Anthology of American Folk Music

Infobox Album |
Name = Anthology of American Folk Music
Type = Compilation album
Artist = Various Artists


Released = 1952
Recorded = 1920s-1932
Genre = Country/Folk
Length =
Label = Folkways
Producer =
Reviews =
* Allmusic Rating|5|5 [http://wc03.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hifixqyjld0e link]
Last album =
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Next album =The "Anthology of American Folk Music" is a 1952 six-album compilation of eighty-four American folk recordings from 1927 to 1932. Harry Smith compiled the collection from his personal collection of 78 rpm records. The collection is famous due to its role as a touchstone for the US folk music revival in the 1950s and 1960s.

Compilation

Although Harry Smith considered himself an abstract-expressionist, with a special interest in film, he had a hobby of collecting old folk and country records. At a time when many people considered these records to be ephemeral, he took them seriously and accumulated a collection of several thousand recordings.

Smith chose records from the period between "1927, when electronic recording made possible accurate music reproduction, and 1932, when the Depression halted folk music sales."

The compilation is divided into three two-album sections: Ballads, Social Music, and Songs. The first two albums consist of ballads. Each song tells a story about a specific event or time. Smith arranged the songs in historical order. Thus, many of the first songs are old English folk ballads, and the latter deal with the hardships of being a farmer in the 1920s. The first album of social music largely consists of music likely performed at social gatherings or dances. Many of the songs are instrumentals. The second album of social music consists of religious and spiritual songs. The final two albums of the original release consist of regular songs. The fourth volume, first released in 2000, consists of songs about working.

Release

Harry Smith created the liner notes himself, and these notes are almost as famous as the music. Smith also edited and directed the design of the Anthology, including an illustration by scientist/alchemist Robert Fludd on the cover. Smith also penned short synopses of the songs in the collection, which were made to resemble newspaper headlines-- for the song "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" by Chubby Parker, Smith notes: "Zoologic Miscegeny Achieved Mouse Frog Nuptuals, Relatives Approve." Smith used a fragmented, collage method that presaged some postmodern artwork. Smith incorporated the music into his own unusual cosmology. Each of the four albums is associated with a color (Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow respectively), and an element (Water, Fire, Air, and Earth). In the 1960s, Irwin Silber replaced Smith's covers with a Ben Shahn photograph of a poor farmer.

The "Anthology" originally appeared on the Folkways label established by Moses Asch. In 1997, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings republished the collection on six CDs. In 2000, Revenant Records released a fourth collection (compiled by Smith) that includes union songs and songs recorded as late as 1940.

Influence

The "Anthology" has had enormous historical influence. Smith's methodology of sequencing tracks, along with his inventive liner notes, called attention to the set, imbuing it with a talismanic aura (the cover image is a monochord drawn by Robert Fludd). This reintroduction of near-forgotten popular styles of rural American music from the selected years to new listeners had impact on American ethnomusicology, and was both directly and indirectly responsible for the aforementioned folk music revival.

The music on the compilation provided direct inspiration to much of the emergent folk music revival movement. The Anthology made widely available music which previously had been largely the preserve of marginal social economic groups. Many people who first heard this music through the Anthology came from very different cultural and economic backgrounds from its original creators and listeners. Many previously obscure songs became standards at hootenannies and folk clubs due to their inclusion on the "Anthology". Some of the musicians represented on the "Anthology" saw their musical careers revived, and made additional recordings and live appearances.

This document is generally thought to have been enormously influential on the folk & blues revival of the '50s and '60s, and brought the works of Blind Lemon Jefferson, Mississippi John Hurt, Dick Justice and many others to the attention of musicians such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, and featured such legendary acts as The Carter Family and Clarence Ashley. The Harry Smith Anthology, as some call it, was the bible of folk music during the late 1950s and early 1960s Greenwich Village folk scene. As stated in the liner notes to the 1997 reissue, the late musician Dave van Ronk had earlier commented that "we all knew every word of every song on it, including the ones we hated."

