The American Road (2025)
fOR SATB, SSAA, SOLOISTS and piano

Movements:
1. Prepare Me One Body | baritone (or tenor) soloist, SATB
2. Little Cuckoo | soprano soloist, SSAA, piano
3. He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands | SATB, piano
4. Left Food, Peg Foot | SATB, piano
6. Shall We Gather | SATB, piano
7. Shine! | SATB, piano

Text: Mvts. 1, 3, 4, 6 – Traditional; Mvt. 2 – Rhiannon Giddens; Mvt. 5 – Text by Robert Lowry, Tune: Hanson Place

Duration: 30 minutes
Premiere: July 24, 2025, Santa Fe Desert Chorale with conductor Joshua Habermann, Santa Fe, New Mexico

Commissioned by the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, this choral suite reimagines six folk songs, hymns, and spirituals to reflect America’s complex journey through sacrifice, oppression, healing, and hope. It can be performed as a complete six-movement work or with individual movements standing on their own. From the solemn invocation of Prepare Me One Body to the triumphant finale Shine!, each movement tells a vivid story—ranging from lullabies of quiet resistance to the urgent rhythms of the Underground Railroad. Through intimate solos and powerful choral textures, the suite transforms collective memory into a shared musical testimony of resilience.

[Currently under exclusivity through the end of September, after which the score can be purchased.]