S/D: Old-Timey Music (e.g., Prewar Gospel Blues, Bluegrass, Mountain Music)

Search: Coon Creek Girls, especially their version of "Pretty Polly"

might want to check out Joe Bussard's homepage - he does a kickass radio show called "Country Music Classics" and the online store has some CD compilations of old country/bluegrass/blues/gospel/jazz 78s.

oop, forgot to link: http://www.fonotone.com/

Will do! Great song. I've got a few versions of Pretty Polly (but I'd like more). One I like, in particular, is by B.F. Shelton, from this comp. It's a really ghostly, haunting version.

The Coon Creek Girls turn up on aCounty Records comp that I had been considering, too.

XP, BTW.

Curt1s, thank you. I've bookmarked the page.

New John Folk III reissue is quite good.

Definitely check out the greatest box set of all-time, the nine-disc American Pop: An Audio History. Not all "old-timey" (an awful, awful term anyway) but it includes "Dark Was The Night, Cold Was The Ground" which is indeed Voyager-worthy.

My taste/knowledge in this stuff runs to the pop side of the street, obv. A lot of what counts as "old-timey music" counts as pop too, I suppose. But if you're interested in less folky directions, lemme know.

I'm absolutely interested in exploring the ''pop side,'' Kevin (and I'll check out the disc you suggested). What counts as ''pop music'' from this period (as opposed to strictly country, bluegrass, mountain music or similar genres)?

Old Homestead Records has loads and loads of old, semi-obscure country music for sale. I'm currently drooling over the Coon Creek Girls and Wade/J.E. Mainer comps, and the only thing that's holding me back from buying a pile of CDs is the suspicion that this is really just a high quality bootleg operation. But I'm sure my greed will overcome my morals within a week or so.

other recommendations:

Ragged But Right: 30's Country Bands: single disc compilation of Appalachian dance music from acts like the Skillet Lickers, the Mainers, and Riley Puckett. In many ways this is the tradition from which bluegrass arose, but imho this stuff is more fun and less workmanlike than most of the proper bluegrass I've heard.

The Blue Sky Boys (JSP): a 5-disc set of nearly every recording the Boys made between 1936 and 1950, featuring some of the most beautiful two-part close harmonies I've heard on record. The material is mostly archaic mountain ballads performed with minimal instrumentation (mandolin & guitar, with the addition of fiddle & bass on their later sides), but it's very accessible, especially if you're already familiar with the Louvin Brothers.

Mountain Gospel: another strong JSP set featuring a good range of southern gospel acts from the '20s, '30s, and '40s. My favorite is Alfred G. Karnes, a Kentucky preacher armed with a double-necked Gibson guitar and the voice of a grizzly bear.

Southern Journey, Vol. 10: And Glory Shone Around - More All Day Singing From The Sacred Harp: dozens of average-joe churchgoers singing in four part harmony at the top of their lungs. Spooky.

I just noticed this thread, about the kick-ass Revenant Records label. Their American Primitive comps are treasures.

You should also get your hands on anything and everything by Charley Patton. If "Shake It And Break It" isn't the pop side of old-time music, I don't know what is.

Hey, thanks! Yeah, Alfred G. Karnes is the artist who reignited my interest in this music, with his crazy song Called To The Foreign Fields.

Shake It And Break It is included on this Revenant comp, which is available on eMusic. But even at 200 downloads a month, it would take months to get all seven discs. Better off buying the physical discs, I think.

Geez, I looked up that Patton comp up on Amazon once, and it was something like $200 new. The one I have is The Definitive Charley Patton, which doesn't quite round up his complete works, but at least it's somewhat easy on the wallet. I don't think I could ever shell out even a third of that amount for a box set, as tempting as those Revenant and Bear Family releases may be.

I won't either; didn't realize it was that much. On the other hand, here's another early American comp I wanted. It's also available on eMusic (as you'll see), but given the $20 price of the physical disc, it makes more sense to just order it. That way, I'll also get the photos and booklet, too.

While not exactly on point, Elijah Wald's book "Escaping the Delta--Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues," has some interesting discussion on what was pop and what wasn't back then plus how 'rockist' historians in search of their own version of authenticity hailed certain old performers over others.

OK well definitely start with American Pop: An Audio History.

Frémeaux & Associés has released some yummy twofers. My fave is Rock N' Roll 1927-1938 Volume 1 (was there ever a Volume 2?). Includes The Boswell Sisters' gulping "Rock and Roll" (from 1934) and Louis Armstrong's madcap "Swing That Music" which closes out on a punk-as-fuck one-note trumpet solo. First disc's got more of the "old timey" feel: Memphis Jug Band, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Grayson & Whitter, Mississippi John Hurt, etc. Second disc's more pop, faster: Bob Wills, Django Reinhardt, Kokomo Arnold, Harlem Hamfats, etc.

From Cake-Walk to Ragtime 1898-1916 is very stodgy. It's hard to hear how this stuff gave birth to jazz or any music of high spirits. But it's always fascinating from a historical standpoint. And it includes my man james Reese Europe.

Pop Music - The Early Years: 1890-1950 (Columbia/Legacy) - Nothing but hits. Or nothing but songs that were meant to be megahits. You probably know at least a third of the names if not the songs themselves (a good thing). Picks to click: Gene Greene's "King of the Bungaloos" (ends with a remarkable "jig chorus" that looks forward to "Double Dutch Bus"), Nora Bayes' "How Ya Gonna Keep 'Em Down on the Farm?" ("and who the heck can parlez-vous a cow?"), Ruth Etting's devastating "Ten Cents a Dance," The Boswell Sisters' "Everybody Loves My Baby" (looks forward to "Double Dutch Bus" too), Eddy Duchin & His Orchestra's "My Heart Belongs To Daddy" (sung rather naughtily by Mary Martin!), Walter Huston's gut-wrenching and definitive "September Song," etc.

Check out Bert Williams, probably the first black star famous internationally. Archeophone has a 3-disc set which I haven't swam through yet. But he appears all over most of the comps above. He was an extraordinarily complex vaudeville performer with flawless timing and a fetching sing-speak. Louis Chaude-Sokei's book The Last "Darky" works through the layers.

Lately, I've been branching off from Anthology of American Folk Music and delving deeper into particular artists where possible. Memphis Gospel 1927-29 contains Sister Mary Nelson's "Judgement" along with three other cuts all featuring that young girl with the phlegmy, Fannypack-ish voice. On Document (I think), a label you should look into if you have completist tendencies.

If you have vinyl capabilities, seek out a cheesy but potent 10-disc Reader's Digest box The Golden Age of Entertainment. Very Tin Pan Alley, classical Hollywood cinema with better-than-you'd-expect notes.

Again, little of the above qualifies as "old timey" in the way Wiki's defining it. But voila.

And buy the new three-disc DVD of The Jazz Singer. But I'll praise that in another thread.

Mississippi have put out a few great comps, but they're usually limited runs, I believe.

There's one particularly outstanding collection called I Don't Feel at Home in This World Anymore, which mixes American gospel/folk type sounding stuff with the folk songs from immigrants to the US in that period. So there's some Rembetika, Calypso and far Eastern music etc but it all somehow shares a similar sad feel. You can listen here.

They also just put out a gospel collection, and there was a real nice-looking early blues compilation, but I can't seem to find a copy anywhere. I can't even seem to find the website . Pretty sure there is one though!?

Great! Thank you.

On cue, Pitchforkmedia lauded Dust-to-Digital label's new comp, The Art of Field Recording, Vol. I, today.

A bunch of CD compilations I'd recommend from the era (sorry, don't have time to describe them today):

The Cornhusker's Frolic: Downhome Music and Entertainment from the American Countryside (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Doity Reocrds Vol. 1: Risque Disks From the Thirties and Forties (Doity)

Down in the Basment: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove of Vintage 78s 1926-1937 (Old Hat)

Good For What Ails You: Music Of THe Medicine Shows 1926-1937 (Old Hat)

Hard Times Come Again No More: Early American Rural Songs of Hard Times And Hardships (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Jazz the World Forgot: Early Roots and Breaches of Jazz, Classics of the 1920s (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

The Music of Prohibition: The Soundtrack to the A&E Special Presentation (Columbia/Legacy)

My Rough and Rowdy Ways: Early American Rural Music Badman Ballads and Hellraising Songs (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

The Rose Grew Round the Briar: Early American Rural Love Songs (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Ruckus Juice & Chitlins: The Great Jug Bands (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Shake Your Wicked Knees: Rent Parties and Good Times: Classic Piano Rags, Blues & Stomps 1928-43 (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Southern Journey: Bad Man Ballads: Songs of Outlaws and Desperation Volume 5 (Rounder)

Stomp & Swerve: American Music Gets Hot 1843-1924 (Arceophone; soundtrack to a great book by David Wondrich. CD is actually even wilder in its pre-release CD-R version, which apparently includes lots of tracks Wondrich was unable to license, or something. But both versions are indispensible.)

Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

Violin, Sing the Blues For Me: African-American Fiddlers, 1926-1949 (Old Hat)

When I Was a Cowboy: Early American Songs of the West (Yazoo, 2 vols.)

White Country Blues: 1926-1938: A Lighter Shade of Blue (Columbia/Legacy)

----

And that's probably only a partial list (not all "old timey" per se, but pretty much from that era), and doesn't include stuff that I've only ever found on cassette (e.g., Mister Charlie's Blues on Yazoo, more white guys singing blues in the late 20s) and LP (e.g., Songsters and Saints -- google that one; there's a book, too; recordings go back to the 19th Century, and they're great, especially some drunken ones from Irish immigrants.) Also, definitely check out anything you can find by Dock Boggs, Charlie Poole, Charley Patton, Uncle Dave Mason, or the Allen Brothers (for starters). (And that doesn't even take into account Western Swing, which came later!)

Also, yeah, that Dust-to-Digital The Art of the Field Recording box does have some great stuff on it.

Early Roots and Breaches

Branches, I meant.

And the Stomp & Swerve label is spelled Archeophone.

This website http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com/ is recommended.

xp And he's Uncle Dave Macon, not Mason.

Also check out:

Memphis Jug Band
Hoosier Hot Shots
Emmett Miller
Mississippi Shieks
Gene Autry, per-cowboy-star blues-singer era (1929-31)

Also, can't believe I left out this great one (though it is mentioned on that Yazoo thread linked to above):

The Roots of Rap: Classic Recordings From the 1920s and 30s (Yazoo)

Thanks, xhuxh. All the Yazoo titles are available on eMusic, so I can check them out right away. I assume most of these titles have well-presented, informative booklets, though, so I may want to buy some of the physical discs, too.

I'm headed for that Roots of Rap title today.

roots of rap is a cool record, although the title/concept is a little silly. those songs are kind of the roots of rap, but they're the roots of a lot of other things too. but any way you hear "jonah in the wilderness" is a good way.

definitely second white country blues. a few other good collections:

roots 'n' blues, apparently out of print now. (i got it cheap back when it was remaindered, well done me.) 4 discs, a mish-mash of stuff pulled from the vaults of the various labels columbia ended up with, by someone who seems to have had a lot of fun putting it together.

and i have 6 or 7 discs in rca's when the sun goes down series, which are all good. what's kind of amazing is that with so many compilations around mining the era, how little overlap you find with a lot of these -- not just songs, but artists. you get a handful of names that show up over and over (blind willie johnson, frank hutchinson, clarence ashley), but a lot of people who probably only recorded a handful of sides.

also, in case it needs to be said, everybody should have everything recorded by skip james and dock boggs -- at least their pre-rediscovery recordings -- each available on single-disc compilations (skip on yazoo, dock on revenant). and mississipi john hurt's okeh recordings (available in their entirety as avalon blues). on the new orleans front, champion jack dupree's early stuff is essential (and awesome and hilarious). lonnie johnson. big bill broonzy. bukka white. i mean, just so much amazing stuff from those years.

there's a good blind alfred reed comp too. "how can a poor man stand such times and live" is on a bunch of these anthologies, but all his stuff is good. ("why do you bob your hair girls?" is a great bit of anti-feminism.)

Excellent. I'm on it.

Stomp & Swerve: American Music Gets Hot 1843-1924 (Arceophone; soundtrack to a great book by David Wondrich. CD is actually even wilder in its pre-release CD-R version, which apparently includes lots of tracks Wondrich was unable to license, or something. But both versions are indispensible.)

You MUST tell us what was on the CD-R, xhuxk. Yousimply must (esp. cuz the final release is a bit stiff all around).