Track listing

Ballads

#"Henry Lee" — Dick Justice
#"Fatal Flower Garden" — Nelstone's Hawaiians
#"The House Carpenter" — Clarence Ashley
#"Drunkard's Special" — Coley Jones
#"Old Lady and the Devil" — Bill & Belle Reed
#"The Butcher's Boy" — Buell Kazee
#"The Waggoner's Lad" — Buell Kazee
#"King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" — "Chubby" Parker
#"Old Shoes And Leggins" — Uncle Eck Dunford
#"Willie Moore" — Burnett and Rutherford
#"A Lazy Farmer Boy" — Buster Carter and Preston Young
#"Peg and Awl" — The Carolina Tar Heels
#"Ommie Wise" — G.B. Grayson
#"My Name Is John Johanna" — Kelly Harrell
#"Bandit Cole Younger" — Edward L. Crain
#"Charles Guiteau" — Kelly Harrell
#"John Hardy Was A Desperate Little Man" — The Carter Family
#"Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand" — Wiliamson Brothers and Curry
#"Stackalee" — Frank Hutchison
#"White House Blues" — Charlie Poole w/ North Carolina Ramblers
#"Frankie" — Mississippi John Hurt
#"When That Great Ship Went Down " — William & Versey Smith
#"Engine 143" — The Carter Family
#"Kassie Jones" — Furry Lewis
#"Down On Penny's Farm" — The Bently Boys
#"Mississippi Boweavil Blues" — The Masked Marvel
#"Got the Farm Land Blues" — The Carolina Tar Heels

ocial music

#"Sail Away Lady" — "Uncle Bunt" Stephens
#"The Wild Wagoner" — Jilson Setters
#"Wake Up Jacob" — Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers
#"La Danseuse" — Delma Lachney and Blind Uncle Gaspard
#"Georgia Stomp" — Andrew & Jim Baxter
#"Brilliancy Medley" — Eck Robertson and Family
#"Indian War Whoop" — Hoyt Mingand his Pep-Steppers
#"Old Country Stomp" — Henry Thomas
#"Old Dog Blue" — Jim Jackson
#"Saut Crapaud" — Columbus Fruge
#"Acadian One Step" — Joseph Falcon
#"Home Sweet Home" — The Breaux Freres (Clifford Breaux, Ophy Breaux, Amedee Breaux)
#"Newport Blues" — Cincinnati Jug Band
#"Moonshiner's Dance Part One" — Frank Cloutier and the Victoria Cafe Orchestra
#"Must Be Born Again" — Rev. J. M. Gates
#"Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting" — Rev. J. M. Gates
#"Rocky Road" — Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
#"Present Joys" — Alabama Sacred Harp Singers
#"This Song of Love" — Middle Georgia Singing Convention
#"Judgement" — Sister Mary Nelson
#"He Got Better Things For You" — Memphis Sanctified Singers
#"Since I Laid My Burden Down" — Elders McIntorsh and Elder Edwards' Sanctified Singers
#"John The Baptist" — Moses Mason
#"Dry Bones" — Bascom Lamar Lunsford
#"John the Revelator (song)" — Blind Willie Johnson
#"Little Moses" — The Carter Family
#"Shine On Me" — Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Singers
#"Fifty Miles of Elbow Room" — Rev. F.W. McGee
#"I'm In the Battle Field for My Lord" — Rev. D.C. Rice and His Sanctified Congregation

ongs

#"The Coo Coo Bird — Clarence Ashley
#"East Virginia" — Buell Kazee
#"Minglewood Blues" — Cannon's Jug Stompers
#"I Woke Up One Morning In May" — Didier Hebert
#"James Alley Blues" — Richard "Rabbit" Brown
#"Sugar Baby" — Dock Boggs
#"I Wish I Was a Mole In the Ground" — Bascom Lamar Lunsford
#"Mountaineer's Courtship" — Ernest Stoneman and Hattie Stoneman
#"The Spanish Merchant's Daughter" — The Stoneman Family
#"Bob Lee Junior Blues" — The Memphis Jug Band
#"Single Girl, Married Girl" — The Carter Family
#"Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme" — Cleoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon
#"Rabbit Foot Blues" — Blind Lemon Jefferson
#"Expressman Blues" — Sleepy John Estes and Yank Rachell
#"Poor Boy Blues" — Ramblin' Thomas
#"Feather Bed" — Cannon's Jug Stompers
#"Country Blues" — Dock Boggs
#"99 Year Blues" — Julius Daniels
#"Prison Cell Blues" — Blind Lemon Jefferson
#"See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" — Blind Lemon Jefferson
#"C'est Si Triste Sans Lui" — Cleoma Breaux and Ophy Breaux w/ Joseph Falcon
#"Way Down The Old Plank Road" — Uncle Dave Macon
#"Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line" — Uncle Dave Macon
#"Spike Driver Blues" — Mississippi John Hurt
#"K.C. Moan" — The Memphis Jug Band
#"Train On The Island" — J.P. Nestor
#"The Lone Star Trail" — Ken Maynard
#"Fishing Blues" — Henry Thomas

