Track Listing

1. Field Holler - TJ Chesser
2. I Wish My Baby Was Born - Dillard Chandler
3. Look Down That Lonesome Road - Bill Cornetti
4. Morning Star - Sacred Harp Singers
5. Camp Chase - French Carpenter
6. John Brown's Dream - Da Costa Woltz's Southern Broadcasters
7. Sweet Sunny South - Dock Boggs
8. Battle Of Stone River, The - Oscar Parks
9. Sweet Glories Rush Upon My Sight - Old Regular Baptists
10. Roustabout - Dink Roberts
11. Fox Race - Joe Patterson
12. Jim And John - Lonnie & Ed Young
13. Day Is Past And Gone, The - Dorothy Melton
14. Omie Wise - Roscoe Holcomb
15. Silk Merchant's Daughter - Dellie Norton
16. Hicks Farewell - Dillard Chandler
17. Three Little Babes - Texas Gladden
18. Wayfaring Stanger - Bill Monroe
19. Rank Stranger - The Stanley Brothers
20. Christmas Time Soon Be Over - Fiddlin' John Carson
21. And Am I Born To Die - Doc Watson
22. Pulling The Skiff - Ora Dell Graham
23. Pumpkin Pie - Joe Thompson/Odell Thompson
24. Give The Fiddler A Dram - James Crase
25. Angel Band - E.C. & Orna Ball
26. Old Man Below, The - Gaither Carlton
27. When Sorrows Encompass Me 'Round - Tommy Jarrell/Fred Cockerham

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38184 in Music
• Released on: 2004-10-19
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds

Album Description
Charles Frazier's novel and the film Cold Mountain opened the door to a world of Appalachian history, life, and music. Now, John Cohen and Smithsonian Folkways take you all the way home to the source and the spirit of Appalachia in the signature sounds of its musical elders. Descendents of the 19th-century Appalachian frontier families perform traditional music they inherited from their Civil War-era ancestors. 70 minutes, 36 page booklet, historic photos.

Customer Reviews

dark magic
First, this is not the soundtrack to the Cold Mountain movie. That recording, released a year or so ago, featured talented modern musicians who recreated the 19th-Century music from the film and the Charles Frazier novel on which it was based. Back Roads to Cold Mountain covers much (and more) of the same material, except as it was done by authentic mountain musicians.

With one or two exceptions, these songs and tunes were alive during the Civil War. They survived into the early and mid-20th Century, to be rediscovered by folksong collectors. Most selections come from Folkways' deep archives, ably picked by John Cohen, whose recordings with the New Lost City Ramblers introduced many of us to the Appalachian tradition during the 1960s folk revival and after. Frazier himself, who provides the introduction to the enclosed booklet, explains how this music inspired his novel, set in Civil War-era North Carolina. Cohen's extensive liner notes and annotations are informative and engrossing.

Few of the musicians are likely to be familiar, though names like the Stanley Brothers, Bill Monroe, Doc Watson, Roscoe Holcomb, and Tommy Jarrell will resonate with those who have at least passing knowledge of the tradition. The performances are always inspired, sometimes rawly emotional in a way that has vanished from today's music; sometimes a performance may be even a little frightening, for one dramatic example Oscar Parks's angry rant at the conclusion of the ballad "The Battle of Stone River." French Carpenter's fiddle tune "Camp Chase," on the other hand, aches with mournful beauty.

The sound quality, thanks to modern technology, is so perfectly executed that it serves to erase distance between listener and performer. Time and geography roll away, and you're right there on a back porch or a church bench, hearing the ballads, fiddle pieces, and hymns in person. There is a dark magic in this old music, and Back Roads evokes it brilliantly.