I just want to BRAG to you all, that it is my JOB (i get PAID FOR THIS) to post 78s on ebay, and in the process learn a shit ton about early 20th century American popular music.

basically any LP put out by the COUNTY label is good, btw. Mostly string bands.

Show off. I want your job, Ian.

basically any LP put out by the COUNTY label is good, btw.

Coincidentally, your comment is almost identical to the opening lines I was reading from an AMG review of this County Records comp:

Certain issues/reissues are greeted warmly by both reviewers and listeners because the name of a certain label guarantees a quality product. Such is the case with County, one of the premier traditional music labels.

You're right, BTW. Everything I've heard from County Records is outstanding.

that blurb reminds me that ol bascom is pretty cool too. (for whatever contractual reasons emusic won't let you have the most famous songs there, but the rest is plenty worthwhile.) one of the original appalachian folklorists, responsible for preserving a lot of those tunes.

I don't have that one Daniel, but it does look good! I do have one banjo comp on County--"Banjo Songs From The Mountains" or something like that. Whenever you get a title like "Old-Time Songs From The Southern Mountains" you know it's gonna be good. On our radio show a while back I played "The Broken Wedding" by Emry Arthur which is maybe my favorite cut as far as down n out pre-war country ballads goes.

also for like the sun sessions of prewar country-folk-appalachian stuff, there's the bristol sessions, 1927. first appearances of jimmie rodgers and the carter family, i think. maybe blind alred reed's first recordings too. i only have that, vol. 1, i don't know if there's a vol. 2. the full reissue from '91 is out of print. anyway great stuff. i went to bristol looking for traces of it, but apart from some plaques there's not much to see. (the carter family fold isn't too far away though, worth a visit.)

Anyone know anything about this label or line of comps?

I don't recognize the label, which makes me a bit wary. But that's a rebuttable presumption against the discs.

JSP was actually mentioned above. It's a reputable label. I have a Hoagy Carmichael disc put out by them (I think) and other titles which I can't recall right now. But no need to proceed with caution.

I forgot to mention the existence of a 1.23 GB torrent of approx. 1400 songs recorded 1888-1919. Here's a list of the titles:

http://isohunt.com/torrent_details/20553460/jarvis+green

The only problem is that it will probably take you months (literally) to download the thing. But I have a copy (finally!) and can work a trade.

Hells no I haven't waded through the entire thing yet. But what's fascinated me the most so far is the non-music stuff - Cal Stewart's "Uncle Josh" monologues, little "scenes" by Weber & Fields, etc. If we only had several lifetimes...

Gracias! This will help me as I work through the night on a (semi-)deadline.

holy christ that's amazing.

http://oldhatrecords.com/isbf.html Old Hat Records who have reissued various old-timey things are sponsoring a neat event down in Georgia today--

Calhoun plans String Band Festival

The Second International String Band Festival will be on Saturday April 26 in downtown Calhoun. The festival was started to honor the tradition of string instrument performers who came from the region, including the Georgia Yellow Hammers, Andrew and Jim Baxter and Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers.

The event will feature a host of free performances throughout the day and a special evening concert in the Ratner Theater at the Harris Arts Center. The evening concert, which will feature several acts including the Red Mountain Band and the Skillet-Lickers II.

Free performances begin at 10 a.m. at the Old Hat Records Stage (on Court Street) featuring bands like the Cherokee Promenaders, the Little Country Giants and the North Georgia Ramblers. Performers will also take the Northside Bank Stage (in the park) beginning at 10 a.m.

Paging xhuxk:

Stomp & Swerve: American Music Gets Hot 1843-1924 (Arceophone; soundtrack to a great book by David Wondrich. CD is actually even wilder in its pre-release CD-R version, which apparently includes lots of tracks Wondrich was unable to license, or something. But both versions are indispensible.)

You MUST tell us what was on the CD-R, xhuxk. Yousimply must (esp. cuz the final release is a bit stiff all around).

Anyone heard 'People Take Warning! Murder Ballads & Disaster Songs (1913 -- 1938)? I got it from eMusic, so I don't have the (what I understand to be) wonderful packaging and liner notes, but the songs themselves are -- by and large -- outstanding, albeit maudlin and/or depressing, e.g., Memphis Flu, Storm That Struck Miami (since I live there (Coral Gables)), Burning Of A Cleveland School, Murder Of The Lawson Family, and Trial of Richard Bruno Hauptmann, Pts. I -- II. At three discs, it can be a bit much, especially given the subject matter, so it's best in small doses.

I've been curious about it, read several reviews of it, but never did seek it out.

This website http://eldiablotuntun.blogspot.com/ is recommended.
This ... site ... is ... incredible. All kinds of treasures, including ... ahem ... "Goodbye Babylon" (although not the sixth disc yet).

Question about Washington Phillips--Should I go with the one on Sanachie or is the cd on Document with the extra takes of the same songs by Blind Mamie And A.C. Forehand?

should say "is the cd on Document worth..."

And is there anything else out there by Blind Mamie and A.C.? Because Honey In The Rock = GASSSSP :0

Stomp & Swerve: American Music Gets Hot 1843-1924 pre-release CD-R version, apparently includes lots of tracks Wondrich was unable to license, or something.)

You MUST tell us what was on the CD-R, xhuxk

michael coleman - the monaghan jig (1921)
kumasi trio - yaw donkor (1928)
joe ayers - old dan tucker (1989) (? that's what it says; not sure if that's a typo or not)
pryor's band - falcon march (1910)
sousa's band - at a georgia camp meeting (1908)
sousa's band - trombone sneeze (1902)
peerless orchestra - whistling rufus (1904)
vess l. ossman - a coon band contest (1901)
ossman-dudley trio - st. louis tickler (1906)
arthur collins - all coons look alike to me (1899)
len spencer - you've been a good old wagon (1901)
polk miller - rise and shine (1909)
dinwiddie colored quartette - poor mourner (1902)
bert williams - nobody (1906)
bert williams - play that barbershop chord (1910)
afro-american folk song singers - swing along (1914)
europe's society orchestra - down home rag (1913)
versatile four - circus day in dixie (1916)
original dixieland jass abdn - livery stable blues (1917)
hickman's orchestra - avalon/japanese sandman (1920)
mamie smith - crazy blues (1920)
ed andrews - time ain't gonna make me stay (1924)
lanin's southern serenaders - shake it and break it (1921)
mound city blue blowers - arkansas blues (1924)
charles creath - market st. blues (1924)
alberta hunter - cake walking babies from home (1924)
uncle dave macon - old dan tucker (1925)

Y'all got any E C Ball?

Oh my GOD I completely forgot I had that book/cd.

Nice to see you slummin' on these old dusty relics - i can echo many items from upthread. xhuxk nailed a bunch of fantastic titles, many of which i have or have heard - and a few that i'll now need to.

Let me start by saying that Joe Brussard is a curator of the highest rank, that Charley Patton is THE man when it comes to country blues, and that Mountain Music and Bluegrass should never be confused as one in the same.

Harry Smith's "Antholgy of American Folk Music" is an assumed reference point, as are countless other recordings from Smithsonian Folkways; in particular i'd highly recommend Mountain Music of Kentucky - even though this was released in 1960 some of these traditions likely changed little in decades (given how isolated many of these communities were).

The "People Take Warning" Box delivers mostly with the packaging, but one that delivers on every front is this beauty from Dust-to-Digital.

The "Roots and Braches" comp i know of has a nice mix of early gospel and "pop" and can be seen on AMG.

Since the discussion has drifted into other areas you might also look at (the well-crafted and super-cheap) Proper's Farewell to Ireland (Proper has lots of other goodies like this Western Swing Box, which might even be trumped by their Bob Wills Box). But i'm getting a bit off course, no? Leave me to it and find a direct link from here to Javanese Gamalean!

Search ye all Fiddlin' Arthur Smith "There's More Pretty Girls Than One, Part 2"

Search: Darby & Tarlton

http://www.countysales.com/php-bin/ecomm4/products.php?category_id=16&product_id=5442&PHPSESSID=9a9fb17fcd67fae6add4ae599f97e0bd&prev_id=1731&next_id=4337

Thanks! That County Sales web site looks great. Any idea if the site is linked to County Records, which puts out some fantastic bluegrass, rural Southern and mountain music compilations?

(I always have trouble researching County Records. Name's too generic.)

Same label, Daniel.
I collect their old LPs, mostly the 400 & 500 series, but the later bluegrass-styled stuff as well if it's cheap enough.

I've been in touch with one of the folks who works there lately, and they apparently still have a bunch of LPs in a warehouse!

That label is a treasure.

Me & my buddy Keegan are playing old time music & country blues on our radio show tonight at 8pm on eastvillageradio.com, then it will be archived for a week.

HI GUYS WE ARE ON DA INTERNET RADIO NOWZ!!!

If I can't listen live (I'm going to try), I'm definitely going to check out the archieved show. Thanks for the link.

Just saw the Carolina Chocolate Drops. Yes their oldest member is just 31 (i.e., they're not on 78 rpm records)but they learned Carolina Piedmont style sounds from old fiddler Joe Thompson,and Old Hat Records Marshall Wyatt likes 'em.

where can I get that American Pop box set?

Here is a youtube video for a Skillet Lickers tune with politically incorrect lyrics.
How do people interested in this style of music deal with this kind of thing? When I first heard this particular tune, I was surprised by it only because I wasn't expecting it and was kind of embarassed to be listening to it. I know that racist & anti-black sentiment were probably fairly common among rural Southern whites in the 20s & 30s, but it was surprising to me that Rounder would have reissued that particular cut on LP well-after the N-word became highly unacceptable.

i own two versions of that song, one by the skillet lickers and one by uncle dave macon. i guess i deal with it by not listening to them. i don't mind that they're on the cds -- sort of helps to keep things in perspective. but i'd as soon not catch myself tapping my foot to it, you know?

(whereas i'm able to be amused by the awful sexism of something like "why do you bob your hair, girls" -- which i'm sure would make some hillary clinton voters nod their heads knowingly and say "see? do you see?")

If you guys don't mind I might use this to catalog youtube videos of old time music.

let's start with roscoe holcomb playing "john hardy." i was looking for clarence ashley videos, and i still like his version better, but this is really cool to watch.

and HERE is clarence ashley. with unknown accompaniment playing guitar. a comment for the video mentions doc watson as "an accompanist" but i do not know if that is watson playing guitar or not. do you?

skip james. i was thinking looking for the burnette & rutherford track. called "all night long" but this is still good despite the abrupt ending and lack of hand footage.

the only burnett & rutherford video does not feature any moving pictures at all.

this is the CREEPIEST THING EVER, WATCH WITH CAUTION IF PRONE TO NIGHTMARES:

xpost: no, here's a pic of clarence and doc:

http://www.ibiblio.org/DocWat/pics/p1903.gif

and how bout a little uncle dave:

I'm not normally a fan of videos in the "watch this record spin" vein, but i've been on a blue sky boys kick and this is a wonderful track.

there's a bunch of dock boggs clips from the '60s.

the stompy organ in that uncle dave video is going to make some busker a fortune. all you need is a few bellows, some hose, a melodica and what, super glue? i guess and some straps to attach the bellows to yer feet. xp

i love the dock.

martin, bogan & armstrong:

(there's a bunch of clips from louie bluie too. maybe the whole movie.)

point of trivia: i've actually held that banjo that dock's playing there. mike seeger has it now. i'm trying to write something about it right now.

do you play banjo, tipsy mothra?

Another kind of weird video. It's an old popeye cartoon what's a combination of grainy and awfully pixelated.

that's a combination of blah blah...

R Crumb & Geeshie Wiley

Blind Willies.

i don't play a lick of banjo, but i went to interview mike seeger a while back and he got out dock's banjo and played a couple tunes and then handed it to me so i could appreciate the heft of it. it was pretty cool. then his wife made us vegan-cheese sandwiches...

anyway there are of course lots of gary davis clips

and son house

(looking at these clips makes me hugely appreciative all over of mike seeger and all the other guys who went tracked all these dudes down while they were still alive. it's too bad we don't have film of most of them in their prime, but nice that we have them at all.)

sleepy john estes w/yank rachel

That's really cool that you got to interview Mike Seeger. I love reading articles & essays by people of his ilk--field collectors, folklorists et al. not to mention liner notes.

i like the blind willie video for including the mctell interview at the beginning. so much of blues scholarship is based on the recollections of a handful of old men; I was just reading an article the other day which was essentially a summation of Ishmon Bracey's recollections. Apparently there was doubt about who had accompanied him on a particular cut at a sessions, and no copy of 78 was found until after Bracey had passed away.

