Message Board Archive: Thread Number 104

I read about this compilation about a month ago in the New York Times
Book Review while house sitting for a friend. It was news to me, being
of the wrong generation I guess, that such a wild compilation even
existed. The comp in question is: The Anthology of American Folk Music.
What a fantastic collection of stuff! In a stroke of efficient thinking,
I checked for it at the library while I was there with my daughter... Lo
and behold! The local library was in possession of vols 1-3 (each volume
consisting of two CDs). Paydirt!
One of the coolest things about the compilation is the organization.
It's organized not by region, race or style but by broad song types.
Volume 1 is called "Ballads", volume 2 is "Social Music" and volume 3 is
"Songs". This allows the listener to hear a kind of archaeological cross
section of material recorded on 78s. For example, on volume 3 you can
hear:
Clarence Ashley
Buell Kazee
Memphis Jug Band
Richard "Rabbit" Brown
"Dock" Boggs
Blind Lemon Jefferson
The Carter Family
Cannon's Jug Stompers
John Estes
John Hurt
Uncle Dave Macon
C & O Breaux & Falcon
Henry Thomas
Granted, not everything is _great_ but much of it is... most of it is,
in fact. In the last two hours I've listened to fiddle tunes, banjo
tunes, blues, gospel, shape-note singing, minstrel songs and early cajun
dance tunes all back to back, one after the other. The similarities and
differences are, of course, stunning. These songs shine.
Unfortunately, the library didn't have the liner notes... rats...
Frank

Date: Tue, 18 Aug 1998 09:41:09 -0400 (EDT)
From: Andrew
Subject: More: The Anthology of American Folk Music
Message Number: 104.1

> Unfortunately, the library didn't have the liner notes... 
> rats...

This is indeed a great anthology. The notes are definitely worth seeking
out as well, both Harry Smith's oddball original notes, and the
extensive collection of new essays that comes with the CD release.