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The CD presents the singing of women elders who grew up immersed in family and community ballad and song traditions in the mountains of western North Carolina (Southern Appalachia). These women are part of a last generation of singers who learned songs from family members whose music preceded the radio and record industry. Rosa Hicks (b. 1931) and Pearl Hicks (1929-2007) were both raised on Beech Mountain, NC. Hazel Rhymer (b. 1923) has roots in Madison County, NC. Zora Walker (b.1922) was born in Graham County and lives outside of Bryson City, NC. The CD includes a 24-booklet with extensive biographical notes, song annotations, and photographs. Dr. Fred Hay Ph. D., Professor of Appalachian Studies and Librarian of the W.L. Eury Appalachian Collection at Appalachian State University remarks, "In her role as participant-observer, Susan Pepper has become part of the families, communities, and song culture of these four remarkable women. With this recording and it's accompanying notes, as well as in her Master's thesis, Susan has done an outstanding job documenting this song tradition and these individuals who sustain and preserve it." Some of the songs on On the Threshold of a Dream such as "Boy Sells Cow" and "The Old Man from the North Country" are over two hundred years old and have roots in England, Ireland, and Scotland. Old hymns like "The Bright Morning Star is Arisin'" and "There'll Be No Sorrow There" are included, as well as beautiful renditions of American murder ballads such as "Pretty Polly" and "Tom Dooley." One especially unique ballad is "The Madison County Crew" sung by Hazel Rhymer. It recounts a murder that took place in Mars Hill, North Carolina at the turn of the nineteenth century. This is the first time this song has been released on a sound recording. Hazel learned it from her maternal grandmother, Nancy Cody, of Wolf Laurel, Madison County, NC. In addition to singing songs she learned from her parents, Zora Walker of Bryson City, NC writes and sings original hymns, love songs, and songs of reminiscence about a way of life that has all but vanished in the mountains today. Four of her original songs are included on this CD: "Will the Gates Swing Open," "What A Day," "Take Me Back Home," and "I'd Rather Be On Hazel Creek." "I'd Rather Be On Hazel Creek" is Zora's response to the government's broken promise to complete an access road to family cemeteries after the construction of the Fontana Dam in 1943-a controversy that continues today.