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Roots Music: An American JourneyVarious Artists11661-0501-2 Rounder Record
Corp. by Matt Fink (fink@clarion-net.com) |
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Roots Music: An American JourneyVarious Artists11661-0501-2 Rounder Record
Corp. by Matt Fink (fink@clarion-net.com) |
Now that it has been just about 50 years since Harry Smith issued his essential Anthology of American Folk Music, it's a good time to step back and evaluate the evolution of traditional folk forms over that period. Roots Music, a sprawling four-disc set that captures many of the great traditional performers that Rounder has recorded over the past 30 years.
In all honesty, the Rounder folks do an overwhelmingly wonderful job with that task. Starting out with the familiar strains of old-timey Appalachian folk, with Norman Blake's rendition of "Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase" and Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard's "Banjo Picking Girl," the set jumps off to a wonderful start and continues on a similar path, winding through fiddle tunes (Joe Thompson), bluegrass (Dry Branch Fire Squad), vocal gospel (The Persuasions), folk revival (Dave Van Ronk), country-blues (Etta Baker), electric blues (Mississippi Fred McDowell), jovial brass band music (The Rebirth Brass Band) and cowboy tunes (Glenn Ohrlin). At times, the constant genre jumps may become a little disorienting, but for the fan of traditional American music, it's a delirium that is wholly tolerable.
The second disc journeys a little farther South to dig up songs and styles outside of the English-speaking folk tradition. As such, we're treated to the Cajun mastery of the Balfa Brothers, the brilliance of young zydeco accordion protégé Chris Ardoin, and the conjunto tunes of Los Cachorros. Strangely, after leaving the Cajun/Spanish influenced styles, we are treated with modern updates of the bluegrass, blues, and jazz heard earlier. How that fits into the flow of music presented, I'm not sure, but with so many genres represented, I suppose a certain amount of chronological or geographical order is bound to be lost.
The jaunt through bluegrass continues on disc three, displaying the modern variants popularized by Alison Krauss & Union Station, Bela Fleck and Rhonda Vincent. Ray Wylie Hubbard is presented as a proto-typical Texas singer-songwriter, the Tarbox Ramblers as a modern electric stringband, and the Holmes Brothers as the most deeply soulful of modern blues bands. Again, Cajun sounds are revisited with the indispensable Buckwheat Zydeco, Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, and the rocking Beausoleil. Time and again, it's hard to find any fault with their selections.
The fourth disc in the set sums up the recent past of folk-based music, while throwing a grab bag of musical styles. From the blues of Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown to the roaring eclecticism of the Klezmer Conservatory Band, Rounder has taken great care to leave no stylistic high mark left unaccounted for. Tish Hinojosa, Joe Ely, and Jimmie Dale Gilmore provide the standard-bearers of modern singer-songwriter fare, with relative newcomers like Slaid Cleaves, Sarah Harmer, and Bill Morrissey picking up the rest. However depressing modern music may seem, it's nice to have talents such as these presented in such a context as to show that there may be hope.
With these tracks being culled from the vast catalogue of Rounder recordings, the hard-core completist is unlikely to find anything here that is particularly rare. Still, there is no arguing with the representative selections they've chosen, and the incredible overview presented should be enough for anyone but the most studied of American music collectors. Even then, to assemble a cohesive and concise overview such as this would be more than a little daunting. As so many genres are covered, it may take years of listens to become fully acquainted with the different variations between the related forms - a task that Roots Music ensures will be altogether enjoyable for the listener.
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Edited by: David N. Pyles
(dnpyles@acousticmusic.com)
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