During the weekend of August 24th, seven unique musicians met together at the foot of Pike's Peak in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Their mission: to record an instrumental and improvisational album in the majestic and spiritual setting that is the Garden of the Gods.

Organized by the legendary Robert Force, the group, dubbed Manitou, includes three other performers of the mountain dulcimer; Bud Ford III, Bing Futch and Quintin Stephens Rounding out the dulcimer quartet are bassist Dave Batti, guitarist Roger Zimish and percussionist/vocalist Judy Piazza, who also performs on mountain dulcimer. The ensemble performed together for the first time live at the opening night of the 25th Annual Manitou Springs Mountain Music Festival and followed that rousing show with a recording session the next morning in the Garden of the Gods.

The Garden of the Gods is a magical place that was once an encampment for many different tribes of Native Americans. Mountain Utes, then the Apache, Comanche, and finally the Kiowa, Pawnee, Arapaho and Cheyenne tribes all came through the valleys of rust-colored sandstone and towering gypsum and shale rock. It's believed that the tribes attributed mystical power to this place.

Tapping the vibrant energy of the space, Manitou set up equipment to capture a live 90-minute performance based entirely on improvisation. The result is a full-length CD and accompanying DVD, due to be released at a future date.

Both during the session in the Garden of the Gods and during their stage performances throughout the festival, Manitou has demonstrated the ability of acoustic folk music to cross over the boundaries between musical genres. With the full flavors of World, Tribal and Trance music sprinkled throughout the musical imagery, wide open mountain dulcimer tones wash and swirl together with colorful acoustic guitar and bass. Didgeridoo and Native American flutes add to the ambient soundscapes; music floated in through seven different channels on one perfectly beautiful day.

Live, Manitou is a shape-shifting entity, a dynamic and engaging experience that creates a fusion of the familiar and the fantastic. From renditions of "Sloop John B" to slinky performances of all three parts to "Another Brick In The Wall", the group explored the "folk" aspect of folk music by celebrating the music of the people.

Man • i • tou

Manitou, The Great Spirit, is an Algonquin term combining the meanings of Spirit, mystery, magic, and generally is applied to the manifestation of some form of power that is not readily understood or coming from elsewhere.

Listen to Boy on Rock, the first cut from Manitou!