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Tennessee Pusher
Release Date: 2008-09-23
Sales rank: 4905
Old Crow Medicine Show release in 2008 their third Nettwerk album called Tennessee Pusher. Produced by the legendary Don Was (Bob Dylan, Bonnie Raitt, the Rolling Stones), the album features the first single "Caroline" along with 11 other Old Crow originals and an American standard called "Lift Him Up" by Blind Alfred Reed. Having sold over 290K albums, OCMS can attribute much of their success to their relentless touring schedule. Between headlining shows and countless festivals (Bonnaroo, Telluride Bluegrass Festival, New Orleans Jazz Festival, etc), the band lives on the road - they thrive on the communal experience of the live shows. OCMS have made a name for themselves as energetic performers with an unbridled spirit."as musicians, songwriters and singers, they are the smartest and finest purveyors of American music to come down the pike in decades." - Don Was |
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Appalachian Stomp: Bluegrass Classics
Release Date: 1995-02-28
Sales rank: 4323
Appalachian Stomp is an ideal starter disc for those just beginning to explore bluegrass. Mostly this is because its 18 selections are so immediately accessible. The "classics" here, in other words, are usually those infrequent bluegrass cuts to have gained radio recognition beyond a core bluegrass audience. That explains why along with timeless standards such as Flatt & Scruggs' "Foggy Mountain Breakdown" and the Osborne Brothers' "Rocky Top" we also get "Dueling Banjos" from the film Deliverance, a cut that is to classic bluegrass what Walter Murphy is to Beethoven. There are less immediately obvious choices too, though. If your previous exposure to bluegrass doesn't go beyond the Holy Trinity of Bill Monroe, Flatt & Scruggs, and the Stanley Brothers--for example, if you've never heard J.D. Crowe & the New South's stellar example of progressive bluegrass, "Old Home Place," or experienced Jimmy Martin lay down the law on his rousing "You Don't Know My Mind"--then you're in for a high-lonesome surprise. --David Cantwell |
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Anthology Of American Folk Music (Edited By Harry Smith)
Release Date: 1997-08-19
Sales rank: 7572
This deluxe 6-CD collector's boxed set contains a 96-page book featuring Harry Smith's original songbook framed by essays by Greil Marcus and other noted writers, musicians, and scholars. Play the enhanced sixth disc on your CD-ROM drive and access historic video footage, rare photos, artist interviews, and additional background information. Edited by Harry Smith. Reissue compiled by the staff of Smithsonian Folkways. Reissue liner notes by Greil Marcus, Neil Rosenberg, Jeff Place, Jon Pankake, Luis Kemnitzer and others. "...the missing link in rock's official history." -Newsweek ***** (five stars) -Rolling StoneThis impressive--and frankly, fun--musical document is still sending out shock waves almost 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release. The Smithsonian's six-CD reissue is painstakingly researched, annotated, and packaged (even boasting an enhanced disc for the techno-capable). Unlike field recorders, eccentric filmmaker/collector/musicologist Harry Smith assembled the Anthology from commercially released (though obscure) 78 rpm discs issued between 1927 and 1935. Its broad scope--from country blues to Cajun social music to Appalachian murder ballads--was monumentally influential, setting musicians like Bob Dylan down the path to folk fandom. The White House started its own national music library with the Anthology; anyone with more than a passing interest in American roots music should do the same. --Michael Ruby More from Smithsonian Folkways
The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music | 
Classic Maritime Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings | 
Smithsonian Folkways American Roots Collection | 
Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways | 
Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways | 
Folkways: The Original Vision | |
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Unearthed (5CD)
Release Date: 2003-11-25
Sales rank: 16362
