Heritage is a unique concept album, which explores the expanse of American Roots music. These folk tunes, which run the gamut from Appalachian gospel to African-American chants to "heart songs" and fiddle tunes from every part of this country, all have the distinction of being crucial to the cultural development of this nation, and still musically relevant: they"re so strong as purely musical entities that they can take just about any kind of setting and not lose their meaning and identity. From distilled reportage to pure musical flight, these songs speak directly to matters of deep immediacy and relevance: Love, poverty, despair, joy, death, after-death. Nobody wrote them; Everybody wrote them. Listening to them is experiencing cultural geology. The vocalists include: Mary- Chapin Carpenter, John Gorka, Willie Nelson, Tim O"Brien, Jane Siberry, Mavis Staples and Dar Williams Instrumentalists on Heritage include: Phil Aaberg, David Balakrishnan, Russ Barenberg, Sam Bush, Joe Craven, Vassar Clements, Jerry Douglas Michael Doucet, Stuart Duncan,Tony Elman, Bela Fleck, David Grisman John Hartford, Barbara Higbie, John Jennings, David Lindley, Michael Manring, Mike Marshall, Paul McCandless, Edgar Meyer, Andy Narell Barry Phillips, Todd Phillips, Tony Trischka and Victor Wooten;.