I can't get that Yank Rachel/Estes video to load. Who besides Yank Rachel used the mandolin extensively in the blues idiom?

a little off target of this thread, but there's some really nice Django footage here:

Bukka White tellin it like it is.

maybe i'll teach myself to fingerpick this winter with extensive use of youtube instructional videos.

carl martin played mandolin, that's the only other one off the top of my head. i'm sure there was a lot of it around in the late '20s/early '30s era, before banjo and mandolin sort of got segregated out of the blues.

i can't find any clips from this video online, but i'd like to see it. i saw him play when he was i think 99, and he was awesome. he'd introduce songs like, "i learned this one in 1928..."

there's lots of great videos of Tommy Jarrell.

again, only vaguely appropriate, but i am going to bed:

Lonnie Johnson's mandolin is great on "Today's Blues" (Cora Perkins vocal.)

<IMG SRC=;
Furry Lewis "I Will Turn Your Money Green"

oops i dunno why i tried to embed that as an image must be because i am an idiot.

HAY GUYS.
ROY HARVEY IS AWESOME KTHX.

Can you dig Mississippi John Hurt Spike Driver Blues? I knew that you could.

I guess Jack Rose has been selling a CDr of his favorite guitar pickin 78s. Eclipse has copies, maybe? I read about it somewhere online.
I'm still jamming my copy of "Mountain Guitar" on County, so I'm covered I think. But if anyone has or sees a track list of the Jack Rose CDr I'd love to see it.

Not sure why I haven't posted this here before...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hokum

playlist lately has been heavy on:

darby & tarlton
lowe stokes & mike whitten "katy did" = one of my fave breakdowns

oh god can of worms w/r/t hokum article.

Bascom Lamar Lunsford fiddling & buck dancing, circa 1928-1935:

Cool. A place where I can post a bluegrass clip or two. Here's the Osborne Brothers from the killer Bluegrass Country Soul documentary. They're even sporting a drummer.

<object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhiOaSWuFjU&hl=en&fs=1";></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/NhiOaSWuFjU&hl=en&fs=1"; type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object>

Oh fuck it. Go here:

The supposed first recorded hokum song (1928's Tampa Red & Georgia Tom's "It's Tight Like That") was ironically by Thomas A Dorsey, the man known for institutionalizing gospel in the popular marketplace.

This was also the same year of the first two Boogie-Woogie recordings (Pinetop Smith's "Pinetop's Boogie Woogie" and Cow Cow Davenport's "Cow Cow Blues").

Combined, I see these as the real roots of R&B/Rock-n-Roll.

Jimmy Martin -- "Freeborn Man"

I got some old-timey records today. Like any other day.
Two volumes of Cliff Carlisle on Old-Timey
Two volumes of Grayson & Whitter on Old Homestead.

Total cost: $20.

I've been meaning to get some Grayson & Whitter. I did pick up a volume of Gid Tanner stuff recently.

I also picked up the last couple CDs from the Black Twigs (a.k.a. Black Twig Pickers). They're from Ironto, Virginia, and they make some awesomely raw yet informed Appalachian folk.

I LOVE Black Twig Pickers!!

In 2004 I went to the Pasture Fest & Jubilee in Rural Wisconsin, which was mostly free-folk/drone/psychey kinda stuff, but they played as well. They could often be found in the parking lot (read: field) jamming with locals, surrounded by dancing children. It was awesome.

no need to capitalize Rural above, I guess. The town was Soldier's Grove IIRC. I had to drive through BLACK EARTH, WI. I decided I want to retire there.

Yeah, the Black Twigs do rule! They're super interesting. They play psych/noise/drone festivals because of their ties to Pelt/Jack Rose. But they also know straight up mountain folk and are highly respected in the area.

Plus, I just saw the Kruger Brothers. Their second set featured fiddler Bobby Hicks, who played with Bill Monroe in the 50s. He's still got it. Man, did he jam. They also brought vocalist Maynard Holbrook up on stage. He's wild. He sings true high lonesome.

Drag City, or one of their subsidiaries, is putting out an LP by Nimrod Workman. Compiled by Nathan Salzburg with access to the Library of Congress recordings. Classic coal mining balladeer. "Pneumoconiosis is the black lung blues."

guys, his NAME is NIMROD WORKMAN!!!!

our radio show tonight at 8pm EST on www.eastvillageradio.com (or itunes under radio>eclectic) is going to be two hours of 20s & 30s music, from blues & gospel to hillbilly to hot jazz with a smattering of cajun and hawaiian as well. Hope you listen. After tonight it'll be archived for a week.

we are on the radio now! on your ITUNES.

The new Dust-to-Digital 'Art Of Field Recording Volume II' should be with me on Friday. Christmas bonus hurrah (so much better than a bottle of booze)!

I shared an office with a dude in grad school who would shoot you in the head if you said that bluegrass was "old-timey".

"bluegrass was strictly a post-war innovation."

Was your office mate R. Crumb?

i could see that, like how i can get weird about the distinctions between "dixieland" and traditional jazz, and bands that play strict repertoire vs treating it as living music

He was a young dude, maybe 25 or so, and the angriest math grad ever. He'd get pissed off about the most trivial things like once I asked a friend (not him) for a ride to buy something from like Target or somesuch, and he started yelling at me that I shouldn't ask and that I should take the bus instead. So, I never discussed music with him of my own volition. I only happened on his views about old-time and old-timey when I learned he played banjo when he moved into the office and I asked him what kinds of things he liked to play. He talked about bluegrass and people who play bluegrass as if they would be better off with no hands and no ears.

Once, before I realized he was such a freak, I listened to him play banjo, and he sounded quite good to my unlearned and still attached ears.

There is definitely issues within the scene, community, etc. Usually bluegrass folks don't have a problem with old time musicians -- they are to be respected. But there are many old time musicians who look down on bluegrass, especially "progressive bluegrass." Mike from the Black Twigs told me about a jam circle in either Roanoke or Richmond led by this by this old, blind fiddler. He would swat any player with his bow who dared break out a bluegrass lick. Bluegrass is interesting. Many think it's the sound of the mountains. Yet many old time/hillbilly musicians see it as an invasive species, so to speak.

Well it's true. Bluegrass was made for big concert halls and radio shows -- it wasn't ma and pa on the porch music.

bluegrass is the jazzing up of old-time music, and as much is seen by many as an impure strain of american country music (not that i give a hoot--i like bluegrass, but if i'm not in the right mood it all sounds too fast.)

also, if anyone wants to listen to the radio show we did, it'll be archived through monday-- http://www.eastvillageradio.com/modules.php?name=evrshow&showid=89

Ma Rainey  	Big Feeling Papa  	Twelve Classic Performances  	Riverside
Victoria Spivey & Henry Red Allen 	How Do They Do It That Way? 	Volume 2 (1929) 	RCA
Jane Lucas w/ Big Bill Broonzy 	Pussy Cat Blues 	Do That Guitar Rag (1928-1935) 	Yazoo
Robert Wilkins 	Nashville Stonewall 	The Original Rolling Stone 	Herwin
Robert Johnson 	32-20 	King of The Delta Blues Single 	Columbia Mono 360 VG-
Darby & Tarlton 	Ooze Up To Me 	s/t 	Old-Timey
The Georgia Yellow Hammers 	Kiss Me Quick 	v/a Hell Broke Loose In Georgia 	County
Clarence 	Old John Hardy 	v/a A Fiddler's Convention in Mountain City Tennessee 	County
Jimmie Rogers 	Sleep Baby Sleep 	v/a The Bristol Sessions 	Country Music Federation
Cartwright Brothers 	Get Along Little Doggie 	v/a When I Was A Cowboy 	Morningstar
Naftule Brandwine's Orchestra 	Where Were You Before Prohibition 	v/a Klezmer Music 1910-1942 	Folkways
Rev. F.W. McGee & Rev. D.C. Rice 	Fifty Miles of Elbow Room 	Rev. F.W. McGee & Rev. D.C. Rice (1927-1930) 	Document
Wingy Manone 	Up The Country 	History of Classic Jazz 	Riverside
Roy Smeck 	Laughing Rag 	Plays... 	Yazoo
Kalamas Quartet 	Medley of Hulas 	Early Hawaiian Classics 	Folklyric
Jimmie Noone's Apex Club Orchestra 	Let's Sow A Wild Oat 	v/a Early Viper Jive(1927-1933) 	Stash
Fletcher Henderson 	I Wish I Could Make You Cry 	1923-1925 	Retrieval
Freddie "Red" Nicholson 	You Gonna Miss Me Blues 	v/a Piano Blues & Boogie Woogie 	Document
Blind Willie McTell 	It's A Good Little Thing 	1927-1935 	Yazoo
Blue Sky Boys 	Dust On The Bible 	Bill & Earl Bolick 	Bluebird
The Dorsey Brothers 	Sugarfoot Stomp 	Original Dorsey Brothers Band 	Pickwick
Bo Carter 	Time's Is Tight Like That 	The Rarest, 1930-1930 (Volume 2) 	Document
Louie Lasky 	Teasin' Brown Blues 	Sic 'Em Dogs On Me 	Herwin Records
Charlie Poole 	If the River Was Whiskey 	Volume Two 	County
Cliff Carlisle 	That Nasty Swing 	Volume 2 	Old-Timey
Blanche Calloway 	Lazy Woman's Blues 	with Louis Armstrong 	CBS
Bix Beiderbecke 	That's My Weakness Now 	The Bix Beiderbecke Story Volume 3 	Columbia
Blind Willie Johnson 	Dark Was the Night 	Jazz Volume 2 	Folkways
Joe Venuti 	Wild Cat 	Violin Jazz 	Yazoo
Joe Werner & The Riverside Ramblers 	Wondering 	Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 4 	Old-Timey
Walter Family 	Shaker Ben 	Way Down South In Dixie 	Morning Star
Fiddlin' Arthur Smith 	Adieu False Heart 	Volume 1 	County
B.F. Shelton 	Oh Molly Dear 	The Bristol Sessions 	Country Music Federation
Leo Reisman & His Orchestra 	What Is This Thing Called Love? 	v/a Sweet & Low Blues 	New World Recordings
Lydia Mendoza 	Noche Tenebrosa Y Fria 	Early Recordings Part 2 	Folklyric
Blind Mamie Forehand 	Wouldn't Mind Dying 	Fight On, Your Time Ain't Long 	Mississippi
Sister Rosetta Tharpe 	That's All 	Encyclopedia of Jazz Vol. 1 	MCA
Victoria Spivey 	Organ Grinder Blues 	1926-1931 	Document
Sam MAyo 	Things Are Worse In Russia 	Sprigs Of Time 	Honest Jon's
Tarras Instrumental Trio 	The Plain Bulgar 	Klezmer Music 1910-1942 	Folkways

asheville n.c. is still sort of a hotbed of old-time-vs.-bluegrass sentiment. a lot of those old-time dudes (and dudettes) are real hardcore about it. my sister plays fiddle and has played with some people like that and even absorbed some of the sentiment; i don't think she owns any bluegrass cds.

i regret having no musical education as a youth.
i feel like, at this point in my life, if i wanted to try to learn to fiddle or pick a banjo, i'd have an awfully hard time with it. after years of struggling i can still barely tune a guitar.

I confess that I'm not real big on bluegrass, 'cause I prefer more song in my song, and a lot of bluegrass seems to focus on technique to the detriment of song.

i feel like, at this point in my life, if i wanted to try to learn to fiddle or pick a banjo, i'd have an awfully hard time with it. after years of struggling i can still barely tune a guitar.

actually my sister didn't start until she was about 28 or so. it was after she had a kid, she wanted something she could do once a day that would just be for herself. and, you know, she's never going to be a pro, but she's gotten pretty good. she can go to old-time jams and play along.

(plus with old-time music in particular, the social and musical circles are small enough that they're pretty happy to have anyone. even as a novice, you can end up with access to some of the best people in the country for seminars or lessons.)

you ever been to the bluegrass jam at Freddy's bar, tipsy? I know it's not in yer hood, but it's usually pretty fun.

never been to freddy's at all, but it's on my "i should go there sometime" list...

maybe i'll shoot you an e-mail next time i head there for bluegrass night. not 'til february IIRC, i think i missed january's already.

that'd be cool, yeah.

there's a bluegrass jam night at the grizzly pear on macdougal. it gets crazy busy though. like a glenn branca bluegrass orchestra.

asheville n.c. is still sort of a hotbed of old-time-vs.-bluegrass sentiment. a lot of those old-time dudes (and dudettes) are real hardcore about it. my sister plays fiddle and has played with some people like that and even absorbed some of the sentiment; i don't think she owns any bluegrass cds.

