This program takes children around the world in an imaginary balloon ride , experiencing the music of such countries as Russia, Australia, China, Spain, Africa, America, Poland and Germany. Each country is celebrated in song and story using many instruments including, guitar, banjo, drums, Didgerioo, ukulele, native American flutes and Polish bagpipes .

This album is a celebration to the wandering spirit in all of us.

"Alternative country" is the new term for the roots music of American Folk that is spreading across the globe. Just like the revivals of the past, young people are again picking up banjos, guitars, fiddles and mandolins and recreating the simple songs of America's past.

Gareth and Rik started playing these songs more than a quarter of a century ago and never got round to recording them, so recently they teamed up to produce this album.

Just like the songs, both Gareth and Rik have been living close to the earth, singing their songs along the highways of Europe, America, Africa, Asia and Australia. This duo has been performing together on and off since they first met in the late 1970s. They soaked up most of their material right off the true vine by learning firsthand from their mentors.

After a few years of working together they all went off on their separate ways, never recording the wealth of material that they had performed. Gareth went across America looking for new adventures, Rik followed his lead and began searching out his own path.

After years apart Gareth and Rik have reunited and once again have been touring on both sides of the Atlantic. This CD is a celebration of classic folk songs and the friendship of two old friends still playing the kind of Folk and Blues that they have always loved.

Rik Palieri's new disc is actually a mixed-media production: a recording of no fewer than 16 folk songs; a story "narrated" by U. Utah Phillips and illustrated in cartoons by Palieri's brother David; a handsome tri-fold soft cover, a la double LPs of yore; and full lyric sheet, including the stories behind the songs.

Palieri, aka the Polish Bagpiper, is a true folk musician in the traditional manner: with a friendly baritone he relays original tunes often written in response to some social/political/environmental disturbance - the homeless, the dangers of drug abuse, nuclear weapons, child labor. Of course, Palieri draws inspiration from loved ones as well, in tributes to his mother-in-law, his father, friends, and from personal experiences...

...Panning for Gold is a generous and great-sounding offering to the genre (the banjo & fiddle instrumental of "Eleanor Rigby" is worth the price of admission) and Palieri is ever-likeable, if sometimes unabashedly corny - a sort of Jon Gailmor for adults (e.g., the paean to caffeine, "Coffee on My Mind"). His love of making and sharing music shines through, in language and melody that will surely prove as timeless as folk itself.
-Pamela Polston, Seven Days, December 1997

Rik Palieri is a bit of a Polish Cowboy from Vermont, complete with Polish Sheepdog and yodels. He is a storyteller, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who has recently toured Poland, helping to revive folk music there. His singing voices and style remind me a bit of Bill Morrissey, though the songwriting is totally different. (You May have heard Rik's "Radiator Man" on NPR's Car Talk).

This recording from 1994 includes a lot of support without feeling too heavily produced - acoustic, electric and steel-bodied guitars, mandolins, harmonicas, recorder, keyboard and percussion. "The Carry On Chorus" of 12 voices sings backup on several songs as well.

There is a lot of music here, 16 cuts lasting more than 52 minutes. Some of the songs evoke the 1960s folk revival, such as "It's Up To You To Carry On" dedicated to Pete Seeger. Rik's best songs are quiet and intense such as "Bells In The Tower" and "Friends For Life". The songs are generally very personal.

On balance Rik and producer Michael Billingsley have created an energetic album that displays Rik's virtuosity well.
-VH, Sing Out!

Listeners who are used to polkas, mazurkas and the Polonaise, might be surprised to hear the Polish music contained on this album. This is a recording of the root music of Poland, the simple melodies played on old traditional instruments that have been a part of the Polish countryside for centuries...It is the hope of this recording that these songs will live again to be enjoyed by generations yet to come.
-Rik Palieri

"Rik,
Incredible! I've been looking for this Polish soul music all my life. Don't get me wrong, I love what some polka musicians have done to highlander songs, but that's Americanized Polish folk music. Song of the Elk is raw roots music. I am, for lack of a better phrase, moved by it."
Polish American Journal