1946
Blue Mountain Ballads
Composed by 
Paul Bowles
Paul Bowles Text by 
Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams Song Collection
Paul Bowles may have been better known as a literary figure than as a composer, but he distinguished himself in both fields. Blue Mountain Ballads is his cycle of songs for piano and voice based on poems by his friend and mentor, the playwright Tennessee Williams.
Audio
“Heavenly Grass” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Wolfram Rieger (piano)2:17
“Heavenly Grass” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Robert Wesley Mason, baritone; Sarah Thune, piano2:30
“Lonesome Man” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Wolfram Rieger (piano)1:21
“Cabin” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Wolfram Rieger (piano)1:49
“Sugar in the Cane” (from “Blue Mountain Ballads”)
Thomas Hampson (baritone) & Wolfram Rieger (piano)2:07
About
The four poems, grouped under the same title given to the song cycle, and printed in the same order, appear in a book of Williams’s poetry called In the Winter of Cities (1956). Throughout the cycle, Bowles incorporates flowing melodies with accompaniments that are infused with jazz and rag rhythms typically associated with southern music.
–Stephanie Poxon, Ph.D.
Related Information
New World Records
newworldrecords.org/linernotes/80369.pdfInstant Encore
instantencore.com/music/details.aspx?PId=5041048Sheet Music
Blue Mountain Ballads
Paul Bowles
1. Heavenly Grass
2. Lonesome Man
3. Cabin
4. Sugar in the Cane
2. Lonesome Man
3. Cabin
4. Sugar in the Cane