Grateful Dead Family Discography: Ashokan Farewell

Ashokan Farewell

Composer: Jay Ungar

Jerry Garcia plays on the Daniel Kobialka and David Grisman recording of this piece.

Ashokan Farewell was written by Jay Ungar in 1982 and named for the Ashokan Field Campus of the State University of New York where Ungar and Molly Mason ran music and dance workshops. The Fiddle Fever version of the piece was subsequently used as the title music of the 1990 PBS television series, The Civil War. Other versions of Ashokan Farewell were also used during the soundtrack of the Civil War series.

The Waltz Of The Wind album has song notes on the rear cover. For Ashokan Farewell the note is: "Several of our band members have taught at Fiddle and Dance Workshop's music and dance weeks at Ashokan. Ashokan is a camp in New York's Catskill Mountains. It takes on a truly magical quality during these wkks, when music and dance fanatics make the woods ring with their joyful sounds. At the program's end each year, many find it hard to leave this real world and return to a world of cars, phones and apathy. Overcome with emotion shortly after the '82 season, Jay wrote this lament. He began playing it during an off moment in the studio. The rest of the band joined in, Evan wrote string parts and an arrangement was born.

Jerry Garcia

Common Chord, David Grisman and Daniel Kobialka, 1995

Other recordings

Waltz of the Wind, Fiddle Fever, 1983
no info Against Tradition, Karen Leigh Williams & Rick Ruskin, 1985
no info The Civil War TV Soundtrack, Various Artsts (2 versions), 1990
Best of Fiddle Fever, Fiddle Fever, 1990
no info Home Brew, Carawan Family, 1991
no info Songs of the Civil War, Various Artists (Fiddle Fever), 1991
no info Bird of Paradise, Sally Harmon, 1991
Nightfall Of Diamonds, Tom Constanten, 1992
no info Fiddlesticks Collection, Jerry Holland, 1992
no info Old Time Wedding Reels and Other Favorite Scottish Fiddle Tunes, Joseph Cormier and Friends, 1992
no info The Washington Guitar Quintet, Charlie Byrd and the Washington Guitar Quintet, 1992
Heroes, Mark O'Connor, 1993
no info When the Rose Bloom in Dixieland, The Osborne Brothers, 1994
no info A Show of Hands, Wind Machine Guitar Duo, 1994
no info Walking with You, Lorie Line, 1994
Sidewinder, Al Casey, 1995
no info Forever & Always, Priscilla Herdman, 1995
no info The Celtic Touch, Richard Wood, 1995
no info Aural History, Fiddlin Johnny, 1996
no info Leroy Mack & Friends, Leroy Mack, 1996
no info Celtic Legends, James Galway & Phil Coulter, 1997
Dancing On The Fingerboard, Rickie Simpkins, 1997
no info Palace of the Winds: The Piano at the Movies, Michael Chertock, 1997
no info Last World, Clayton Englar & Equinox, 1997
no info America, Rekkenze Brass, 1997
no info Scenes from Childhood: Solo Guitar, Danny Infantino, 1998
Barebones & Wildflowers, 1998
no info The Catskill Collection: Compiled by Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, Various Artists (Molly Mason), 1998
no info Chapter & Verse, Joe Augustine, 1998
no info Live!, John Leitham, 1998
no info Harvest Home: Music for All Seasons, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, 1999
Bluegrass Mandolin Extravaganza, Various Artists, 1999
no info The Band Only a Mother Could Love, Los Bubbadinos, 1999
no info The Ball Sisters Band, The Ball Sisters Band, 1999
no info Playing Favorites, FiddleSticks, 1999
no info Strip the Willow, The Kinlochard Ceilidh Band, 1999
no info Stream of Consciousness, Paul Anderson and the Whiskey Olympics, 1999
no info Instrumental, Everyday Dirt, 1999
Sawin' on the Strings, Tobasco Donkeys, 1999
no info Civil War Classics, Jay Ungar & Molly Mason, 2000
no info Live, El McMeen, 2000
no info Nothing More to be Said, Toni Bunnell, 2000
no info Horizon Home, World Port, 2000
no info Forever Blue: Solo Piano, Chuck Leavell, 2001
no info Surfing on Cloud Nine, Perpetual Motion, 2001
no info The Lea Rig, El McMeen, 2001
Roots Music: An American Journey, Various Artists (Fiddle Fever), 2001
no info Eidolon, Eidolon, 2002
no info The Very Best of James Galway, James Galway, 2002
no info Live at the Backgate Stage, Misty River, 2002
no info Covering Our Tracks, Colcannon, 2002
no info Ceilidh at the Castle, Gordon Pattullo, 2002
no info Live 25th Anniversary Celebration, Southern Star Bluegrass, 2002
no info At Home and Abroad, The Peninsula Scottish Fiddlers, 2003
no info Revisited, Lloyd Green, 2003
Live! : The Rhumb Line, Tom Eaton and Pick 3, 2003
no info Wide Awake & Dreaming, The McCarrel Sisters, 2003
no info A Smile and a Tear...Guaranteed!, Un-Reconstructed, 2003
no info Serenity, The Scottish Fiddle Orchestra, 2003
no info Sean's Dance, Harpsong, 2003
Live at Lock 3, Brick Road Ramblers, 2003
no info On the Loose, Bruce Stoller, 2003
Blue Ridge Mountain Mandolin, Various Artists (Osborne Brothers), 2003
Earthtones, Tony Michael, 2004
no info Afterthoughts, Kristi Kruse, 2004
no info Ron Kerr's Top Level, Ron Kerr, 2004
no info Legends in Their Own Minds, The South End String Band, 2004
Pure Pickin': Classic Bluegrass Instrumentals, Various Artists (Fiddle Fever), 2004
no info A Brief and True Report Concerning Huckleberry Flint, Huckleberry Flint, 2005
no info Greetings from McCumberland Gap, Kort & Beth McCumber, 2005
no info Songs for the Good Life, Ruth McGinnis, 2005
no info Engruntlement, The Gutbucket Jug Band, 2005
no info Down by the Sally Gardens, Simple Gifts, 2005
no info Without Further Ado, Dave Rolfe, 2005
no info Don't Stop the Music, Ralph & Sara Isaacson, 2005
no info 10 Bluegrass Classics, Deer Lick Holler Boys, 2005
Live From Smiley Mountain, Smiley Mountain Band, 2005
Come to the Mountain: Old Time Music for Modern Times, Various Artists (Fiddle Fever), 2005
MB3, Mollybloom, 2006
no info Bluegrass Mountain Memories, Craig Duncan, 2006
no info The Essential, James Galway, 2006
no info Timeless, Marcille Wallis, 2006
no info Live at Garter Lane, Jim McKillop, 2006
no info We Just Burned This for You!, Time for Three, 2006
no info By the Lake, The Lake String Quartet, 2006
no info Short Road Home, Short Road Home, 2006
no info Reflections, Gregory Harrington, 2006
BlackJack Live!, BlackJack, 2007
no info Blake, Blake, 2007
no info Born To Fiddle, Samantha Casey & the Bluegrass Jam, 2007
no info Bach to Bluegrass, Pianafiddle, 2008
no info Celebrating 70: A Collection of Personal Favorites, James Galway, 2009
no info String Theory, Ben Dean, 2010
no info Legacy: Live in Scotland, Walt Michael & Company, 2011
no info Beginnings, Lynn Gudmundsen & David Hatch, 2011
no info Harmonica Anthology, Buddy Greene, 2011
Live at Tribal Connection, Blue Moon Soup, 2013