I definitely think Asheville is dominated by bluegrass/hippie bluegrass folks. There is a healthy old time scene, but I tend to think southwest Virginia has more going on when it comes to old time.

I just got back from Roanoke, where I caught Charlie Parr and the Black Twigs. Great show. Anybody into country folk and rural blues should definitely check out Parr. He brought along this mind blowing harmonica player who can do the whole train speeding up/slowing down thing. Apparently, the guy actually works on the railroad up in Duluth. Wild. Parr plays both six and twelve-string steel. Incredible picker. For the second half of his set the Twigs joined him for a six-man jam. It was a total throwdown. They did "Glory in the Meeting House," "Last Kind Word Blues" and a few other fiery spirituals. There's a great version of "John Hardy" on the Twigs' MySpace site which features Charlie.
Here: http://www.myspace.com/blacktwigs

Tomorrow is another old-timey night on the radio I think.

I got some more old records from County this week incl. such greats as Riley Puckett, The Leake County Revelers, Doc Roberts, Lake Howard etc. Plus some great comps. I never realized Michael Hurley's "I'm Gettin' Ready To Go" was such a direct swipe of the Puckett version. I don't think it's credited anywhere on the Snockgrass sleeve anyway. Also, I ran across a few volumes of the Carter Family radio sessions on Old Homestead but didn't pick 'em up cause I'm trying to be frugal (yet i still bought those expensive new sublime frequencies lps...)

I'm getting more into a capella ballads & field recordings too. Some sweet regional collections put out by labels like The Blue Ridge Institute and the Tennessee Folklore Society. Also, the beautiful and highly slept-on Nimrod Workman "I Want to Go Where Things Are Beautiful" LP (in print on Twos and Fews, a Drag City-related label.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DXTsRQRqzqas

try that again...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTsRQRqzqas

Picked up that Nimrod Workman LP myself a few days back. Haven't really had the time to give it much attention yet. I'd second the recommendation for the Art Of Field Recording boxsets: great music, lovely notes and drawings by Art Rosenbaum.

Art Rosenbaum is also a fantastic banjo player, much respected in the oldtime banjo-playing community. His book, Art of the Mountain banjo is still available and a great survey of several oldtime playing styles including 2-finger up-picking, clawhammer and Dock Boggs-style three finger picking. (In many ways it's worth getting for the accompanying CD alone)

I realise my info on Art Rosenbaum's book "Art of the Mountain banjo" might be potentially misleading. It's a book for banjo players (sort of intermediate level) and contains sheet music and tablature for songs and tunes in various banjo styles. The CD is of Art himself playing (and singing) the tunes presented in the book. So it's not a written history of banjo styles.

i've already got a copy, but someone here should buy this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/Mountain-Blues-LP-County-Records-511-Old-Time-country_W0QQitemZ390071706932QQcmdZViewItemQQptZMusic_on_Vinyl?hash=item5ad215e534&_trksid=p3911.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1205|293%3A1|294%3A50

errr.. this

what do people think of old homestead records? i used to order from their very old-school (tiny, tiny print; oodles of listings using weird abbreviations, newsprint) catalogue. they still put out lots of CDs. they probably have the largest catalogue of old-time music on LP in the world, but they don't get much love. that's probably for a number of reasons. they don't seem to know how, or care how, to market this stuff to people who wouldn't already be interested. also, they probably have the worst mastering i have ever heard. their CDs often have digital distortion and dropouts; the LPs are flimsy and often there's more needle static than music on the transferred 78s. so although i own a lot of their stuff, i'm wary of buying more. but that catalogue! damn.

they finally have a decent website btw: http://home.comcast.net/~oldhomestead/

WTF they are selling those JSP boxes (list price $25-29) for $50!!!!!!

i don't think it's mercenary so much as brainless. i always got the sense that these folks weren't very "up" on the whole "record retailing" thing.

shitloads of country 78s though:

http://home.comcast.net/~oldhomestead/catalogs/cat7807s.htm

Yeah! I bought some 78s from Old Homestead last year. They were great! I got a Kelly Harrell, a Georgia Yellowhammers, and something else. Their two volume set of Grayson & Whitter recordings is essential. They released an ungodly amount of Carter Family radio sessions too iirc. like 5 volumes or something? more? Agreed that their catalog is pretty weird.

the Claude Casey "Pine State Honky Tonk" LP is excellent western swing.

at least three volumes of dixon brothers.. i don't have the first one. just numbers two and three.

srry i didn't get back to you again btw, will do tomorrow!

thing is, most of that old-time stuff can be had on JSP for less money, and despite JSP's frequent mastering problems, they still probably sound better than the old homstead stuff. but i wouldn't begrudge you buying 78s from them (not a habit i've gotten into... yet).

the Claude Casey "Pine State Honky Tonk" LP is excellent western swing.

i'd like to hear that. i'm not huge on western swing, at least, not yet, but my girlfriend is.

i've already got a copy, but someone here should buy this (Mountain Blues, from County Records)

eMusic doesn't have it, for some reason. But they do have County Records, and something that sounds similar: Old Time Mountain Blues Rural Classics (1927 -- 1939). Opinions on this disc?

that's excellent.

in the same vein are the amazing "white country blues" (sony) and "mountain blues" (jsp) collections -- the former is OOP, the latter is not.

Also Yazoo's "Mr Charlie's Blues"

I'll look up Mr. Charlie's Blues.

Bug-eyed crazy it may be, but you know what's awesome? Alfred Karnes' Called to the Foreign Fields, on The Music of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics (1927 -- 1937). Fire.

Another good (and bug-eyed crazy) Karnes song is on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GogiVjoc3s

all alfred karnes' stuff is great!

There's only a handful of Karnes stuff on eMusic, sadly. But yeah, it's all gr8. Tons of (crazy) energy.

i don't think he recorded more than a few sides.

Yeah. Karnes was involved in the Bristol Sessions, which were apparently the "big bang" of recorded country music. Here are Karnes' contributions:

Alfred G. Karnes: Called to the Foreign Field, I Am Bound for the Promised Land, Where We'll Never Grow Old, When I See the Blood, When They Ring the Golden Bells for You and Me, To the Work (7/29)

I think it's the first three songs that are on eMusic.

if i'm not mistaken, his complete works are on the 1st disc of that JSP "mountain gospel" set. it all sounds very much of a piece, which is fine by me. my favorite might be "where we'll never grow old" which is very sad (although possibly meant to be otherwise?).

A lot of that turn-of-the-20th-century music sounds unintentionally sad. Something in the crackling and aging of the records and the echoing ghosts of a bygone era.

yeah, i think we "hear" a lot of that stuff differently than folks heard it back then. charley patton is a good example: i don't know that the people who bought his records would have felt they were "searing" or intense as opposed to just exciting and catchy. but it's really impossible to reconstruct an "interpretive community" for that stuff so i guess we just get a bunch of folks like ourselves projecting in various ways.

xp Those White Country Blues and Mr. Charlie's Blues comps (both 1926-1938) have some of my favorite music ever, period.

Also, fwiw, I found a second vinyl copy of Minstrels and Tunesmiths: The Commercial Roots Of Early Country Music (John Edwards Memorial Foundation/JEMF, 1981, rec. 1907-1923) in a Goodwill store over the weekend. My first copy has been quite reliable for a couple decades now. If somebody's really interested in the LP, they should email me.

I definitely hear what I want to hear in this music. I hear what I want to hear in Ring My Bell, too, for that matter.

When I mentioned this music genre to my wife, she said "Oh, yeah! What's that scary K1an song from the movie O Brother Where Art Thou?" It's O, Death, and on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoIebIKNS4s

Not really old-time music, but an interpretation thereof. And o_0, that video unnerves me (I'm Jewish, but I'm sure most people are unnerved by the K1an).

(I Google-proofed the word "K1an," BTW)

BTW, that White Country Blues disc just showed-up on eMusic (it's part of Sony's back-catalogue). I'll download it this weekend.

i can try to scan in and post the liner notes (which are good) if you're interested.

that scene in OBWAT offended me when i saw it. but i suppose if ralph stanley wasn't offended, i shouldn't be. i am offended by the general dullness of that movie though.

I'd love to see the liner notes!

Yeah, I have very conflicted feelings about that scene. OTOH, sometimes art's role is to highlight -- rather than obscure -- ugliness. The movie was dull, but the performances by the three lead actors were v. good (especially Clooney).

yeah, lots of talent went into that movie, and there are some real good bits, but the whole thing just feels kind of slack and dumb.

Love this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SK8obqDMVy0

http://www.1001tunes.com/props/gid.riley.animated02.gif

Alfred Karnes!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Drgf-oCSdU

I wonder if eMusic's scattered offerings from Alfred Karnes represent all his recorded output. This disc is the most complete collection I've seen, and it only has eight songs by Karnes.

I wish there were some Kathy & Carol clips on youtube. great, great guitar-and-autoharp duo from SoCal who put out a single LP of old-time ballads in the mid-60s, featuring some of the closest and prettiest female folk harmonies I've heard. It's similar I guess to Joan Baez's first two records, but the harmonies make it so much more palatable to my ears.

xpost

yeah, this JSP compilation includes all 8 of those sides, and the liner notes describe them as his complete surviving output. he only recorded two sessions (the first was part of the famed 1927 Bristol sessions & the second came about a year and a half thereafter) before retiring to his post as a Baptist minister and singing solely for the benefit of the church.

He had the "bug-eyed evengelical fervor"-vibe down to an art.

aye

the second session really falls flat in terms of capturing the raw power of the guy's voice (as heard in that youtube clip). I wonder why. maybe he just wasn't miked properly on the second go...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDJPnG3RDxU

Tommy Jarrell is great. Wonderful banjo player too.

I've been listening to this a lot lately:

http://www.coolhunting.com/images/hobartsmith.jpg

Hobart Smith recorded shortly before he died by Fleming Brown at the latter's home. Great stuff -- banjo, guitar, piano accompaniment.

here's my attempt at compiling Bascom Lamar Lunsford's early commercial records, which don't seem to be available on CD all in one place (only 5 of them appear on Smithsonian's Ballads, Banjo Tunes... compilation).

http://img190.imageshack.us/img190/6946/bascomlamarlunsford.gif

http://www.mediafire.com/?0mhliwmgamg

1. Fate of Santa Barbara
2. Sherman Valley
3. Lost John Dean
4. Get Along Home Cindy
5. Old Mountain Dew
6. "Nol Pros" Nellie
7. Lulu Wall
8. Darby's Ram
9. Stepstone
10. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground
11. Kidder Cole
12. Italy
13. Little Turtle Dove
14. Dry Bones
15. Speaking the Truth
16. A Stump Speech in the 10th District

tracks 1-2 were recorded for Okeh Records in 1925; 3-14 for Brunswick Records in 1928; and 15-16 for Columbia Records in 1930. he put out another record on Okeh in 1924 ("Jesse James" b/w an early version of "Mole in the Ground"), but I haven't come across it on my internet trawls. more discographical info available here.

I can do a similar roundup of the Coon Creek Girls' output if there's a demand for it.

yeah, i'd like to see that roundup. unfortunately, very little of the coon-creek girls' output is available on emusic.

thanks for this! I'm attempting to do something similar with Emry Arthur--there are about 80 sides iirc and only a fraction of them have been reissued.

hey here is some biographical alfred karnes stuff i havent' read before--

http://books.google.com/books?id=jMeR6O2wN8QC&pg=PA52&lpg=PA52&dq=Alfred+G+Karnes+gospel&source=bl&ots=unb67ljdv5&sig=zHYCO5P0Lavy9sSz8O70hp0f9cs&hl=en&ei=1JIOTJ61KcP-8Aap7-WVCQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CEIQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q=Alfred%20G%20Karnes%20gospel&f=false

thanks for this. a hard-luck early life (mother died during childbirth; father left them in the care of an aunt).

Despite the fact that there may be some anti-Mississippi Records sentiment floating around, I'd like to point out that they have some compilations that might benefit visitors to this thread. They all have some post-war tunes as well, but here ya go:

uI Woke Up One Morning In May/u
uI Don't Feel at Home In This World Anymore/u
uDeath Might Be Your Santa Claus/u

Enjoy!

OK - guess my attempt at underlining was a bust...

I can do a similar roundup of the Coon Creek Girls' output if there's a demand for it.

