Sugar Mountain Mama Serenade Home CD

Dear Listener:My grandmother was really the inspiration for this album. It all started with my first CD, "Grand ma's Favorites," which was totally dedicated to her. It's never been on the market , but rather a gift for my family. Many of the same tunes are on "Folk Portraits," but my own arrangements. I only regret Grandma never got to hear it. I think she would have liked it better than the first one. I'm happy,though, knowing she heard the first one a lot during her last months.

The songs on this album, which were not directly inspired by Grand ma, were in reaction to September 11, 2001. I thought, "what could be more fitting than an album of American folk songs and spirituals?"The horrible tragedy of September 11, 2001 profoundly reminded me of my connection to fellow Americans and to fellow human beings, for that matter. Regardless of race, creed, age, or general musical preferences, we all seem to share a common ground with the folksong. For this reason, I found it quite fitting to record this album as a reminder of our common humanity. I hope you find it to be non-pretentiously reflective and enjoyable.

Guitars & Vocals by Dennis Massa.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~I first met Dennis Massa at the Huntington Art League. His love of music and art blended miraculously with mine and together we wrote the Famous BASEBALL GREATS VOL. #1 album, that is now in the Hall of Fame library in Cooperstown, NY. Dennis has a music background that goes back to Nashville and forward to New York. He's a great interpreter of folk music; an excellent guitarist with a voice that has a mix flavor of Burl Ives, Elvis, the old Jimmy Rodgers and Gordon Lightfoot. We're a great team Dennis & I, and we teamed up to bring you this great album of all original Americana FOLK LEGENDS, BASEBALL GREATS VOL. #1.

- /John Tartaglione. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~BASEBALL GREATS VOL.

#1 - Featuring Dennis Massa, ...The stuff dreams are made of .... bring home the magic of baseball, listen to 9 awesome songs about our beloved baseball stars we all knew as kids. Songs include the baseball Hit -"Bad Boy Pete" about the life of Pete Rose, one of baseballs greatest players. ...other notable songs include "Say Hey Willie", "I Can't Forget Ya' Campanella" etc.

, Songs of the baseball greats, written & performed by Dennis Massa, relive the magical memories of these great American baseball legends. - //TRANSCON ENTERTAINMENT, NYC New York. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Historical Biography for John Tartaglione (co-writer) :* Veteran comics creator John Tartaglione lost his battle with throat cancer, Nov. 12th 2003. He was 82.

Born in the U.S. in 1921, Tartaglione began his illustrious career as a production artist for Harvey Comics. He soon moved on to Atlas Comics, the forerunner of Marvel Comics, where he worked on such titles as Journey Into Mystery and Spellbound in the 1950's. During the 1960's, he worked on such titles as X-Men, Daredevil, and Sgt. Fury for Marvel. Tartaglione also illustrated numerous romance comics for both Marvel and DC, inked for Archie Comics, and eventually became Art Director of Marvel. Tartaglione's best known work came in 1982 with the Life of Pope John Paul II one-shot from Marvel Comics which sold millions through various religious channels. This led to a follow-up one-shot chronicling the life of Mother Teresa.