 Various Artists Jazz · 2013 Dog and Gun (An Old English Ballad) Down On the Banks of the Ohio John Henry Was a Little Boy Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train I'll Be Rester (When the Roll Is Called) He's in the Ring (Doing the Same Old Thing) Dans le grand bois (In the Forest) Featured On
Various Artists
The Harry Smith-compiled three-volume Anthology of American Folk Music set, originally released in the 1950s and reissued to much brouhaha in 1997, was one of the most important records in launching the folk revival. It was not well known, though, that Smith compiled a fourth volume that was unissued. Revenant finally put it out in 2000, and like its three predecessors, it contains classic pre-World War II American country, blues, and folk music, with some gospel and Cajun too. It does differ from the first three volumes in its focus on a slightly later period, with all the tracks culled from the years 1928-1940. Leadbelly, Robert Johnson, Joe Williams, Bukka White, Memphis Minnie, and John Estes are all major blues artists; the Monroe Brothers, the Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, and the Blue Sky Boys all giant country/bluegrass pioneers; and the Hackberry Ramblers are one of the pre-eminent Cajun groups. A few of these songs are archetypes that have burned their way into the American collective musical consciousness: John Estes' "Milk Cow Blues," the Carter Family's "No Depression in Heaven," Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go," and the Monroe Brothers' "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy." Other less famous performances are quite intriguing, like Sister Clara Hudmon's "Stand By Me" (believed by some to be Bessie Smith recording under a pseudonym) and Jesse James' raw and rollicking piano blues "Southern Casey Jones." At 28 songs spread over two CDs, it's a little shorter than might be expected for a box set, though as compensation, it's enclosed in a pretty incredible 96-page liner-note-sized hardcover book with writing by Dick Spottswood and John Fahey. Released: 2000 “There were to be four of them, and four volumes in the series. Red, Blue, Green were issued [on the original Folkways set], so that the element that was left out was earth…” . – Harry Smith from 1968 interview with John Cohen Harry Smith was a true polymath–avant-garde filmmaker, alchemist, occultist, folklorist, painter, magician, archivist and expert on string figures, paper airplanes, and Ukrainian painted eggs–but is perhaps best known for his pioneering three-volume Anthology of American Folk Music, originally released in 1952 and reissued to great acclaim in 1997 by Smithsonian/Folkways. Compiled by Harry Smith contemporaneously with the first three volumes, Volume 4 of Harry’s historic Anthology went unissued for almost 50 years. Til now. In conjunction with the Harry Smith Archives, Revenant presents Smith’s “secret volume” in its intended song sequence, including tracks by the Monroe Bros., Carter Family, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, Lead Belly, Uncle Dave Macon and Sleepy John Estes. Featuring the first in-depth narrative on Smith and his work, with essays by Harry’s friend Ed Sanders (the Fugs), John Cohen (New Lost City Ramblers), John Fahey, Dick Spottswood and Greil Marcus, and previously unpublished photos, including a teenage Harry Smith engineering some of his earliest field recordings. To purchase: www.thirdmanrecords.com Two CDs housed in a 96-page artisan-printed book. “…Vol 4 is lavish….Smith was a master of the segue…[and] had a prophet’s ear…” – Rolling Stone “…More lives have been touched by the music in these volumes than almost any other source. Dig in and dig it.” – Mojo “Legendary filmmaker/cultural icon Harry Smith (1923-1991) was the living definition of the term “culture vulture.” Smith pioneered animation in film and associated with everyone from Jean-Luc Goddard to Billie Holliday and Jimmy Page, and in the early 1950’s compiled the six-volume Anthology of American Folk Music for Folkways Records. This collection’s aim was to document the entire continuum of American roots music in all its diversity. It succeeded fabulously (and helped spark the folk boom of the ’50s and ’60s). After 50-odd years, Revenant in conjunction with the Harry Smith Archives has released VOLUME FOUR. This two-CD set details the beginnings of both 20th century country music and bluegrass (The Blue Sky Boys’ “Down on the Banks of the Ohio”) as well as their roots in Appalachian/Celtic folk (The Carter Family’s “Black Jack David”). The blues, and its impact on folk and rock & roll, is represented by Leadbelly’s epochal “Packin’ Trunk” (a direct influence on Carl Perkin’s rockabilly classic “Matchbox”), and the Memphis Jug Band’s rollicking, irreverent “Memphis Shakedown.” Anyone wishing to explore the roots of these classic American musics would do well to acquire this edition of Harry Smith’s Anthology.” – Interview “Today, it is impossible to overstate the historic worth, sociocultural impact and undiminished vitality of the music in Harry Smith’s Anthology, and Smith’s idiosyncratic scholarship and instinctive wisdom.” – David Fricke, Rolling Stone Track ListingDisc 1
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Anthology of American folk music vol 4
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