Various Artists - American Epic
5 CD set
In the 1920s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. For the first time, a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coalminer in Virginia or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have their thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. It was the first time America heard itself.
Virtually no documentation of these extraordinary events survives and nearly ninety percent of the recording masters have been destroyed. A vital part of American cultural history has been lost.
AMERICAN EPIC rescues this history.
The Collection gathers 100 original recordings from the 1920s and 1930s in one five-disc set, restored to unprecedented levels of sonic fidelity.
For this box set, compiled by Director Bernard MacMahon, engineer Nicholas Bergh refined a transfer process using a mix of both modern and vintage equipment in order to extract the remarkable resolution from the records that is often missed.
This reverse engineering approach to the transfer process enabled the restoration team of Grammy Award-winning engineer Peter Henderson, Duke Erikson and Joel Tefteller to get the resulting audio closer to the original performance than ever before.
This is not "remastering," in the normal sense, but something closer to fine art restoration. The intent is not for people to marvel at the antiquity of these discs, but rather to experience them as vital, immediate performances that speak to us as directly as they did on the day they were recorded not simply great art for their time, but great art for all times.
It includes a 100-page book filled with stunning unpublished photographs, quotes from the artists, their friends and families, lyrics for every song, essays and recording notes.
Among the artists included are Mississippi John Hurt, The Carter Family, Charley Patton, Jimmie Rodgers, Lydia Mendoza, Nelstone's Hawaiians, Big Chief Henry's String Band, Robert Johnson and many others.
CD 1
- Clarence Ashley - The Coo Coo Bird (The Cuckoo)
- Memphis Jug Band - On the Road Again
- Bukka White - The Panama Limited
- Hoyt Ming and His Pep Steppers - Indian War Whoop
- Frank Stokes - 'Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do, Pt. 1
- Andrew & Jim Baxter - K. C. Railroad Blues
- Alfred G. Karnes - I Am Bound for the Promised Land
- Garfield Akers - Cottonfield Blues, Pt. 2
- Bascom Lamar Lunsford - I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground
- Bentley Boys - Down On Penny's Farm
- Whistler's Jug Band - Foldin' Bed
- Weems String Band - Greenback Dollar
- Mattie Delaney - Tallahatchie River Blues
- Cannon's Jug Stompers - Walk Right In
- The Carter Family - Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow
- Jim Jackson - Old Dog Blue
- Columbus Fruge - Bayou Teche
- Tommy Johnson - Cool Drink of Water Blues
- J. P. Nestor - Train On the Island
CD 2
- Elder J.E. Burch - My Heart Keeps Singing
- Julius Daniels - Ninety-Nine Year Blues
- Earl Johnson and his Clodhoppers - I Get My Whiskey From Rockingham
- Rev. J. M. Gates - Death's Black Train Is Coming
- Jimmie Rodgers - Waiting for a Train
- Tenneva Ramblers - Darling, Where Have You Been So Long?
- Alabama Sacred Harp Singers - Rocky Road
- Amadie Breaux, Ophey Breaux & Cleoma Breaux - Ma Blond Est Partie
- Carolina Tar Heels - Peg and Awl
- Barbecue Bob - Chocolate to the Bone
- Eddie Head and Family - Down On Me
- Cleoma Breaux with Joseph Falcon and Ophy Breaux - Prenez Courage
- Dilly and his Dill Pickles - Pickin' Off Peanuts
- Nelstone's Hawaiians - Just Because
- Willie Walker - Dupree Blues
- Burnett & Rutherford - Ladies On the Steamboat
- Blind Willie McTell - Mamma, 'Tain't Long Fo' Day
CD 3
- Cuarteto Flores - Cecilia
- Los Borinquenos - La Coquetera
- Guty Cárdenas Y Lencho - Coconito
- Emmett Miller - Lovesick Blues
- Big Bill Broonzy - Long Tall Mama
- Two Poor Boys - John Henry Blues
- Lead Belly - Mr. Tom Hughes' Town
- Mississippi John Hurt - Louis Collins
- Blind Gary Davis - I Am The Light of the World
- Rev. F.W. McGee - Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
- Hopi Indian Chanters - Chant of the Eagle Dance
- Mike Hanapi & The Ilima Islanders - Hilo Hula
- Charlie Poole - If The River Was Whiskey
- Frank Hutchison - Stackalee
- Ernest Stoneman - The Wreck of the '97
- Buell Kazee - Faded Coat of Blue
- Dock Boggs - Country Blues
- Uncle Dave Macon and His Fruit-Jar Drinkers - Sail Away Ladies
- Uncle Bunt Stephens - Sail Away Lady
- Eck Robertson - Sally Gooden
- Don Richardson - Arkansas Traveller
CD 4
- Lane Hardin - Hard Time Blues
- Charley Patton - Down the Dirt Road Blues
- Banjo Joe - Poor Boy, Long Ways From Home
- Blind Blake & Charlie Spand - Hastings Street
- Blind Lemon Jefferson - See That My Grave's Kept Clean
- Golden Melody Boys - Gonna Have 'Lasses In the Morning
- Memphis Minnie & Bumblebee Slim - New Orleans Stop Time
- Ma Rainey - Prove It On Me Blues
- Williamson Brothers & Curry - Gonne Die with My Hammer in My Hand
- Geeshie Wiley - Last Kind Words Blues
- Dixieland Jug Blowers - Banjoreno
- Beale Street Sheiks - It's a Good Thing
- Blind Willie Davis - Trust In God and Do the Right
- Sleepy John Estes - Someday Baby Blues
- Sam Collins - Lonesome Road Blues
- Willie Brown - Future Blues
- Henry Thomas - Bull Doze Blues
- Massey Family - Brown Skin Gal (Down the Lane)
- Dick Justice - Henry Lee aka Young Hunting
- William Moore - Old Country Rock
- Delma Lachney & Blind Uncle Gaspard - La Danseuse
- Son House - My Black Mama, Pt. 1 & 2
- Skip James - Cypress Grove Blues
CD 5
- Robert Johnson - Cross Road Blues
- Lydia Mendoza - Mal Hombre
- Frenchy's String Band - Sunshine Special
- Robert Wilkins - Old Jim Canan's
- Amédé Ardoin & Dennis McGee - Les Blues De Voyage
- Stripling Brothers - The Lost Child
- Jaybird Coleman - I'm Gonna Cross the River Jordan Some of These Days
- Sol K. Bright with The Aloha Serenaders - Tomi Tomi
- Mississippi Sheiks - Sittin' On Top of the World
- Richard Rabbit Brown - James Alley Blues
- Big Chief Henry's Indian String Band - The Indian Tom Tom
- Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers - Blues In a Bottle
- Bartmon Montet & Joswell Dupuis - Je Me Suis En Alle
- Blind Willie Johnson - Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground
- Sol Hoopii & His Novelty Quartette - E Mama Ea
- Truett & George - Ghost Dance
- Roosevelt Graves & Brother - Woke Up This Morning (With My Mind On Jesus)
- Joseph Falcon - Allons A Lafayette
- Los Madrugadores - Corrido De Joaquin Murrieta, Pt. 1 & 2
- Washington Phillips - Denomination Blues (Part 1 & 2)
(88875099692)
| SKU | 88875099692 |
| Barcode # | 88875099692 |
| Brand | Third Man Records / Columbia Legacy |
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