― 'I Was Bees,' Says Hiker Stung 300 Times (unregistered), Monday, 15 February 2010 20:05 (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink
yeah, i'd like to see that roundup. unfortunately, very little of the coon-creek girls' output is available on emusic.

― Daniel, Esq., Monday, 15 February 2010 21:32 (3 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

New member and I've come very late to this thread. Is there any change of seeing some Coon Creek Girls stuff please?

Z

well that was an empty promise, wasn't it? I'll try and get that up sometime this week.

only vaguely related, but this looks like an interesting compilation. it collects various acts that appeared on John Lair's Renfro Valley Barn Dance radio show starting in the late '30s — Lair being the Coon Creek Girls' somewhat ruthless manager, with ties to acts like Homer & Jethro, Karl & Harty, and Homer & Jethro. he also formed the New Coon Creek Girls with a completely different lineup in the '70s; I have no idea if they're any good.

You all may know this, but the Down Home Radio Show is a good resource for contemporary old-time: http://www.downhomeradioshow.com/

Frank Fairfield

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lefJBwJhQ6E

Thanks Duke!

ok, here's some Coon Creek Girls stuff, finally:

http://i542.photobucket.com/albums/gg436/chasleroy/CoonCreekGirlsStream.jpg

http://www.mediafire.com/?itzmjjmmyly

Vocalion sides, recorded May 30, 1938:
1. Sowing on the Mountain
2. Old Uncle Dudy (Keep Fiddling On)
3. Banjo Pickin' Girl
4. Little Birdie
5. Pretty Polly
6. Flowers Blooming in the Wildwood

from the Renfro Valley Folks TV program, mid-'50s:

• How Many Biscuits Can You Eat

you can read biographies on the group here and here. the songs above aren't a complete discography; they recorded at 5 other sides in 1938 that I wasn't able to track down online, and they made a few more records in the '50s. their reunion album from 1968 is not very exciting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hd7rQx1rKM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aSH_fglRd8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYo9sHzCqj0

Does anyone know of a good sheet music collection (piano) from this era?

Belated thanks. You must think me very rude for waiting so long before replying. My excuse is that after posting I just forgot.

Z

Thanks in advance to all, I need to digest this thread fully having just started to immerse (ha!) myself in this stuff after being bought Take Me To The Water.

some nice trax here:
http://soupgreens.com/ghostsolos/

also this is a good place for me to talk up the amazing "There Breaths a Hope" collection of the Fisk Jubilee Quartet '09-'16 work on Archeophone. This is very important music to me; I grew up listening to it constantly and my father wrote the extensive (roughly 40 single spaced pages?) liner notes. It's powerful stuff, dense colorful and complex as can be. John Work II, the quartet leader, intellectualized post-slave era music into something like a new american opera and it can be difficult to digest. It's well worth your time though.
More background and sound clips here; would love to talk about this album more if anyone's into the discussion:
http://www.archeophone.com/product_info.php?products_id=104

that looks cool forks!

anyone have an opinion of this album by the coon creek girls? i've wanted something from them for a while, and this just appeared on emusic. looks good enough, but seemingly nothing available online to judge the authenticity, sound quality (if that matters with recordings this old), or representativeness of the CCG's work.

btw, dad's album mentioned above was nominated for best liner notes.
Good WSJ piece on it here by teachout that calls it "the most important historical reissue of 2010": http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704828104576021680985545912.html

xpost

it's been a while since I've heard that Coon Creek Girls album, but it's pretty good. keep in mind that it was released in 1967 and recorded around that time, so it came along about 30 years after their brief commercial recording career. Lily and Rosie Ledford were both original members, and Susie was recruited after two of the other original members left the group in the late '30s. the trio is the same lineup that sang some backing vocals for Ferlin Husky in the '50s, broke up in 1957, and resurfaced at the Newport Folk Festival a decade later.

three songs on this album ("Banjo Picking Girl", "Pretty Polly", and "Little Birdie") are re-recordings of the group's early (1938-9) material, one ("East Virginia Blues") was recorded by Lily May Ledford in 1944, and one ("How Many Biscuits Can You Eat", which they once performed at the White House in front of Franklin Roosevelt) was recorded in the mid-'50s and released years later on a Renfro Valley Barn Dance compilation.

the sound quality isn't super lo-fi by '60s standards, but the production is simple and homey, just as it should be. it's the sound of three middle-aged players running through part of their barndance repertoire, omitting neither the cornball hilbilly sizzlers nor the stately ballads more typical of the folk boom. Compared to the original Coon Creek Girls 78s, the performances here are a little less boisterous. the banjo playing is slower and less frilly, sounding less like the proto-bluegrass they're remembered for and more like creaky Appalachian country blues. Rosie and Susie still sound very youthful, but Lily sings in a lower register than she used to. her voice has a dour, lived-in quality that adds emotional weight to sad songs like "Pretty Polly" and East Virginia Blues" but falls a bit short on some of the livelier cuts. as a casual, earthy recording of a reunited old-time string band (cf. J.E. Mainer's album Run Mountain from the same era), I definitely recommend it.

in a way, I guess this album is more "authentic" than the original Coon Creek Girls singles. back in the '30, radio station boss John Lair brought together two of the Ledford sisters and two other players he'd discovered, gave them stage names, told them what instruments to play, wrote a couple of their songs, and oversaw all their recordings, radio appearances, and concerts. not quite the organic, homespun model that most people associate with early American roots music. it's obvious from the records, though, that Lair didn't manage to quash the creativity and energy and personality that made the Girls legends.

one ("East Virginia Blues") was recorded by Lily May Ledford in 1944, and one ("How Many Biscuits Can You Eat", which they once performed at the White House in front of Franklin Roosevelt) was recorded in the mid-'50s and released years later on a Renfro Valley Barn Dance compilation.

hmm, I didn't word this too well. all versions of these songs on the Lily May, Rosie & Susie album are re-recordings from 1967 or so, and the originals have been released elsewhere.

great cover of "Banjo Pickin' Girl" by Hazel Dickens and Alice Gerrard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJJCK3PIYIU

oh, cool, the Digital Library of Appalachia has a bunch of songs that the Coon Creek Girls performed live on radio between 1939 and 1951. it also has some live material that Lily May Ledford performed at a college campus in 1980.

NPR piece on "There Breathes A Hope": http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=134028602&m=134083522

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KatZ92QQS_U

now this is some impressive footage. it's a 40-minute-long documentary by Mike Seeger and Alice Gerrard (who were married at the time) that shows them playing as a duo at home and in concert and meeting up with folk legends like Elizabeth Cotten, Roscoe Holcomb, and Lily May Ledford. it's a treat to watch Elizabeth Cotten sitting at the couple's kitchen table, playing "Freight Train" and reminiscing about her stint as the Seeger family's housemaid.

Mike and Alice's Bowling Green, which came out a year after the documentary, is one of the more "authentic" old-time albums to come out of the folk boom. they try their hardest to sound like an old backwoods couple dragged out of obscurity to document their repertoire, and the result is as homey and chilling as any real field recordings I've heard. "Love Was the Price," in which Alice sings a dead-eyed, suicidal lover's lament with nothing but a barely-audible droning cello for accompaniment, is the highlight for me.

While not exactly on point, Elijah Wald's book "Escaping the Delta--Robert Johnson and the Invention of the Blues," has some interesting discussion on what was pop and what wasn't back then plus how 'rockist' historians in search of their own version of authenticity hailed certain old performers over others.

Not read the book mentioned but I was struck by how different the styles in Robert Johnson's work were. almost like he was a human jukebox rather than a single stylist.
I've heard he was viewed as anachronistic at the time and only really picked up on by people outside the original medium getting interested.
Like Lomax had a different agenda than a party-throwing record buyer in trying to book him for the major New York event I can't think of the name of right now. & then he became famous among a bunch of later white record collectors who went onto create the 60s blues revival.

Can't find a dedicated Bristol Sessions thread, so I'll put this here.

Sometime last year, while I wasn't paying attention, Bear Family released a 5-disc box: "The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music".

Looks pretty cool. Oddly enough, Amazon has it twice with slightly different prices but the item look identical to me...

My friends did this lo-fi cover of "All the Good Times". I love this version of the song so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQxRa1UcZqQ&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOL4GtyWWQs

JSP was actually mentioned above. It's a reputable label. I have a Hoagy Carmichael disc put out by them (I think) and other titles which I can't recall right now. But no need to proceed with caution.

― Kevin John Bozelka, Tuesday, December 11, 2007 6:57 PM (4 years ago)

JSP has gone to shit in recent years. they used to pay a lot of attention to sound quality (John R.T. Davies was a dedicated remastering engineer who did a lot of work for the label before he died in 2004), but now the quality control is very uneven, and it says here (I haven't fact-checked) that they lift mastering jobs from other companies' releases.

the first disc of their Leadbelly box sounds full and dynamic and has an ever-present but unobtrusive level of surface noise. weirdly, most of the material on the other three discs suffers from the heavy-handed use of noise reduction — a muffled, unlistenable mush that does no justice to the material. It's a shame, because there aren't many comprehensive Leadbelly sets, and the tracklisting is great.

but yeah, JSP has been suspect for at least the past six years, and if one of their sets doesn't have Davies' name on it, I'd recommend sampling it before you buy it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IezlYcERTX8

another great old-timey tune with piano --

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANkdDtgJx6A

no piano on this one but i love it

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Frupwl5UveA

great reminiscence by bert layne of the skillet lickers about getting into trouble with lowe stokes, clayton mcmichen etc. primarily abt the time lowe stokes got his hand shot off--

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6dXKDYrLLeo&feature=related

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tNaqFzdQEP4

http://www.youtube.com/v/DIB4Pio0Y4U&fs=1&hl=en

http://www.eastriverstringband.com/radioshow/?p=881

^^ radio program of R Crumb playing some of his country blues records. my friend john does these shows and they're pretty much all great.. many with crumb and other pioneering record collectors.

Wow, that Bobbie Leecan version of Nobody Needs You When You’re Down And Out is beautiful.

The piano on that Skip James record is also incredible.

i was really impressed by that "Decatur Street Drag" tune... great stuff. it's fun to listen to these guys talk about records.

http://cdm16020.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/search/collection/p15131coll4/searchterm/Video.Music/field/type/mode/all/conn/and/order/subjec/page/2

video archive of old-timey and blues music... great stfuf.

ahhh i love this one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EfUe0nkuV20

that is awesome - they have more stuff? is that 20s or 30s?

late twenties.. they recorded, uh, 8 sides i think? "georgia stomp" is on the harry smith anthology.

copy of bamalong blues/k.c. railroad blues on ebay at the moment that i've bid on. but i dont think i'll win. it's a rare record, and the copy for sale is a nice copy. prob sell for $400+ if i had to guess. maybe much more.

ah ok... georgia stomp is pretty happening too.

they were a great duo. andrew baxter recorded with the georgia yellow hammers -- "G Rag" being one of the earliest integrated country music recordings.

oh yeah the baxters are the shit

zow, jack white can be as weird and silly as he wants as long as he makes things like this possible:
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/jack-whites-third-man-records-to-co-release-paramount-records-set-20130924

the LPs reissues of blues stuff third man is releasing sound bad are ugly and redundant. but if he's subsidizing the paramount box set then all is forgiven.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReoKKsWtXvU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHRGXvfSu3s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixCql24CFFg

<3 me some nugrape twins
http://tofuhut.blogspot.com/2005_06_01_tofuhut_archive.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzbMALS0Edo

rockin'.

thanks -- that's great!

been listening to some skillet lickers 78s tonight. can hear some of the real bluegrass roots in some of these thirties sessions w ted hawkins on the mandolin. fast pickin and melodically inventive, by old-timey standards.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hawkins+rag&sm=3

hey i have only listened to the second ep of this so far but man it just slays, this is gonna be part of my week,

http://soundcloud.com/yetimike/buked-scorned-the-gospel

mcgonnigal is very much a bro

listening to it now. gracias.

pretty major pre-war blues story in ny times magazine today by john jeremiah sullivan.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2014/04/13/magazine/blues.html?hp&_r=0
totally amazing

this is great.

