Video Premiere: Jennifer Leonhardt “As I Went Down to the River to Pray”

Americana Highways is hosting this video premiere of Jennifer Leonhardt’s version of the song “As I Went Down to the River to Pray,” from her forthcoming album Songs My Mother Sang. The album was produced by Leonhardt; engineered at Breakfast Studios in Highland Park (Los Angeles), CA by Dave Bow and Max Dameron; and mixed and mastered by Aaron Gilmartin. Original album photography is by Judy Gilmartin Packer and Georgie Altenbach.

All songs on the album are traditional compositions and are public domain, except for “Sisters of Mercy” by Leonard Cohen, “I Think it’s Going to Rain Today” by Randy Newman and “More I Cannot Wish You” by Frank Loesser.

Musicians on the album are Jennifer Leonhardt on vocals and acoustic guitar; Juliet Tondowski on vocals; Aaron Gilmartin on vocals, acoustic & electric guitars, banjo, and ukulele; Dave Bow on vocals, acoustic & electric guitar, and cowbell; and Max Dameron on percussion.

The song is a traditional public domain composition with Jennifer Leonhardt on vocals and acoustic guitar, Juliet Tondowski on harmony vocals.

The video features videography by Jennifer Leonhardt.  It was produced by Alice Gilmartin McCarthy, with dancers Catherine and Ariana Dempsey; and shot in and around Glastonbury UK.  Watch and enjoy a video with natural footage of grace, and keep watching for the part where you experience the glorious and heavenly harmonies of Jennifer Leonhardt.

This song was one of my mother’s favorites, we all sang it enough times to know by heart from very young and to sing it as a group over and over. She taught it to my dad on one of their first dates back in the sixties. —  Jennifer Leonhardt

order link https://jenniferleonhardt.com/music/songs-my-mother-sang/