Track Listing

1. East Virginia Blues - Jay Bennett, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy
2. I'm on the Battlefield for My Lord
3. John Henry - John Jackson
4. Lazy Farmer Boy
5. Old Dog Blue - Lonnie Pitchford
6. Home Sweet Home - The New Lost City Ramblers
7. Butcher Boy - Ginny Hawker
8. John the Revelator
9. His Tapes Roll On - Peter Stampfel
10. Minglewood Blues - Geoff Muldaur, John Sebastian
11. Coo Coo Bird - Ella Jenkins
12. Frankie and Johnny - John Jackson
13. Sugar Baby - Jay Bennett, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy
14. Vieux Soulard et Sa Femme - Balfa Toujours
15. Spike Driver Blues - Dave Van Ronk
16. Darling Corey
17. Coo Coo Bird - Toshi Reagon
18. James Alley Blues - Jay Bennett, Roger McGuinn, Jeff Tweedy
19. Nothing - The Fugs

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168240 in Music
• Released on: 1998-08-18
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Live
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Album Description
Powerful new interpretations of Southern musical traditions, recorded live in October, 1997, at the Barns of Wolf Trap. These contemporary versions of songs that either appeared on the Grammy-Award winning Anthology of American Folk Music or are associated with its compiler, Harry Smith (tracks 9 and 19), are a wild mix of styles from "gangsta folk" to gospel, blues, Cajun, country rock, jug band, and more. A stellar group of musicians pays tribute to the past and dramatically demonstrates the enduring vitality of America’s traditional music. Extensive notes, discographies, and photographs. Produced by Pete Reiniger, Jeff Place and Bob Santelli, annotated by Jeff Place and Bob Santelli.

Amazon.com
If you just couldn't get enough of The Anthology of American Folk Music, here's the perfect companion CD. The Anthology is, of course, the celebrated 1997 reissued six-disc box that became the touchstone for modern folk music when it was originally put out by filmmaker and record collector Harry Smith in 1952. The Harry Smith Connection is culled from two October 1997 concerts at which performers tackled tracks from The Anthology, which consists of 84 recordings made between 1926 and 1933. Contributors include Roger McGuinn (backed by Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett and sounding great), Dave Van Ronk, Ethel Caffie-Austin, and the New Lost City Ramblers. The affection the performers feel for these earthen songs is palpable. The songs themselves are unassailable. --Steven Stolder

Customer Reviews

A labor of love
These live recordings of songs from the AAFM offers warm, loving renditions of a handful of the armload of American musical heritage sent through the years to us by Harry Smith. It's yet another reminder of how important Smith's contribution was. Peter Stampfel's ode to Harry makes me want to hear the rest of the epic and "Nothing" by the Fugs is nothing short of wonderful.

The Other "Roots" Historian
John and Alan Lomax are justly famous for their herculean efforts over many years to gather "roots" music from sources all over the American continent, the bayous, the hollows, the mountains and the plains. Not as well known but as worthy of praise is the work of the "roots" historian Harry Smith, the subject of this tribute CD. During the 1940's and 1950's Smith was working the highways and byways of the South and elsewhere recording whatever music was at hand with whatever recording device he could put to together. No less a later folk historian that the singer Dan Van Ronk remarked that he learned much of his early folk repertoire from the Harry Smith collection. Others, including Bob Dylan, also "cribbed" from the Smith collection. That tells the tale.

This tribute CD is a treasure trove of songs, some familiar and some long forgotten by this reviewer. The most interesting point that always catches my attention on these anthologies is how much crossover there is despite the differences in geography, ethnicity or race. For example, listen to the two versions of "The Coo Coo Bird" here. Or consider "The Butcher Boy" that I have heard under the names "The Railroad Boy" or "In London Town" but which however tells the same old tale of abandoned love and its tragic consequences. And how many versions of "John Henry" have been recorded? The one done here by John Jackson, by the way, is excellent. As is his rendition of "Frankie and Johnnie".

"John The Revelator" done by Ethel Caffie-Austin is the best version I have heard this side of Son House. The lead vocal by Geoff Muldaur of the old Jim Kweskin Jug Band makes "Minglewood Blues" pop. Van Ronk's "Spike Driver Blues" is vintage Dave. Jeff Tweedy and company do a very nice job on Rabbit Brown's "James Alley Blues". The Fugs' on "Nothing" is just the kind of odd ball tune that old Harry was looking for. To top thing off listen to Pete Stampfel on his Harry Smith tribute song "His Tapes Roll On". That is the kind of tune that latter day cyberspace "roots" historians will pick up in order to continue the traditions. Listen on.

Not enough Roger McGuinn
Roger McGuinn is the shinning light of this CD. There should be more selections by him offered in this collection.