Our introduction to one another was short and to the point: “Yang Wei, this is Ed. He plays banjo. Ed, this is Yang Wei. He plays pipa. You two should talk.” It was 2006 in Chicago, and talk we did that night throughout dinner and for hours the following day.
A few months later in Rhode Island, we picked up where we left off. This time, dinner was

Our introduction to one another was short and to the point: “Yang Wei, this is Ed. He plays banjo. Ed, this is Yang Wei. He plays pipa. You two should talk.” It was 2006 in Chicago, and talk we did that night throughout dinner and for hours the following day.
A few months later in Rhode Island, we picked up where we left off. This time, dinner was at my home, where we swapped stories and songs and discovered how much we enjoy each other’s music, musicianship and company.

The following spring we presented our first concert together. Inspired by that collaboration, we headed into the recording studio to capture a few ideas. Ensuring concerts and studio sessions expanded our initial concepts into this recording – a potpourri of traditional music from China, the United States, Russia, Ireland, traditional hymns and Gregorian chant.

Commonplaces is inspired by the centuries-old practice of commonplacing or recording wisdom and ideas for later recollection in notebooks that bear the name “commonplace.”

Mary Lee Partington & Ed Sweeney tell stories of migrants, farmers and factory workers during 19th & 20th century America, where self-educated mill girls earn their own

Commonplaces is inspired by the centuries-old practice of commonplacing or recording wisdom and ideas for later recollection in notebooks that bear the name “commonplace.”

Mary Lee Partington & Ed Sweeney tell stories of migrants, farmers and factory workers during 19th & 20th century America, where self-educated mill girls earn their own keep, an orphan endures to tell her tale, where old ballads have taken root and where migrants go further west.