Stephen Paulus was always moved by the spirit of collaboration he experienced with his peers and neighbours in Minnesota. A particularly fruitful collaboration was with Michael Dennis Browne, who provided texts for at least sixteen Paulus compositions. The road home sets Browne’s text to the tune ‘Prospect’, an American shape-note hymn tune compiled in Southern Harmony in 1835. Paulus made this arrangement for The Dale Warland Singers in 2002. It is hard not to be moved by this well-loved piece, which somehow carries just as much emotion as a spiritual such as Deep river. Fittingly, this hymn has been sung many times in services and celebrations of the life of a composer who sadly died during the preparation of this recording in 2014.

from notes by Stephen W Salts © 2015