Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music CD

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music songs Recorded between 1961 & 1973. Includes liner notes by John Cohen. As documented by the Smithsonian Folkways reissue The High Lonesome Sound, Roscoe Holcomb, like contemporaries Dock Boggs and Bascom Lamar Lunsford, was the real thing, a raw, solitary musician who expressed the inexpressible, a yearning out of time and place, a sense of the wild, the unseen, the unknowable, perhaps even the unspeakable. The title of this second volume of Holcomb's recordings comes from Bob Dylan, who was describing what he heard in Holcomb's music. And he's right, he knew how to get that sound, how to seek and find the mercurial ghost inside whatever instrument he was playing, the banjo, a guitar with a jackknife, or from that graveyard, sorrowful voice of his. His was able to channel the wisdom and tragedy of the ages and allow for both possibility and despair, even in his a cappella numbers. His is the sound of Appalachian midnight, somewhere past bluegrass, folk, and country. These recordings were made not in 1959 like the material on the other volume, but later, between 1961-1973, when Holcomb was touring, though in declining health and spirits. And, while some the material is duplicated on this set, the versions are very different, and, if anything, this material is somehow spookier, deeper in the trenches of both sorrow and resignation. Some of these tunes were recorded in New York City and in concert in Cambridge, MA, and others on Holcomb's front porch in Daisy, KY. The settings hardly matter; this includes his versions of "Little Maggie," "Frankie and Johnny," the knife-guitar take of "Foggy Mountain Top" that is only rivaled by Maybelle Carter's, his 1961 version of Carter Stanley's "Man of Constant Sorrow" (which is the definitive version of the song done a cappella), and his read of "I Ain't Got No Sugar Baby Now" (which rivals Dock Boggs' earlier version). The truth in all of these songs is the way the blues, bluegrass, ancient folk traditions, and Holcomb's uncompromising and truly unusual sense of rhythm and phrasing collide and, rather than cancel each other out, bring one another to life. His blues songs, such as "Milk Cow Blues" and "Sitting on Top of This World," are fraught with edges and trail-offs that unsettle the listener, seeking a kind of completion that could only come from a singer who didn't hold the song as a living, breathing presence that haunts him. The bravado in the latter is offset by the irony that Holcomb's life had been an image in direct opposition to what the braggadocio in its lyrics offers. There is no grain in Holcomb's voice and banjo style; his voice is the grain, the American Grain in all its rough-hewn glory and grace and desolation. It is majestic in its reediness and singular in its power. This is an essential collection for anyone interested in American traditional music -- be it folk, blues, country, or bluegrass -- and is a primer for those who seek to discover what it was that all of those musics sought to express. ~ Thom Jurek Personnel: Roscoe Holcomb (vocals, guitar, banjo, fiddle, harmonica); John Cohen (guitar). Liner Note Author: John Cohen. Recording information: Cambridge, MA (1961-1973); His Living Room, Seattle, WA (1961-1973); Roscoe's Front Porch, Daisy, KY (1961-1973); Sanders Recording Studio, New York, NY (1961-1973); Steinway Hall, New York, NY (1961-1973). Photographer: ...

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music buy CD music Each volume in Yazoo Records' Times Ain't Like They Used to Be series (this one is the fifth installment) collects 1920s and '30s commercial 78s, and taken together they project a vital and energetic early-20th century rural America of jug and string bands, country blues players, fiddlers, banjoists, sacred singers, and musical roustabouts of every conceivable rustic style imaginable. This process makes each volume remarkably similar even as the particular artists and songs included on each may be tremendously different. Vol. 5 includes such gems as Sam McGee's bright "Railroad Blues," Skip James' classic and striking "Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues," a breakneck version of "Black-Eyed Susie" by string band great J.P. Nestor, and a unusually hopeful blues treatment of "Some Happy Day" from Charley Patton. Since everything is drawn from exceedingly rare 78s, many of which were played to death by their original owners, there is a fair amount of ambient needle noise on several of these tracks, but that only adds to the overall feel of history actually coming alive that is inherent to these kinds of compilations. Well selected, varied, and artfully sequenced, Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 5 is yet another welcome addition to a hopefully never-ending series. ~ Steve Leggett Early American Rural Music From The 1920s & 1930s Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins. Liner Note Author: Richard Nevins.

