. ^ "December 26th 2009 Playlist". The Midnight Special Radio Program. Retrieved 2010-03-25.
21. ^ "2010 Feast of the Hunter's Moon". Tippecanoe County Historical Association. Retrieved 2010-03-25. {{cite web}}: line feed character in |publisher= at position 18 (help)
22. "The Time of the French in the Heart of North America 1673-1818" By Charles Balesi ISBN 1-881370-00-3"

External links

• Travelers Dream Official Website

Traveler's Dream is a very influential group, and from time to time I have LEARNED many facts about what they had to say. I believe that one should attend atleast one concert/performance and feel the knowledge that comes out of not only of their instruments but their mouths. When i can't have this pleasure I seek the internet and this website was the 1st that I went to. I can tell you that all of this is CREDIBLE and people like Traveler's Dream SHOULD be KEPT on this site for others that are or will be inspired. For all of these FACTS to be in one place it is exciting to see and show others that are fans. ````

• American folk musicians
• American folk musical groups
• French folk music
• Maritime music