Mary Kovarik - The Ballad of Goldmoon

Back in 2001 I was fortunate enough to get hold of Mary Kovarik's CD "Secrets of The Heart" directly from a box of albums Tracy Hickman uncovered in his closet. I was instantly enamored by her voice and this song is a personal favorite. I've put it online here in connection with my review of the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy at my website http://www.revelationz.net

Below is an excerpt from Tracy Hickman's newsletter #64 (October 2001) about the album. He was kind enough to sign my copy, so in the end he managed to get his name on the cover.

"Back when I was in High School, I sang with several small vocal groups. We were very much into folk songs and occasional barbershop arrangements. I learned which end of a guitar to strum and we had a wonderful time.

A constant (and seemingly necessary) fixture of all of these groups was a wonderful woman we knew as Mary Stout. She was so beautiful to us ... especially her voice. She could produce such pure and wonderful tones that evolked honest emotions.

The years went by. Each of us changed in time. Mary Stout became Mary Kovarik. We all grew older. Our voices changed over the years ... but not Mary's.

So it was that shortly after moving back to Utah I got a call from Barry Bounous an Lynn Alley -- two of my old folk singing cronies. (Or would that best be said as 'croonies?') They were determined to put Mary's voice on a CD ... and wondered if I would drag my rusty old pipes out of mothballs and come sing backup on a couple of songs for our dear Mary.

Our reunion was the best of times. As our old group gathered together, our warm love for each other remained unchanged. In the end, I joined Barry and Mary to sing 'The Wedding Song' and also recorded a duet with Mary on 'The Good Times We Had.' Mary -- herself a fan of Dragonlance -- also recorded a wonderful solo version of 'The Ballad of Goldmoon.' These and twelve other songs then were compiled into 'Secrets of the Heart' -- not available in stores. I'm still miffed that they forgot (or ran out of room) to put my name ANYWHERE on the CD case -- but then, all I did was show up and sing."

For my complete Dragonlance Chronicles review follow this link:

http://www.revelationz.net/index.asp?...