DESCRIPTION:
Five movements from Nolan Stolz's "Twelve American Stories"
0:00 II. Back To Idaho, 2:22 IV. Meth In Oregon, 3:13 V. Curling in Canada, 4:46 X. Fishing in North Dakota, 5:33 XI. Animals
In 2007, the composer drove across the country and asked whomever he saw at a gas station or rest stop to share an "interesting" story. The twelve recorded stories became the source material for the electronic part and the inspiration for the percussion parts. Some movements use the unaltered version of the story, and others include electronically manipulated sounds for greater sonic interest. These selected five movements tell of 1) a woman from Washington who got lost in Idaho, 2) a gas station worker in Oregon who caught someone making meth out of their van, 3) a high school student from Utah who goes to curling camp in Canada and meets "older" guys that got drunk by the river, 4) a man from North Dakota who went fishing and his son scared him, and 5) a woman from Montana that thinks we should care more about animals.

I gave the premiere of movements IV, V and XI at the College Music Society Great Plains Regional Conference at Luther College (Decorah, IA) in March 2012. This is a recording from my Junior Percussion recital at the University of South Dakota. in April 2012.