Not just your average box set of re-packaged music, 'Unearthed' is a 5 CD box containing 79 tracks from the American Recordings era. 'Unearthed' contains 4 entire discs of never-before-heard recordings. 'Unearthed' also contains 'My Mothers Hymn Book' a complete never released solo acoustic spiritual album. Deluxe packaging includes 104 page hard cover book, never before seen photo's and Johnny's personal comments, thoughts and memories about every song on the box. Lost Highway. 2003.Over the course of five mesmerizing CDs, Unearthed shows us just how Johnny Cash's now-legendary handful of recordings for American Records came to be. Four discs feature previously unreleased tracks from the famed Rick Rubin-produced sessions. Through their inconsistencies and quirks (and, more often than not, brilliance), they shed light on how Cash's final records were shaped, edited, and produced. Here we get some creative pairings: Fiona Apple providing guest vocals on Cat Stevens' "Father & Son," and the late Joe Strummer duetting with Cash on Bob Marley's "Redemption Song." Neither are the definitive statements that some of Cash's covers from this period are (his glorious takes on Nick Lowe and Danzig, to name just two), but they're still very much worth hearing. Most riveting are the numerous traditional numbers, the songs that were clearly closest to the Man in Black's heart. "Banks of the Ohio," Billy Joe Shaver's "Old Chunk of Coal," Stephen Foster's "Hard Times," and the entire disc of previously unreleased gospel tunes are powerful statements, tunes where you feel privileged to hear Cash--despite declining health and failing voice--sing one more time, the way he wanted. The last disc of this monumental set is a "best-of" compilation of tracks that did make it on the American individual discs, a reminder of just how groundbreaking these sessions were. Perhaps the biggest highlight in this awe-inspiring set is its vast liner notes, a loving collection of essays and recollections that highlight the history and stories behind this eclectic array of songs. --Jason Verlinde |
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Songs of the Civil War
Release Date: 1991-08-13
Sales rank: 4017
Prompted by the success Ken Burns's popular Civil War documentary (which spawned its own soundtrack), Songs of the Civil War presents an eclectic assortment of contemporary performers tackling period pieces that date back to the War Between the States. Here's Sweet Honey in the Rock tackling the slave lament "No More Auction Block for Me," Judy Collins singing "Battle Hymn of the Republic," and Kate and Anna McGarrigle essaying the lovely (and very suitable) "Hard Times Come Again No More." Between performances by name artists (Kathy Mattea, Waylon Jennings, and Richie Havens among them), instrumentals performed by the U.S. Military Academy Band provide a sense of time and place. --Steven Stolder |
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Hand-Picked: 25 Years Of Bluegrass On Rounder Records
Release Date: 1995-09-19
Sales rank: 22576
Rounder compiled this superb 50-song set to serve as an introduction to bluegrass in general and to their own catalog in particular. Obvious marketing motives aside, the collection has few weaknesses and offers a broad look at the ever-morphing genre. Perhaps more than any other label, Rounder gave exposure to the renegade progressive and "newgrass" musicians who worshipped the style despite the fact that they weren't from the mountains. Folks like David Grisman, Bill Keith, Tony Trischka, and Bela Fleck push the music in new directions while others such as Del McCoury, Don Stover, James King, Jim & Jesse, and Vern Williams represent more-traditional concerns. Still others--Tony Rice, David Grier, J.D. Crowe, Nashville Bluegrass Band among them--adeptly fuse elements of tradition and innovation. This collection also highlights the important contributions of female artists including Hazel and Alice, Laurie Lewis, Claire Lynch, and Alison Krauss. --Marc Greilsamer |
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The Carter Family: 1927-1934
Release Date: 2002-04-30
Sales rank: 24564
