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?

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/