In a sequel to their 2004 album American Angels (a hit, at least by the standards of the Billboard classical chart), the women of Anonymous 4 return to what the sleeve notes call “the roots of Anglo-American vocal music.” These are mostly 19th-century hymns and ballads of the southern mountains, many descended from English and Scots-Irish folk music. Several use spare harmonies common to shape-note singing, which are rendered with the quartet’s scholastic precision. The usually a cappella foursome is joined by string players Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, who complement the carefully balanced vocals and occasionally (as on the lively “Merrick”) give them some unaccustomed grit.
One possible objection is the general dearth of that grit. Even removed from the medieval chants that established them as favorites of the Early Music scene, Anonymous 4 sound more high church than high lonesome. But the album’s meticulous arrangements are, first of all, lovely, and deeply respectful of the songs. And second, drawing on the group’s sweeping knowledge of sacred singing, they make intuitive connections between Appalachian hymns and traditions that predated them by a millennium.
The group’s resident folklorist, Marsha Genensky, provides illuminating annotations that trace the music’s melodic and lyrical evolution (noting, for example, the way “Wayfaring Stranger” became “You Fair And Pretty Ladies”, or vice versa).
But the best case they can make for these songs is simply to sing them. When the full quartet soars into the choruses of “Just Over In Gloryland” or “Green Pastures”, it is all but impossible not to be buoyed along.