Their setup was primitive enough--guitar, Autoharp, and vocals--but in the late '20s the trio of A.P. Delaney Carter, his wife Sara, and his sister-in-law Maybelle would change (chart?) the course of country music forever. They did it with haunting harmonies, incredible guitar playing (thanks to Maybelle's driving strums on her Gibson L-5 guitar), and a vast repertoire that included murder ballads, gospel tunes, love songs, and Appalachian folk tunes--many of which would be covered by musicians for decades to come. Unlike their musical peers in the late '20s and early '30s, the Carters weren't just playing "hillbilly" music; this was, quite simply, country music, and their timeless output still resonates with listeners today. JSP's bargain-priced, five-CD collection is easily the most complete, essential collection of their music available, capturing and remastering their RCA Victor recordings (their later, less-seminal sessions for Decca and the American Record Company are not included). Hearing five CDs' worth of music from the Carter Family is almost sensory overload--from the initial 1927 Bristol sessions, which Johnny Cash hailed as "the single most important event in the history of country music," to their depression-era recordings. Even today, Sara Carter's voice sounds aching, yet empowered. Whether they're yodeling through "The Foggy Mountain Top," singing a feminist anthem like "Single Girl, Married Girl," or harmonizing with Maybelle on "Worried Man Blues," you can hear the Carters' profound influence on country music. A must-have. --Jason Verlinde |
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Anthology
Release Date: 2003-04-22
Sales rank: 5995
Distilling the four-disc Music of Bill Monroe down to 50 songs, this double-disc Anthology is a fine survey of the bluegrass pioneer's career. Picking up in 1950 after Monroe's breakthrough Columbia tenure, this set documents his 30-year Decca period and its song list reads like a Bluegrass 101 songbook, offering classic after classic. Like the greatest of jazz bandleaders, Monroe's Blue Grass Boys band was a proving ground for aspiring bluegrass musicians and a springboard for their future solo success, with each incarnation of the group displaying its own distinct character. Vocal powerhouse Jimmy Martin helped propel Monroe's stellar early-'50s band while other contributors include singers Del McCoury and Peter Rowan and elite pickers such as banjoists Bill Keith and Don Stover and fiddlers Richard Greene, Kenny Baker, Bobby Hicks, and Vassar Clements. Of course, Big Mon's fiery high tenor vocals and feverish mandolin are the common threads. --Marc Greilsamer |
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Dona Got a Ramblin Mind
Release Date: 2007-06-26
Sales rank: 16593
AS HEARD ON NPR! "Even though the music's being played right in front of you, you expect to hear crackles and hisses as if the sounds were being torn from a salvaged 78." - Independent Weekly Terrific renditions of old-time classics from the Carolina Chocolate Drops as they reclaim their African American NC Piedmont string band musical traditions! This young group is the hottest thing to hit the old-time music community in decades, and have grabbed the attention of folks like Taj Mahal, Mike Seeger, Alice Gerrard, and John Sebastian. |
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Down In The Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove of Vintage 78s 1926-1937 (Jewel Case with 28-page booklet)
Release Date: 2003-06-17
Sales rank: 22487
Declan McManus Pumps It Up. Joe Bussard. "He's an eccentric record collector who's preserved all sorts of magical corners of music - although he says things like, 'There are no good jazz records made after 1927.'" Elvis Costello - Esquire UK October 2005 "This is the music of poor whites and blacks: wild-ass jazz and string-band hillbilly, surreal yodels and king snake moans, lightning-bolt blues and whorehouse romps and orgasmic gospel. It's all anti-pop, anti-sentimental: the raw sounds of the city gutter and the roadside ditch." Desperate Man Blues by Eddie Dean - Da Capo Best Music Writing 2000 "Joe has spent more than 50 years pursuing his purpose with a single-mindedness bordering on mania. And his purpose is no less than collecting and preserving the vast wealth of American vernacular music that was recorded on fragile shellac discs during the early decades of this century." A Visit and Interview with Record Collector Joseph E. Bussard, Jr by Marshall Wyatt - Old-Time Herald Spring 1999 - oldhatrecords.com/BussardInt.html 24 Rare Gems From The King Of Record Collectors - String Bands, Blues, Jazz, Country, Cajun, Gospel. Profusely illustrated, 28-page full-color booklet includes biographical essay, fully annotated discography, and (online) firsthand accounts of Joe's record collecting adventures. 72 minutes of newly, digitally remastered music. Jewel case, second edition. |
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