Songcatcher (Vanguard Records VCD 79586-2, 2001) is the companion soundtrack album to Maggie Greenwald's film set in the Appalachian Mountains at the turn of the twentieth century, presenting traditional mountain ballads and folk songs from the same collecting tradition the film depicts. Gillian Welch plays guitar and sings; Dave Rawlings plays guitar; and David Steele contributes additional music work alongside a roster of traditional and contemporary performers. The program draws from the Appalachian folk canon — "Barbara Allen," "Shady Grove," and related pieces — in acoustic arrangements honoring the modal character and sparse simplicity of their traditional performance context. Welch's compositions written in period idiom sit alongside material contributed by Hazel Dickens and Iris DeMent, connecting the tradition's historical roots to the generation of musicians who had absorbed and renewed them.