Don't want to blow your mind twice in one day but here is something else that will make you think twice: http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=240701&sid=68adecf93f0a6d6a9f44886f63059313

Just took a peek at Elijah Wald's The Blues: A Very Short Introduction and, while it seems reasonable enough, the guy inevitably comes up with either a challop or mistake to stick in my craw. In this case it is saying that Hank Williams was born in Georgiana, Alabama. No he wasn't, even though he grew there, he was born in nearby Mount Olive. Is such a picturesque and a propos fact so hard to remember and get right?
/little_things_that_make_you_irrationationally_angry

Probably wrong thread for that anyway

that john jeremiah sullivan piece is fucking amazing

For some of us, reading that article is the payoff for decades of music geekery, the way This is Spinal Tap was the payoff for watching lots of rockumentaries.

yeah it both totally de-romanticizes the whole thing and deepens the mystery immeasurably. which is quite a thing.

otm. It has the effect of one of those famous Hitchcock scenes where he starts with a wide angle shot from the top of a huge ballroom filled with people and then slowly, every so slowly, the camera zooms in to eventually arrive at the Macguffin/key/blinking eyes of the killer.

It makes me wish I was a history teacher so I could say Put away the textbook, we're spending the next week on this.

Not that history teachers ever do that, but they should.

Had an AP physics teacher who one sunny day let us go out and study the aerodynamics of the frisbee.

Other, more jazz oriented message board totally digging on that article, but disputing whether "Low Down Dirty Shame" was done by the gentleman mentioned in the article or another Don Wilkerson who played with Ray Charles and Amos Milburn and passed away a few decades ago.

the only thing that makes me slightly uncomfortable here is the "quasi theft" that unlocks some of the story for Sullivan -- the interview notes that McCormick's researcher takes photos of... ethical? Kind of a weird thing:
"I admired the bravery of her act of quasi theft, feeling strongly that it was the right thing to do. You’re not allowed to sit on these things for half a century, not when the culture has decided they matter. I know he didn’t want to sit on them — he was trapped with them. I give us both a pass. Caitlin had no job. Mack had been her job. But we had these pages, a grand total of nine, the letters and the transcripts. And we had a full-time, on-the-ground researcher/reporter in Houston, whom fate happened to be catching smack in the midst of her own budding Geeshie-and-L.V. enthusiasm. If Mack wouldn’t talk to us anymore, we would do this as an assignment for him, we would follow his leads."

agreed. as well-written as it was, parts of this article constituted odd confessionals or asides by the author. still a brilliant piece.

i mean, it's sort of terrifying to think about all the stuff in mccormick's archives that have gone unseen for 40+ years, all the leads that haven't been followed up that are probably completely cold cases at this point. hopefully the dude has a will worked out where it all goes to a university that'll take care of his work. but it is weird (as sullivan notes) for him to come across as even remotely a villain in the article, since he is the only guy who has devoted his life to gathering all of this priceless info. complicated. i wonder if his bio of robert johnson will come out in any form some day, if someone else could piece together something out of all the research mccormick has done. i remember reading about it in guralnick's book in the 90s, where he says, "it will be published shortly" or something. it's like the smile of blues books.

haha hmmm

http://www.mackmccormick.org was established to serve as a public resource for information pertaining to music and cultural historian, Robert "Mack" McCormick. This site will be expanded in the future.

Most of McCormick's archives remain unpublished, and thus McCormick welcomes serious inquiries that would result in the preservation and publishing of his archives so that the public could benefit from them.

As a result of preferring not use email, McCormick welcomes and encourages institutions and researchers to mail or telephone him at:

Robert "Mack" McCormick

9023 Autauga Street

Houston, TX 77080

Phone: 713-462-5114

McCormick's contribution to researching and documenting early American music and culture is substantial. His research has helped to uncover histories and biographical information that would likely have been lost forever had McCormick not conducted his meticulous field research of geographical locales where some of America's earliest recorded musicians were born, raised, and traveled. For example, McCormick's research on Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas is noteworthy because Thomas was one of the oldest African Americans to record in the 1920's. The list of others on whom McCormick has shed light is vast, and includes Lightnin' Hopkins, Robert Shaw, Buster Pickens, The George and Hersal Thomas Family (including Sippie Wallace), Robert Johnson, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Peck Kelley, and Lydia Mendoza, to name only a few.

paging eric clapton, if you have a couple million dollars lying around, this would be a good thing to invest in...

Speaking of Hank, there's an intriguing review of The Hank Williams Reader in this just-past weekend's WSJ. The Free Pass sample of subscription content may not work for long, so better to google hank williams reader barry mazor wall street journal. Here's the gist of it (apparently like The Bronte MythandThe Coltrane Legacy, re tracking Rorschach effects):
This anthology's editors have left writers' errors, exaggerations and fantasies in place, though not without warnings and comment, the better to grasp the way "Hank Williams" has been brought to readers over time. It's not to the credit of some of the more posturing latter-day commentators included that they have, after so many decades of effort to get the slippery Hank Williams story right, reverted to some of the most lurid and unlikely versions—sometimes only to show approval of the same behavior that the earlier sensationalists were shaking fingers at. British entertainment writer Douglas McPherson fantasized in 1978 that "perhaps his ghost is there in the smoke and whisky fumes as some unknown singer shoots up, drinks up, and carrying his guitar in trembling hands, walks into the blinding spotlight. . . . Perhaps he is . . . trading guitar licks or one last beer with Gene Vincent, Sid Vicious and Elvis Presley. "
There's fine writing included, too—Ralph J. Gleason looking back at his encounter with Williams as a young reporter, Nolan Porterfield remembering what it felt like, as a Texas teenager, to hear the news of Hank's death, musicologist Henry Pleasants offering up his analysis of Williams's singing and writing, Peter Cooper recounting a trip he took that retraced Hank's last ride, biographer Colin Escott considering what Williams's fate might have been had he lived longer.
In the end, the editors suggest, we still make of Hank Williams what we will: "We know more about him, his work, and his influence than ever before. There remains, however, significant disagreement regarding the essence of the man and his music. . . . Williams has become an infinitely malleable figure." Take by writer's take, "The Hank Williams Reader" is an accessible, valuable reference for readers interested in the making of legends or American music, a volume to reshape our thinking about "The Lovesick Blues Boy," the continuing appeal of his music, and our relation to both.
—Mr. Mazor writes about country and roots music for the Journal.

my dad was just bitching about scholars, foundations and colleges who sit on the entire works and papers and music of great unknown artists with the intent of keeping the story until they die and then they have no plan to release.

I have both the Barry Mazor book on Jimmie Rodgers and the Colin Escott Hank Williams bio. Haven't read either from cover to cover, just dipped in here and there, so far so good.

Also recommending for the umpteen time Creating Country Music: Fabricating Authenticity, by Richard A. Peterson.

FYI: The John Jeremiah Sullivan piece is a sequel of sorts to his amazing review/essay in the November 2008 issue of Harper's Magazine, "Unknown Bards." It's reprinted in his essay collection Pulphead. Few pieces of writing in the last twenty years have more excited me about music as that one. (I don't know if this says more about JJS or about me.)

Just noticed it's also in Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2009, which I don't have.

Currently devouring like mad the Alan Lomax List of American Folk Songs on Commercial Records article from 1940 briefly mentioned in that JJS piece. Fucking incredible. I want to hear all 350 of them!

http://www.texasmonthly.com/content/mack-mccormick-still-has-blues

2002 article

THE HOUSTON FOLKLORIST WITH ONE OF THE MOST EXTRAORDINARY ARCHIVES OF UNRELEASED RECORDINGS AND UNPUBLISHED INTERVIEWS IN THE WORLD IS 71 NOW AND HAS HAD HEALTH PROBLEMS OF LATE. WHO WILL SAVE THE LEGACY OF THE MAN WHO SAVED TEXAS MUSIC?
by MICHAEL HALL
APRIL 2002

Thanks for the book recommendations, Lem. What other books should a novice be looking for along these lines, focused on untangling prewar blues and country? I've read Unknown Bards and Tosches' Where Dead Voices Gather and the relevant chapters of Country.

I really like the tone of the Sullivan stuff, which focuses on the mystery aspect without overplaying it.

Tony Russell's Country Music Originals: The Legends and the Lost.

I'm prejudiced as it's my father's book but Ragged but Right explores the matrix of the stringband/ragtime era at the turn of the century that formed what would become blues and jazz through the primary prism of contemporary black newspapers in major cities. Worth a read i think.
http://www.amazon.com/Ragged-but-Right-Traveling-American/dp/1578069017
http://jazztimes.com/articles/19179-ragged-but-right-lynn-abbott-and-doug-seroff

That looks good, thanks. There is another thread with more recommendations, or maybe it is further up on this one.

some other books i've found very useful and illuminating:

Country Music USA by Bill C Malone (pretty much the definitive history of country music, spends a considerable amount of time on the pre-war era.)
Linthead Stomp by Patrick Huber (focuses on the Carolinas and the intersection of textile mill workers and the likes of Dave McCarn, John Carson, charlie Poole.)
Chasin that Devil Music by Gayle Dean Wardlow (collection of essays, interviews etc. ESSENTIAL!!)
Songsters & Saints by Paul Oliver
Blues Fell This Morning by Paul Oliver (Oliver is a a fairly prolific writer; but these are the two to read first imo.)
Charlie Patton: King of the Delta Blues by Stephen Calt

Thanks. Some of those I've been trying to get a hold of, a couple I have never heard of.

ANYWAY...
It's been really interesting to watch the reactions to that article.
Some people have an awful lot invested in Robert Johnson in particular, and McCormick's suggestion that what we know about RJ could be wrong has really rubbed some folks the wrong way. Biographies have been written, biographies are in the process of being written. People place different value on certain pieces of evidence -- a clincher (like the death certificate) for one researcher is just another "maybe" to another. Really fascinating to watch, and to think about why people place such importance on Johnson -- innovative as his bass runs were, in some eyes he was just another bluesman.

Similarly, I've heard a few reactions balking at the Times headline that Wiley & Thomas "changed American Music." Folks so wrapped up in there world of blues scholarship that they fail to take an editors attempt a hyperbolic, attention-getting headline for what it is.

Jesus what a story though -- murder, a closeted love for 50+ years, good old fashioned research.

xpost -- Calt's Patton book is supposedly getting a reprint within the years so don't shell out for a used copy..

ha, yeah the "changed American music" thing is a stretch, considering barely anyone knew of those records' existence for decades.
and the part where mccormick questions whether the robert johnson we think sang those songs is not actually the same guy did seem like he was maybe trolling the blues scholar world, but I mean who knows? if mccormick is unsure, then we should all probably be unsure.

and thanks for the book recs! hopefully some of these do get reprinted, seems like Paul Oliver's stuff is a little hard to come by.
this is cool: http://ghostcapital.blogspot.com/2010/11/va-songsters-saints-vocal-traditions-on.html

Similarly, I've heard a few reactions balking at the Times headline that Wiley & Thomas "changed American Music." Folks so wrapped up in there world of blues scholarship that they fail to take an editors attempt a hyperbolic, attention-getting headline for what it is.

xpost -- Calt's Patton book is supposedly getting a reprint within the years so don't shell out for a used copy..

Put together a Spotify playlist of the Alan Lomax "commercial records" list (or at least the 200 that are available).
http://open.spotify.com/user/arosner/playlist/3VGX58Cv02j2wFGqacxQ1i
Interesting to listen through the filter of Lomax's taste and (I assume) the unavailability of a lot of records we take for granted now.

In his review of the Patton (and heavy friends) box, Luc Sante doesn't think much of "the bizarre and obsessive" Calt's characterization of Patton. Don't know if I'd agree; I only know the music from the box (still want that Fahey book!)
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-01-08/music/oracle-testimony/

re xpost recommended blues books, def check Robert Palmer's Deep Blues, Charles Keil's Urban Blues, Paul Oliver's The Story of the Blues, probably something by William Ferris, Samuel Charters; plus, mixing it up a bit more, Robert Gordon's It Came From Memphis, and Michael Bane's White Boy Singin' The Blues (Bane's also from Memphis, witnessed quite a bit of the 50s and 60s there).

Another good early blues comp reviewed by LS:
http://www.villagevoice.com/1999-03-16/music/roots-of-everything/

In addition to the books Don mentioned I'd add The History of the Blues, by Francis Davis. And, even though a hundred poptimists bloomed to contend on the other thread against something he or his brother said, Delta Blues: The Life and Times of the Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music, by Ted Gioia is actually pretty good.

Probably some Peter Guralnick books too, especially Lost Highway and Feel Like Going Home.

yeah whatever dust gioia kicked up recently he's a great, super knowledgeable writer.

