Music Notes – Sunday, September 7th:
This Sunday’s musicians are Echoes Trio (Gary Aprile, Dylan Moffitt, & Liam Smith), The Chancel Choir, and UUCC Music Director Mike Carney
Be sure to arrive early this Sunday for special Ingathering music on the portico with Echoes Trio, beginning at 9:45!
About this Sunday’s guest musicians:
Echoes Trio is a Cleveland-based ensemble made up of three longtime collaborators and multi-instrumentalists. Their musical style ranges from jazz and pop to world music and meditative soundscapes, and all three members of the group are in demand across Northeast Ohio and beyond.
Gary Aprile is an accomplished guitarist and bassist. After returning from New York City in the early 1990s, Gary has worked with many of the great musicians and musical organizations in the Cleveland area, including Joe Hunter, Jack Schantz, Moises Borges, Kip Reed, Dominick Farrinacci, Jackie Warren, Paul Ferguson, Cleveland Jazz Orchestra and Grupo Brasil. In addition to working as a freelance musician, Gary also is a Clinical Social Worker and co-owner of the private practice Clinical Counseling Associates in Rocky River.
Multi-talented percussionist Dylan Moffitt has distinguished himself both in classical music and the world music genres. Moffitt has recently played in the percussion sections of The Cleveland Orchestra, The Blossom Festival Orchestra and Band, The Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra, The West Virginia Symphony Orchestra, and The Firelands Symphony Orchestra, among many others. In addition to orchestral playing, Dylan also is a frequent performer and teacher of world music. As an educator, he has helped to lead classes in introductory frame drumming and world rhythms at both the Cleveland Institute of Music and at Oberlin College.
Prelude: Down in the River to Pray – Traditional, arr. Hafso
“Down in the River to Pray” (also known as “Down to the River to Pray,” “Down in the Valley to Pray,” “The Good Old Way,” and “Come, Let Us All Go Down”) is a traditional song that originated in the southern United States. The song, which is likely hundreds of years old, was first published in 1867 in the book Slave Songs of the United States. Its exact origins are a matter of some contention: depending on whom you ask, the song might have come from Black Spiritual roots, traditional Christian hymnody, Appalachian folk music, or Native American music. The song gained renewed interest in the year 2000 when it was featured on the popular soundtrack of the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Song: This Boat – Zucker
“This Boat” is a song by award-winning American folk musician Laura Zucker (b. 1958). The song is included in Sing Out Love, a digital UU hymnal published in 2025. Sing Out Love includes familiar UU favorites alongside some exciting new songs, and “This Boat” is one of two new hymns we’ll sing for the first time on this Ingathering Sunday at UUCC.
Song: The Tide Is Rising – Friedman
Shoshana Meira Friedman (b. 1982) is a late-diagnosed PDA Autistic rabbi, writer, coach, activist, and passionate creative. In addition to her rabbinical work, she is an advocate and coach for neurodivergent people, and is a published author and musician. Co-written in 2015 with her husband, Yotam Schachter, “The Tide Is Rising” is a climate anthem which has become Friedman’s best-known song, and it is included in the UUA’s new virtual hymnal Sing Out Love. Earlier this year, The Tide Is Rising was also published and released as an illustrated children’s book.
Song: Blue Boat Home – Mayer
A native of Minnesota, folk musician Peter Mayer (b. 1963) is a guitarist and songwriter who specializes in earth-centered music. UU congregations know and love Peter as the lyricist behind “Blue Boat Home”, which first appeared on Mayer’s album The Great Story and is #1064 in our Singing the Journey hymnbook. The melody Mayer set his inspiring words to is called “Hyfrodol”, a popular Welsh hymn tune credited to Rowland Prichard (1811-1887).
Postlude: Somos el Barco – Wyatt
“Somos el Barco (We Are the Boat)” is the best-known composition of folk singer and songwriter Lorre Wyatt (b. 1945). A native of New Jersey, Wyatt was also long-rumored to be the original composer of Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind”, a claim Wyatt himself has disavowed. “Somos el Barco”, which has been recorded by many artists, including Pete Seeger and Peter, Paul and Mary, is a song of our shared voyage and aspirations to build a better world together.
-Mike Carney, UUCC Music Director