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6CD ..Folk Music, History Of Folk, Blues, Cajun, Gospel
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
72 of 77 people found the following review helpful
By P. Bryant
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Audio CD
Some of the songs in this massive collection make you shake your head with wonder - surely this one can't have been released as a record for people to buy in a record shop? Imagine the conversation from 1929 - "Excuse me, have you got I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground, by Bascom Lamar Lunsford?" "Why certainly young sir, it's right here, that'll be 30 cents!" But apparently ALL of these songs, ballads, fiddle tunes, gospel shouts, shape-note choirs, blues, string bands, cajuns and hot sermonising were indeed issued on 78s, and the public did buy them. Well - the rural folk in the Southern states, not those sophisticates in New York.
A guy called Ralph Peer found out by accident that white people down in the South would buy records by Uncle Bunt Stephens in their hundreds and thousands - he couldn't understand it either, being a city slicker himself, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. So what became the country music industry started up. Then Ralph deduced that the black folks would also like the opportunity to buy their own kind of music, and so began to issue country blues. Between 1925 and 1933 an amazing kaleidoscope of country, folk, blues and jazz was released and some of it's right here in this big box.
And at least half is just as enjoyable now as it was then - although you probably need to be a bit of a folkie or a blues fan to really love it. Or maybe you went to see O Brother Where Art Thou and got the brilliant soundtrack album - well, Harry Smith's Anthology is where you find the original recordings of that kind of stuff. It's often raw and harsh, but it cuts through. It has power and magic, and a crazy happiness to it. This music is not show business.
A guy called Ralph Peer found out by accident that white people down in the South would buy records by Uncle Bunt Stephens in their hundreds and thousands - he couldn't understand it either, being a city slicker himself, but he knew a good thing when he saw it. So what became the country music industry started up. Then Ralph deduced that the black folks would also like the opportunity to buy their own kind of music, and so began to issue country blues. Between 1925 and 1933 an amazing kaleidoscope of country, folk, blues and jazz was released and some of it's right here in this big box.
And at least half is just as enjoyable now as it was then - although you probably need to be a bit of a folkie or a blues fan to really love it. Or maybe you went to see O Brother Where Art Thou and got the brilliant soundtrack album - well, Harry Smith's Anthology is where you find the original recordings of that kind of stuff. It's often raw and harsh, but it cuts through. It has power and magic, and a crazy happiness to it. This music is not show business.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
By Richard
Format:Audio CD
The folk music of America at first appealed to rural audiences and only entered the mainstream when it was watered down with hit singles for the Weavers.Later in the decade the college campus and the Hootenannys would enter with Bob Dylan as a sort of catalyst.
What's on here is at first hearing far removed from Blowin' in the Wind or the New Christy Minstrels but its where it began.
The Harry Smith Anthology was only known about to those who collected the Elektra and Vanguard labels and it would be years before the music mainstream acknowledged its existence and supposed importance.
But there's no doubt that Dylan took a lotta material from this collection and even passed some of it off as his own work
Few titles here would have figured on a 50s hit parade but in the next decade with more awareness of the history of blues and country at least the Carter Family would figure prominently especially aftr the Johnny Cash connection and songs would turn up on albums during the Urban Folk Revival as the artists involved would actually seek them out eg Walk right in-which the Rooftop Singers discovered via Gus Cannon 78s.Eventually the growing interest in Roots Music would draw more attention to what was at one time a specialist field
What's on here is at first hearing far removed from Blowin' in the Wind or the New Christy Minstrels but its where it began.
The Harry Smith Anthology was only known about to those who collected the Elektra and Vanguard labels and it would be years before the music mainstream acknowledged its existence and supposed importance.
But there's no doubt that Dylan took a lotta material from this collection and even passed some of it off as his own work
Few titles here would have figured on a 50s hit parade but in the next decade with more awareness of the history of blues and country at least the Carter Family would figure prominently especially aftr the Johnny Cash connection and songs would turn up on albums during the Urban Folk Revival as the artists involved would actually seek them out eg Walk right in-which the Rooftop Singers discovered via Gus Cannon 78s.Eventually the growing interest in Roots Music would draw more attention to what was at one time a specialist field
40 of 43 people found the following review helpful
By Nude O'Regan
Format:Audio CD
If you thought that Bob Dylan's sound was new way back in the early 60's (as I did) then think again. That sound goes back much further to an even wierder time. Harry Smith pretty much bootlegged this cross section of American music ranging from blues through jug and gospel to early Dylan style harmonica howls from recordings on obscure labels, which begs the question, how did this very strange music attract a commercial audience in the USA of the 20's and thirties? The roots of all modern music are here and this stuff certainly did influence a generation or two or three. It's a good game spotting who subsequently ripped off what. To own it is to love it. Peg and Awl defies description, but Smith has a go at it, as he does all of these tunes with wonderfully concise tongue in cheek summaries.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fabulous package
...but who wants a box set whose box is too big for most shelves?! As other reviewers have said, this is a fabulous piece of musical history. Read more
Published on 16 Nov 2010 by Doc Strange
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for any folk lover
Bought this as a gift for my husband who plays it loads - must say even I have started to like it and there it a whole lot to listen to!
Published on 28 May 2010 by Amanda S. Simpson
5.0 out of 5 stars
Anthology of American Folk Music
A truly seminal collection. Unquestionably worth preserving and perpetuating on CD. And good value for 6CDs. Thanks. Dr D. M. Jones
Published on 30 Mar 2009 by Dr. D. M. Jones
5.0 out of 5 stars
Not in Kansas anymore
This collection gives most people a huge culture shock on first hearing. The music comes from a different time and place. Weird does not cover it. Read more
Published on 20 Jan 2003 by doublegone
5.0 out of 5 stars
The source of it all
This is the collection of songs and music that inspired almost everybody on the hip side of life in the 60's. Read more
Published on 1 Dec 2000
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