Gave away my copy of Lost Highway but it's been so long think I need a new one. They've added some A/V material to the digital edition and put that famous picture of Hank Williams and Roy Acuff's daughter on the cover. Note the dedication:
For Sam Phillips and Chester Burnett, the real heros of rock'n'roll.

just started Ragged but Right, that's a great-looking book

It makes me wish I was a history teacher so I could say Put away the textbook, we're spending the next week on this.
Not that history teachers ever do that, but they should.
― something of an astrological coup (tipsy mothra), Sunday, April 13, 2014 10:10 PM (6 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, one thing that article strongly conveys is the (occasional) joy of real research. not everything is on the internet, kids!

calt is a weird, ornery motherfucker. his skip james book reveals the sort of violently mixed feelings about his subject that probably shouldn't have been aired unadulterated.

also, forkslovetofu, your dad is d0ug s3roff? I've dug his work on black gospel for a while. i wish i could afford those books (ragged but right / out of sight). i've certainly read them a few times over from library copies.

i think maybe the article plays down mccormick's bullheadedness a bit, or maybe the mccormick the author encountered is mellower than the one i've read about. from what i've heard/read it's not just that personal afflictions have kept him from publishing as much as he would want (something i can strongly relate to btw). he was often very very stubborn in revealing his sources and sharing basic information with other researchers. that may have been in part b/c some of the other researchers were, to one degree or another, assholes (certainly true of e.g. calt and fahey), but some very nice people got the same treatment. but again, i'm not going to hold it against mccormick.

the saddest thing is what somebody (tyler?) mentioned upthread; that some of the leads that could have been generated by his notes have long since gone cold. i've encountered that sort of thing in my own research: a name comes up in a 1955 memo that nobody knows was attached to "x" project, but that person died 25 years ago so it's too late to ask them about it.

also i find the individual stories as fascinating as anyone else but I find that the best (or at least the most ambitious) books on american music try to step back to see the bigger picture. which is mccormick's animus too, so it's doubly sad that he hasn't produced much of anything.

"bigger picture" = e.g. how blues arose within af-am music, what its musical parameters and variations were (by region, urban/rural, generational, etc.)

i should wirte that calt /was/ an ornery motherfucker; he died a few years ago, at a young age IIRC

I am not any kind of musicological researcher but I feel a vaguely similar pain of trail gone cold when I see some old jazz musicians that I know well enough to at least say hello to and try to ask them about the old days, maybe when they did studio work, but I just can't get any traction and if I do I get interrupted - somebody calls them to the bandstand, a member of the adoring public butts in to pay court, etc.

Kind of a derail, I guess, sorry

nah, i hear you. people are living their blues, they don't always (or can't) see their value as a witness to history. can't blame them.

had! i meant living their /lives/, but perhaps they are living their blues, too.

New borad title.

John Sullivan responds to various questions on the organissimo thread through the medium of Allen Lowe: http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php?/topic/75432-geeshie-wiley-and-elvie-thomas/

Just found the Bill C. Malone country book darkening my doorstep, along with Marybeth Hamilton's In Search of the Blues, when I left Angola got home tonight. That thing is a brick! Looking forward to curling up with it during a climate-change induced stormy night. Also had the occasion today to dip into my copy of the Encyclopedia of Country Music, which I don't thing anybody has recommended yet but is really quite substantial.

hey amateurist: yeah that's my pop.
BTW, he's currently working (like today even) on a new book with his writing partner about the roots of the blues from the 1890's to the late 19-teens that should be out in a few years that should directly address the scholarship y'all are requesting upthread.

Cool. Did your old man manage to find out who was the first to sing

First Line
Second Line, Same As The First
Another, Completely Different Third Line

?

he's not magic you know

Robert McCormick’s Daughter ‘Appalled’ by NYT Magazine Cover Story

UPDATE: Ms. McCormick said in a phone conversation this afternoon that her father, who suffers from bipolar disorder, had “unquestionably suffered” from the article’s publication.

“He’s old and sickly,” she told us. “His mental and physical health are fragile, so for something like this to happen is extremely upsetting to him.”

When asked why she believes that Mr. Sullivan and Ms. Love had more of her father’s notes in their possession, Ms. McCormick said: “When somebody exhibits a clear willingness to steal and to cross ethical boundaries, you have to assume that they’re fundamentally not trustworthy.”

Mr. Sullivan, for his part, defended his actions to the Observer in a telephone conversation shortly after the article was published.

“I won’t try to make it sound like I didn’t struggle with it,” he said of the ethical blurriness of the situation. “It’s not the kind of thing you want to do with every story.”

He added, however, that he was legally in the clear, as one cannot own somebody else’s speech, and Mr. McCormick’s transcript features the words of Elvie Thomas. (“You’re not allowed to sit on these things for half a century, not when the culture has decided they matter,” Mr. Sullivan writes in the article, referring to the transcript.)

Ms. McCormick called Mr. Sullivan’s comments “glib.”

“There is reason to believe this theft of my father’s research was their intention all along,” she said, “and that they have stolen far more from him than just the items Sullivan has publicly admitted.”

Not the best defense

eek! yeah, it's definitely uncomfortable ethical ground, which I'm sure Sullivan is aware of.

in more pleasant news, this is a good one: www.oxfordamerican.org/articles/2014/apr/28/issue-84-visions-coahoma/

Good title. Will take a look this evening.

this one is pretty amazing -
http://static.squarespace.com/static/5128322ce4b006d82fb7218b/t/52db06cbe4b0a428d2e470a6/1390085921081/?format=750w
http://longgonesound.com/current-travails/2014/1/18/alexis-zoumbas-a-lament-for-epirus-1926-1928-original-artwork-by-robert-crumb-10-recordings-with-deluxe-gatefold-lp
need to get more music along these lines...

There are some other ideas here:

http://everynoise.com/engenremap-oldtime.html

And see the little inset map at the bottom for related genres with even more ideas...

Tyler, you could check out a few of the other records Chris King has compiled -- "Don't Trust Your Neighbors" ; "Five Days Married & Other Laments" and "Aimer et Perdre"

also of interest could be the stuff Ian Nagoski has been compiling for MIssissippi/Canary, especially the Marika Papagika LP if you never grabbed that.

yeahhh, i've been digging into the canary records stuff -- haven't heard the papagika.
i think i need to go to greece.
and yeah, looks like chris king has a bunch of good releases! loved the cajun thing he did for tompkins sq. last year.
that everynoise.com thing is kind of cool!

haha yesss
http://f0.bcbits.com/img/a0407194569_2.jpg
http://canary-records.bandcamp.com/album/bed-of-pain-rembetika-1930-55

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/05/oh_you_kid/140529_CBOX_Cover-LoveLoveLove.jpg.CROP.original-original.jpg

Oh! You Kid! How a sexed-up viral hit from the summer of ’09 — 1909 — changed American pop music forever.

http://www.slate.com/content/dam/slate/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/05/oh_you_kid/140529_CBOX_Photo-ShoesWide.jpg.CROP.original-original.jpg

read this yesterday -- very good.

good piece!

hmm that byline seems familiar somehow

good read!

Rosen is passionate about that era

hmm that byline seems familiar somehow

should have had joke tags around that

(yes)

On the tenth anniversary of the Night Train From Nashville project, celebrating the 'ville as an early hub of African-American recording, http://musiccityroots.com/roots-tv/'s weekly live show (7 to 10-ish, CST) features the Fairfield Four, Charles Walker Band, Robert Knight, Mac Gayden and several others, full details here: http://musiccityroots.com/events/wednesday-july-30th/ It can also be heard on them there "devices": http://new.livestream.com/musiccityroots and here: http://www.hippieradio945.com. All shows (so far)are archived as podcasts and mp3 downloads at musiccityroots.com

The opening act, the Valentines, incl. Mac Gayden, was lousy old man lounge (of good early 70s lounge R&B hits depending who's singing 'em), but second act, the McCrary Sisters, sound good, though some glitches in the stream for the moment.

And we're back! Sassy!

Kind of asking the musical question, "What if there were four Staples Sisters?" Not up to Mavis solo, but close enough.

Now the Fairfield Four, fixing to start.

Here we go, up there already!

Smokin the chitlin soul blues with Charles Walker's fleet crew.

jean ritchie RIP

http://blogs.lib.unc.edu/sfc/index.php/2015/06/02/thank-you-jean-ritchie/

RIP

she made her first recordings with Alan Lomax in NYC in 1949 and 1950, and you can stream the sessions on the Lomax archive:

http://research.culturalequity.org/get-audio-ix.do?ix=session&id=JR49&idType=abbrev&sortBy=abc

it's slightly surreal to hear traffic sounds in the background as she's singing all these plaintive Appalachian ballads

Just picked this up. From Dust to Digital. Comes with an 80-page book, too.
http://burnaway.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/20130708_111348-768x1024.jpg

R.I.P. Mack McCormick:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/26/arts/music/mack-mccormick-student-of-texas-blues-dies-at-85.html

My music scholar neighbor walked by the other day and told me the story of his figuring out who wrote "rock island line." Such an interesting guy.

RIP Mack

Speaking of xpost Jean Ritchie, she's the initially apprehensive, possibly conscripted guest on the impromptu cosmic epic finale of Roscoe Holcomb's live at San Diego State album, finally released: California dreamin' is becomin' a reality (see Roscoe's own thread for more about this).
Although several tracks on the promo files won't play, I'm getting some pretty strong initial impressions ofJoe Bussard Presents: The Year of Jublio---78 RPM Recordings of Songs From The Civil War. "Joe's got shit that God don't have," begins one blurb, and while that's always been true, his evident desire to depict via a range of material, starts with historically significant in-your-face sickly sentimentality x formalism, as written and performed (rich liner notes incl. discussion of attempts to redeem image of Confederacy via music, also redeeming image of fiddlers, but this is more like icky parlor music). It may be more about the renditions, like what are described as "maidenly" vocals; I do love the version of "Lorena" sung by Del McCoury on the mostly good-to-excellent collection Divided and United. And here we do get a rendition of "The Poor Old Slave, " in which straight-forward, non-tremulous sincerity finds its way unerringly among faded emblems, truth-based imagery (sung by ladies who may be maidens, for all I know, but don't make a big deal of it). Ditto the crisp, brisk "In The Cruel Days of Slavery." "Dixie" is all-instrumental, except for the occasional, too-cued-sounding cheers, and one brief, urgently spoken mention of those magnificent men massing outside----more old Rebs, mebbe, but this "Dixie" is all sinewy lide guitars and/or dobros, not the sound I usually associate with misty visions of the Confederate Lost Cause.
Bussard and friends play *Rebels Hornpipe" (recorded on 78, like he's been doing since the 60s, the 1960s, that is, so it's only a ringer chronologically).Starts strong, proceeds in a merry-to-dizzy, compulsive circle, in a way I def do associate with Confeds. "Pass The Bottle Round" starts as Rebel (maybe sometimes Union too) parody of the line, "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the ground, but his truth is marching on." "Johnson Boy" is a fiddle-stomper about a local rake ("Jump girls, don't be afraid," girls unexcitedly join in on chorus), who gets drafted even though he can't see good, and keeps romping 'round the hotly contested countryside, though maybe fog of war will slow him down, as myopia alone didn't do, back under the presumably clearer skies of home--so,"Jump up girls, don't be afraid." "Sweet Bunch of Violets" starts as a tearjerker, but that's a set-up for revenge beyond the grave, hurrah boys!
(Also see the Tompkins Square thread re box Legends of Old-Time Music: Fifty Years of County Records. So far, I'm especially digging several versions of the hearty "Fortune"-- like, "good or bad, hit me with it"---the strutting change of pace "Peacock Rag," and "Dan Carter's Waltz," which suggests courtship, pretty refined yet moonshined, so don't push your luck there, son).

gotta check out the roscoe holcomb disc -- was just reading petrusich's ny-er piece: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/the-discovery-of-roscoe-holcomb-and-the-high-lonesome-sound?mbid=social_twitter

love that county records set! just a pleasure throughout.

also digging into this lomax centennial set, which has some amazing sounds: www.piccadillyrecords.com/prod/VariousArtists-RootHogOrDie100Years,100Songs(AnAlanLomaxCentennialTribute)-Mississippi-106900.html

http://www.clatl.com/music/article/20845096/washington-phillips-and-his-manzarene-dreams

cover story on Creative Loafing: “The reason our label exists and supports people like Michael Corcoran is because for some people, this music means the world,” says Lance Ledbetter, who co-runs Dust-to-Digital with his wife April. “Anyone can get on the internet and find 99 percent of the information that’s already out there. But Corcoran, found the vital missing percent: He made the drive to Teague, he knocked on doors, he found people who knew Washington Phillips. If the music means that much, why wouldn’t you want to know more from the people who knew him and are still alive? The stories and the information that he uncovered are priceless.”