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music album for sale Each volume in Yazoo Records' Times Ain't Like They Used to Be series (this one is the eighth installment) collects 1920s and '30s commercial 78s that, taken together, project a vital and energetic rural, early 20th century America of jug and string bands, country blues players, fiddlers, banjoists, sacred singers, and musical roustabouts of every conceivable rustic style imaginable. This process makes each volume remarkably similar even as the particular artists and songs included on each may be tremendously different. Volume 8 is a little heavier on the blues side of things and includes such rare gems as Dock Boggs' banjo blues set piece "Sugar Baby," Skip James' haunting rendering of "4 O'Clock Blues" (made especially precious by sounding like it was recorded in a hail storm), Frank Hutchison's sleek and timeless "The Train That Carried My Girl from Town," and Francis Jenkins' ancient sounding fiddle ballad, "Roving Cowboy," which sounds a bit like an inland sea shanty. Since everything is drawn from exceedingly rare 78s, many of which were played to death by their original owners, there is a fair amount of ambient needle noise on most of these tracks, but that only adds to the overall feel of history actually coming alive that is inherent to these kinds of compilations. Well selected, varied, and artfully sequenced, Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 8 is a welcome addition to a hopefully never-ending series. ~ Steve Leggett Liner Note Authors: Don Kent; Richard Nevins. Illustrator: Robert Crumb. Personnel: Ed Bell, Tommy Johnson, Bo Weavil Jackson (vocals, guitar); David Earl Miller (vocals); Ira Stripling (guitar); King Solomon Hill (slide guitar); Dennis McGee, Ernest Fruge (fiddle); Henry Bogan (cello); Ollis Martin (harmonica). Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins. Award Winner

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music CD music Full title: Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music Classic Recordings Of The 1920's and 30's: Volume 4. Personnel: Skip James, Asa Martin (vocals, guitar); Howard Dixon (vocals, steel guitar); Fiddlin' John Carson (vocals, fiddle); Dorsey M. Dixon, Ernest V. Stoneman, James Cole, William Harris (vocals); Ira Stripling, Pink Anderson, Charley Jordan (guitar); Cliff Carlisle, Jimmie Tarlton (slide guitar); Clark Kessinger, Charlie Stripling, Leonard Rutherford (fiddle); Punch Miller (trumpet). Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins. Liner Note Authors: Charles K. Wolfe; Don Kent; Richard Nevins. Arranger: Skip James.

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music buy CD music Each volume in Yazoo Records' Times Ain't Like They Used to Be series (this one is the seventh installment) collects 1920s and '30s commercial 78s, and taken together they project a vital and energetic rural, early 20th century America of jug and string bands, country blues players, fiddlers, banjoists, sacred singers, and musical roustabouts of every conceivable rustic style imaginable. This process makes each volume remarkably similar even as the particular artists and songs included on each may be tremendously different. Volume 7 includes such rare gems as Jimmie Tarlton's impressive "Dixie Mail," Skip James' haunting "Hard Luck Child," an unhinged fiddle and banjo duet by Ben Jarrell and Francis Jenkins on "Jack of Diamonds" and the first part of Son House's classic two-part 78 rpm recording of "Dry Spell Blues." Since everything is drawn from exceedingly rare 78s, many of which were played to death by their original owners, there is a fair amount of ambient needle noise on most of these tracks, but that only adds to the overall feel of history actually coming alive that is inherent to these kinds of compilations. Well selected, varied, and artfully sequenced, Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 7 is a welcome addition to a hopefully never-ending series. ~ Steve Leggett Award Winner

Times Ain't Like They Used to Be, Vol. 6: Early American Rural Music songs Classic Recordings Of The 1920's Full title: Times Ain't Like They Used To Be: Early American Rural Music Classic Recordings Of The 1920's and 30's: Volume 3. Audio Remasterer: Richard Nevins.