Track Listing

1. Omie Wise - Doug Wallin
2. Sugar Baby - Dock Boggs
3. I Am a Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow - Old Regular Baptists
4. Sixteen Tons - George Davis
5. John Henry - Lesley Riddle
6. Lost Indian - Marion Sumner
7. Southbound - Doc and Merle Watson
8. High on a Mountain - Ola Belle Reed
9. Coal Creek March - Pete Steele
10. Coal Miner Blues - Hazel Dickens/Alice Gerrard
11. Railroad Blues - Sam McGee
12. Cuckoo Bird - Clarence Ashley
13. Conversation with Death (Oh Death) - Berzilla Wallin
14. Lone Prairie - Wade Ward
15. Rain and Snow - Dillard Chandler
16. Mole in the Ground - Bascom Lamar Lundsford
17. Moonshiner - Roscoe Holcomb
18. Wildwood Flower - Kilby Snow
19. Barbry Ellen - Jean Ritchie
20. Daniel Prayed - Watson, Price and Howard
21. Wreck of the Number Nine - Pop Stoneman
22. Red Jacket Mine Explosion - The Phipps Family
23. Kingdom Come - Norman Edmonds
24. Amazing Grace - Horton Barker

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3684 in Music
• Released on: 2002-10-22
• Number of discs: 1

Album Description
Riding the wave of the renewed interest in traditional American music, Classic Mountain Songs From Smithsonian Folkways Recordings showcases a handful of the greatest mountain ballads as performed by some of the most influential folk singers and songwriters of the 20th century. This collection features many classic performances from a wide variety of regional instrumental and song styles. These diverse styles and songs types from the mountain communities of North Carolina, Virginia, and Tennessee include old-time fiddle and banjo pieces, early bluegrass, and traditional ballads, with a special emphasis on Appalachian vocal traditions. Doc and Merle Watson, Roscoe Holcomb, Clarence Ashley, and Dock Boggs are just a few of the revered roots artists who appear on this stellar compilation. This is an essential album for both old and new fans of American mountain music. Compiled and annotated by Jeff Place.

Customer Reviews

Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways
I love Appalachian Folk Music and this CD included most of the best. It was true blue original recording of this music.

Terrific sound recordings!
Great recordings of a wide variety of songs. Entertaining, great to just listen to, or to learn music from. Nice variety of classic sounds.

Truly Classic!
The spate of worthy compilations riding on the coattails of O Brother, Where Art Thou? continues with Classic Bluegrass From Smithsonian Folkways, 25 tracks of serious bluegrass untarnished by rock, pop or other corrupting influences. Recorded between 1956 and 1992, it includes three numbers from what's purportedly the first bluegrass LP ever, Folkways'American Banjo: Three-Finger And Scruggs Style. Dashing mandolin runs by Earl Taylor (and his Stoney Mountain Boys) and bluegrass patriarch Bill Monroe (with Peter Rowan) open and close this crisp disc while Ralph Stanley, singing with older brother Carter, offers clawhammer banjo picking.

Many of the performers - Red Allen, Doc Watson and Hazel Dickens, for example - grew up with the music. The Harley Allen-Mike Lilly Band (Harley being Red's son) shows how the genre's trademark tight harmonies can turn smooth (in an Osborne Brothers style) rather than sharp, without sacrificing the essence of true bluegrass. The New Lost City Ramblers' The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake as well as The Lilly Brothers and Don Stover's Neath That Cold Grey Tomb Of Stone evince mountain music's darkness, but then a wildfire fiddle breakdown such as David and Billy Ray Johnson's Grey Eagle comes along to show its fun side. It's a well-balanced set of early bluegrass highlights.