In November, Dust-to-Digital published a 76-page book and 16-track CD chronicling Phillips’ life and music, titled Washington Phillips and His Manzarene Dreams. The book is the culmination of more than a decade that Corcoran spent scanning old newspapers for clues, conducting interviews, and scouring the East Texas countryside. At the same time, Dust-to-Digital worked to track down the highest quality surviving 78s of Phillips’ songs to remaster.

yow, gotta get that. i've got a previous phillips release, but the book here looks to be worth the price of admission alone. and dust to digital always does a great job.

did anyone get this? totally fantastic selection of Lomax recordings. pretty much everything here is golden.
http://lightintheattic.net/releases/2118-root-hog-or-die-100-years-100-songs-an-alan-lomax-centennial-tribute

Only 1,000 vinyl copies made...Looks good

Slightly off topic, but I think if you told me I had to go a year only listening to compilations curated by Christopher King, I'd be OK with that. I was excited to hear he has a book coming out in 2017.

totally -- the greek stuff he's done has kinda blown my mind.

Yeah, those two comps in particular--Why The Mountains Are Black and Five Days Married & Other Laments--have quickly become two of my all-time favorite compilations, and maybe two of my all-time favorite records in general.

Maybe this is more appropriate for the Greek music thread, but since we're already talking about this (and since the era is appropriate), does anyone know this comp / book? http://www.discogs.com/sell/item/262672213

don't have that one yet, looks great.
this chris king box is amazing: http://www.propermusic.com/product-details/Various-Artists-Beyond-Rembetika-The-Music-and-Dance-Of-The-Region-Of-Epirus-4CD-149705
and cheap, too (packaging is bare bones).

I've heard some of that one but don't own it (yet). So the liner notes are not up to the usual standards?

This isn't great, but fun, and gets better as it goes along (they credit New Lost City Ramblers for what they've lifted, and the folks NLCR lifted it from as well)(spoken stuff is is speedy, brief, and all at the beginning of this live-in-the-Stanford-radio-station set: no interviews, station IDs etc) orig posted on the Garcia side projects thread:
Just listened to xpost Hart Valley Drifters' album on Spotify (they've got a lot of JG sidetrips---the whole GarciaLive series to date, for a start---and even more Dead). Relaxed vocals, not nasal or otherwise trying to sound mountain-y---maybe a little too relaxed at times--but the picking is sharp and vivid, also without trying too hard, as Garcia trades off guitar and banjo with Ken Frankel; David Nelson's rhythm guitar and Robert Hunter's bass keep chugging along, and things get more engaging when Frankel plays fiddle for just about all of the second half (not much dobro that I've noticed, but Norm Van Maastricht gets bonus points for his name). Bluesier on "Sugar Baby" and then, right at the end, Mississippi Sheiks' "Sitting On Top Of The World", cool and bouncing us to another, contiguous world, just down the mountain aways, where Garcia has no prob suggesting Mississippi John Hurt sitting in with the Sheiks. I'd put this track in a Garcia acoustic comp (he's already the star here, but never ever hogging the spotlight, not that there is one).

― dow, Friday, December 2, 2016

Also digging Peter Stampfel and the Brooklyn & Lower Manhattan Fiddle/Mandolin Swarm's Holiday for Strings, which, on "New Polly Wolly Doodle", for instance, and also this string band version of "Telstar", and all over, really, is quite action-packed, without seeming too busy or tweety.

Mississippi John Hurt sitting in with the Sheiks

Add to Cart

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/17/arts/music/paul-oliver-authority-on-the-blues-dies-at-90.html?mcubz=3&_r=0

At his death Mr. Oliver left a 1,400-page manuscript on the Texas blues that he had begun writing with the researcher Mack McCormick in 1959. The project was abandoned after the two men quarreled. Mr. McCormick died in 2015.

Texas A&M University Press is scheduled to publish it in fall 2018, with essays by Alan Govenar and Kip Lornell, as “The Blues Come to Texas: Paul Oliver and Mack McCormick’s Unfinished Book.”

Cool that the Texas manuscript will come out(even if McCormick wasn't happy with it)

Oliver wrote a lot--After taking a trip through the American South in 1964, interviewing and recording blues singers, Mr. Oliver wrote “The Story of the Blues.” Published in 1969, it was the first comprehensive history of the genre and remains an indispensable work.

“Conversation With the Blues” (1965), an oral portrait of the music and the American South that included indigenous musical artists of every description.

“Screening the Blues: Aspects of the Blues Tradition” (1968) and “Savannah Syncopators: African Retentions in the Blues” (1970).

His other books on the subject included “Songsters and Saints: Vocal Traditions on Race Records” (1984), “Broadcasting the Blues: Black Blues in the Segregation Era” (2006) and “Barrelhouse Blues: Location Recordings and the Early Traditions of the Blues” (2009). His liner notes were collected in “Blues Off the Record: Thirty Years of Blues Commentary” (1984).

Stomp & Swerve: American Music Gets Hot 1843-1924 pre-release CD-R version, apparently includes lots of tracks Wondrich was unable to license, or something.)

You MUST tell us what was on the CD-R, xhuxk

michael coleman - the monaghan jig (1921)
kumasi trio - yaw donkor (1928)
joe ayers - old dan tucker (1989) (? that's what it says; not sure if that's a typo or not)
pryor's band - falcon march (1910)
sousa's band - at a georgia camp meeting (1908)
sousa's band - trombone sneeze (1902)
peerless orchestra - whistling rufus (1904)
vess l. ossman - a coon band contest (1901)
ossman-dudley trio - st. louis tickler (1906)
arthur collins - all coons look alike to me (1899)
len spencer - you've been a good old wagon (1901)
polk miller - rise and shine (1909)
dinwiddie colored quartette - poor mourner (1902)
bert williams - nobody (1906)
bert williams - play that barbershop chord (1910)
afro-american folk song singers - swing along (1914)
europe's society orchestra - down home rag (1913)
versatile four - circus day in dixie (1916)
original dixieland jass abdn - livery stable blues (1917)
hickman's orchestra - avalon/japanese sandman (1920)
mamie smith - crazy blues (1920)
ed andrews - time ain't gonna make me stay (1924)
lanin's southern serenaders - shake it and break it (1921)
mound city blue blowers - arkansas blues (1924)
charles creath - market st. blues (1924)
alberta hunter - cake walking babies from home (1924)
uncle dave macon - old dan tucker (1925)

― xhuxk, Tuesday, May 27, 2008 7:02 PM (fifteen years ago) bookmarkflaglink

I'm on a serious old music kick at the moment. Made a mix/playlist of all these songs located on my mp3 downloader programs of choice (youtube-to-mp3/slsk) all songs located to the best of my limited abilities, and it FUCKING RULES.

btw, does anybody remember that blog that some (ex?)-ilxor had that specialized in old 1900-10s-era songs? Would love to revisit that, even if it's through the Internet Archive Wayback Machine.

Think you're probably thinking of this - 50 Records That Matter, 1900-1919 - by Jonathan Bogart, but this is his current, more-comprehensive version - https://justonesongmore.com/

I am sometimes on slsk myself and have the source files for centuries of sound, user name is weejay

Totally forgot about this v. informative thread despite my posts---nowadays this is more the go-to, w fairly recent updates etc. all along: Pickers: a catchall thread for modern bluegrass, nu-old-time music, rootsy americana string bands, etc.

x-post OMG I sometimes forget that ILX is full of famous people, I just wanted to say that I love your Centuries of Sound radio podcasts and mixes I listen to them all the time! But I’m only up to the year 1917 because I end up doing monster deep dives for each year and it takes me about a month to get to the next year.

Anyway, that 50 Records That Matter blog is _probably_ the one I’m thinking of (I can’t really remember), but it looks amazing. Now I need to do a deep dive on those songs from 1900 to 1917 to catch up. So much great music!

in old-time 78rpm collector news, a 15,000 piece collection of old-time music & early country is being liquidated a few hundred every month by venerable music (a 78-specific auction website) -- really incredible stuff tbh. and i can't win even a fraction of what I meant.

xp if you're saying I'm famous then I'm very flattered and happy to hear it but I really don't think I am! & sure Jonathan would say the same if you meant him (though I think he's at least a professional critic)

You will catch up with me before too long if you're doing a year per month as I'm not working at nearly that rate myself.

joe ayers - old dan tucker (1989) (? that's what it says; not sure if that's a typo or not)

Not a typo. In the actual Stomp and Swerve book (which I’m currently halfway through and enjoying immensely), the author David Wondrich says:

In 1989, banjoist Joe Ayers recorded a cassette titled Old Dan Tucker: Melodies of Dan Emmett & the Virginia Minstrels, 1843–1860 (it's still not available on CD, as far as I know — which indicates the amount of call there is for this kind of thing). It's a sincere, skilled, historically informed attempt to reproduce the music of a century and a half ago.

Sadly, this cassette appears to have completely vanished off the face of the internet. Can’t find any information about it anywhere. If anybody has a copy please get it uploaded to youtube pronto!

Haven't heard that one, but you're reminding me that the late mega-collector and muso Joe Bussard sometimes recorded with his friends on 78, kind of folkie fantasy camp--as on this 2015 collection of originals and covers, that I blogged about in an annual round-up of worthies:

Although several of the promo files won't play, I'm getting some pretty strong early impressions of (most of) Joe Bussard Presents: The Year of Jublio---78 RPM Recordings of Songs From The Civil War. "Joe's got shit that God don't have," begins one blurb, and while that's always been true, his evident desire to depict via a range of material, starts with historically significant in-your-face sickly sentimentality x formalism, as written and performed (rich liner notes incl. discussion of attempts to redeem image of Confederacy via music, also redeeming image of fiddlers, but this is more like icky parlor music). It may be more about the renditions, like what are described as "maidenly" vocals; I do love the version of "Lorena" sung by Del McCoury on the mostly good-to-excellent collection Divided and United (which topped my 2013 Scene ballot's Top 10). And here we do get a rendition of "The Poor Old Slave, " in which straight-forward, non-tremulous sincerity finds its way unerringly among faded emblems, truth-based imagery (sung by ladies who may be maidens, for all I know, but don't make a big deal of it). Ditto the crisp, brisk "In The Cruel Days of Slavery." "Dixie" is all-instrumental, except for the occasional, too-cued-sounding cheers, and one brief, urgently spoken mention of those magnificent men massing outside----more old Rebs, mebbe, but this "Dixie" is all sinewy lide guitars and/or dobros, not the sound I usually associate with misty visions of the Confederate Lost Cause.
Bussard and friends play *Rebels Hornpipe" (recorded on 78, like he's been doing since the 60s, the 1960s, that is, so it's only a ringer chronologically).Starts strong, proceeds in a merry-to-dizzy, compulsive circle, in a way I def do associate with Confeds. "Pass The Bottle Round" starts as Rebel (maybe sometimes Union too) parody of the line, "John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the ground, but his truth is marching on." "Johnson Boy" is a fiddle-stomper about a local rake ("Jump girls, don't be afraid," girls unexcitedly join in on chorus), who gets drafted even though he can't see good, and keeps romping 'round the hotly contested countryside, though maybe fog of war will slow him down, as myopia alone didn't do, back under the presumably clearer skies of home---so,"Jump up girls, don't be afraid." "Sweet Bunch of Violets" starts as a tearjerker, but that's a set-up for revenge beyond the grave, hurrah boys!

Over his lifetime, Bussard amassed a collection of between 15,000 and 25,000 records, primarily of American folk, gospel, jazz and blues from the 1920s and 1930s.[1] From 1956 until 1970, Bussard ran the last 78 rpm record label, Fonotone, which was dedicated to the release of new recordings of old-time music. Among these were recordings by hundreds of performers, including the first recordings by the guitarist John Fahey. A five-CD anthology of Fonotone releases was issued in 2005 by Dust-to-Digital.[4] It was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package in 2006.[2][5]

I spent a few days transcribing the discography from Tony Russell's great book Country Music Classics to RYM. They didn't have everything in their database but this was as close as I could get. I think There were 4 parts
https://rateyourmusic.com/list/stevolende/country-music-originals-the-legends-and-the-lost-pt1-old-timey/

Seeing on FB that 86 years-old Tracy Schwarz, who played acoustic guitar, fiddle, mandolin & was best known for playing old timey string music w/ the New Lost City Ramblers (w/ Mike Seeger, John Cohen), & Cajun music w/ Dewey Balfa has passed away. He also played in bluegrass bands in DC.