Labor songs

#"Memphis Shakedown" — Memphis Jug Band — 3:04
#"Dog and Gun [Old English Ballad] " — Bradley Kincaid — 3:25
#"Black Jack David" — Carter Family — 2:41
#"Down on the Banks of the Ohio" — Blue Sky Boys — 3:20
#"Adieu False Heart" — Arthur Smith Trio — 2:51
#"John Henry Was a Little Boy" — J.E. Mainer Mountaineers — 3:13
#"Nine Pound Hammer" — Monroe Brothers — 2:14
#"Southern Casey Jones" — Jesse James — 2:56
#"Cold Iron Bed" — Jack Kelly & His South Memphis Jug Band — 3:07
#"Packin' Trunk Blues" — Leadbelly — 2:57
#"Baby, Please Don't Go" — Joe Williams & Washboard Blues Singers — 3:25
#"Last Fair Deal Gone Down" — Robert Johnson — 2:42
#"Parchman Farm Blues" — Bukka White — 2:40
#"Mean Old World" — Heavenly Gospel Singers — 2:48
#"Hello Stranger" — Carter Family — 2:46
#"Stand by Me" — Sister Clara Hudmon — 3:13
#"West Virginia Gals" — Al Hopkins & Bucklebusters — 3:05
#"How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" — Blind Alfred Reed — 3:16
#"Wreck of the Tennessee Gravy Train" — Uncle Dave Macon — 3:11
#"Governor Al Smith" — Uncle Dave Macon — 3:08
#"Milk Cow Blues" — Sleepy John Estes — 3:05
#"No Depression in Heaven" — Carter Family — 2:57
#"I'll Be Rested (When the Roll Is Called)" — Roosevelt Graves — 2:32
#"He's in the Ring (Doing the Same Old Thing)" — Memphis Minnie — 2:59
#"The Cockeyed World" — Minnie Wallace — 3:02
#"Barbecue Bust" — Mississippi Jook Band — 2:41
#"Dans le Grand Bois (In the Forest)" — Hackberry Ramblers — 2:35
#"Aces' Breakdown" — Four Aces — 2:54

External links

* [http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=2426 "Anthology" page on Smithsonian Folkways website]

