EDITORIAL REVIEWS
Inspired by her love of Appalachia, Julia Wolfe based her text for Steel Hammer on over 200 versions of the John Henry ballad. Steel Hammer features the alternately haunting and playful vocalizations of Norways renowned Trio Mediaeval, and stretches the standard instrumentation of the Bang on a Can All-Stars with wooden bones, mountain dulcimer, banjo, clapping, clogging and more. Features the original lineup of Norways Trio Mediaeval (Anna Maria Friman, Linn Andrea Fuglseth and Torunn Ostrem Ossum) with the Bang on a Can All-Stars.

REVIEW
.a musical archaeology of a familiar tale one that preserves, even enlarges, its central mystery. --Alex Ross

There's grit in Julia Wolfe's "Steel Hammer." No, really. The blue-collar song cycle is scored for the versatile forces of the Bang on a Can All-Stars and the ethereally pure female voices of Trio Mediaeval, but a recurring sound is that of sand, pouring down the inside of wooden tubes. The result is a fiercely beautiful homage to manual labor, its endless repetitions and occasional moments of magical transformation. --Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim, New York Times

Composer Julia Wolfe reframes Appalachian sounds and the legend of John Henry with the ethereal-voiced Trio Mediaeval. "Some Say" --Anastasia Tsioulcas, NPR Songs of 2014