Personnel

*Curry: Performer
*Alabama Sacred Harp Singers: Vocals, Performer
*Moses Asch: Liner Notes, Transfers
*Clarence Ashley: Banjo, Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Elijah Avery: Guitar
*Peter Bartok: Transfers
*Andrew & Jim Baxter: Performer
*Andrew Baxter: Fiddle, Performer
*The Bently Boys: Performer
*Tewee Blackman: Guitar, Vocals
*Dock Boggs: Banjo, Vocals
*The Breaux Fréres: Performer
*Cleoma Breaux: Performer
*Clifford Breaux: Guitar, Vocals
*Ophy Breaux: Fiddle, Vocals, Performer
*Richard Rabbit Brown: Performer
*Richard Burnett: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Charlie Burse: Guitar
*Joe Bussard: Transfers
*Cannon's Jug Stompers: Performer
*Gus Cannon: Banjo, Vocals, Jug
*The Carolina Tar Heels: Performer
*The Carter Family: Performer
*A.P. Carter: Vocals
*Buster Carter: Performer
*Sara Carter: Autoharp, Vocals
*Cincinnati Jug Band: Performer
*Frank Cloutier: Performer
*Philip Coady: Producer
*Pat Conte: Transfers
*Edward L. Crain: Performer
*Julius Daniels: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Uncle Eck Dunford: Fiddle, Vocals, Performer
*Norman Edmonds: Fiddle
*The Elders McIntorsh and Edwards' Sanctified Singers: Bass, Vocals
*Evelyn Esaki: Art Direction
*Sleepy John Estes: Guitar, Performer
*John Fahey: Liner Notes
*Cleoma Breaux Falcon: Guitar, Vocals
*Joseph Falcon: Performer
*Garley Foster: Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
*Columbus Frugé: Performer
*Blind Uncle Gaspard: Performer
*Reverend J.M. Gates: Performer
*David Glasser: Mastering, Audio Restoration
*G.B. Grayson: Fiddle, Vocals, Performer
*Kelly Harrell: Vocals, Performer
*Roy Harvey: Guitar
*Didier Hébert: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Amy Horowitz: Executive Producer, Reissue Producer
*Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers: Fiddle
*Mississippi John Hurt: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Frank Hutchison: Performer
*Jim Jackson: Guitar, Vocals
*Blind Lemon Jefferson: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Angeline Johnson: Vocals
*Bessie Johnson: Tambourine, Vocals
*Blind Willie Johnson: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Coley Jones: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Jab Jones: Piano, Jug
*Dick Justice: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Buell Kazee: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Luis Kemnitzer: Liner Notes
*Delma Lachney: Fiddle, Performer
*Furry Lewis: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Noah Lewis: Harmonica
*Kip Lornell: Liner Notes
*Bascom Lamar Lunsford: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Uncle Dave Macon: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Michael Maloney: Producer, Production Coordination
*Greil Marcus: Liner Notes
*Masked Marvels: Performer
*Rev. Moses Mason: Performer
*Ken Maynard: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Rev. F.W. McGee: Performer
*Sam McGee: Guitar
*Memphis Jug Band: Performer
*Memphis Sanctified Singers: Performer
*Middle Georgia Singing Convention: Performer
*Hoyt Ming and His Pep Steppers: Performer
*Mary Monseur: Producer, Production Coordination
*Steve Moreland: Producer
*Clarence Nelson: Vocals
*Rev. Sister Mary M. Nelson: Performer
*Nelstone's Hawaiians: Performer
*J.P. Nestor: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*North Carolina Ramblers: Performer
*Jon Pankake: Liner Notes
*Chubby Parker: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Charley Patton: Guitar, Vocals
*Ernest Phipps: Vocals
*Charlie Pilzer: Mastering, Audio Restoration, Transfers
*Chuck Pirtle: Liner Notes
*Jeff Place: Liner Notes, Reissue Producer, Transfers, Annotation
*Charlie Poole: Banjo, Vocals, Performer
*Yank Rachell: Mandolin, Vocals
*Ben Ramey: Kazoo, Vocals
*Bill Reed: Guitar, Vocals, Performer
*Bill & Belle Reed: Performer
*Pete Reiniger: Mastering, Transfers, Compilation Producer
*Rev. D.C. Rice & His Sanctified Congregation: Performer
*Rev. D.C. Rice: Vocals
*Eck Robertson: Performer
*Posey Rorer: Fiddle
*Neil V. Rosenberg: Liner Notes
*Leonard Rutherford: Fiddle, Performer
*Luc Santé: Liner Notes
*Peter Seitel: Editing
*Jilson Setters: Performer
*Will Shade: Guitar, Harmonica, Vocals
*Harry Smith: Producer, Editorial
*Stephanie Smith: Research
*Versey Smith: Tambourine, Vocals, Performer
*William Smith: Performer
*Peter Stampfel: Liner Notes
*Alfred Steagall: Guitar
*Uncle Bunt Stephens: Performer
*Vol Stevens: Banjo, Mandolin
*Alan Stoker: Transfers
*Ernest V. Stoneman: Harmonica, Performer
*Hattie Stoneman: Performer
*The Stonemans: Performer
*Scott Stowell: Art Direction, Design
*Sally Sumler: Vocals
*Henry Thomas: Guitar, Vocals, Performer, Quills
*Ramblin' Thomas: Vocals, Performer, Bottleneck Guitar
*Ashley Thompson: Guitar, Vocals
*James Touchstone: Guitar, Vocals
*Jack Towers: Transfers
*Victoria Cafe Orchestra: Performer
*Eric Von Schmidt: Liner Notes
*Will Weldon: Guitar
*The Williamson Brothers: Performer
*Arnold Williamson: Fiddle, Vocals
*Preston Young: Guitar, Vocals, Performer

Recordings

Because of their potential public domain status, some of these recordings are available on the Web:
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Butcher&collection=opensource_audio The Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy)] by Buell Kazee
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Bones&collection=opensource_audio Dry Bones] by Bascom Lamar Lunsford
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Mole&collection=opensource_audio I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground] by Bascom Lamar Lunsford
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Whitehouse&collection=opensource_audio White House Blues] by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Coo&collection=opensource_audio The Coo Coo Bird] by Clarence Ashley
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Carpenter&collection=opensource_audio The House Carpenter] by Clarence Ashley
* [http://www.archive.org/audio/audio-details-db.php?collectionid=Countryblues&collection=opensource_audio Country Blues] by Dock Boggs

Tributes

* [http://www.hinah.com/catalog/?l=en&t=g&ref=hinahgift013 A tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music By Harry Smith] with covers from Charlie Parr, Matt Bauer, Half Asleep, oRSo, Anamude, Shelley Short, H-Burns, Grumpy Bear, ...