Nine Pound Hammer - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers 3. Last Gold
Ground Hog - Jack Reedy & His Walker Mountain String Band
My Name Is Ticklish Reuben - Smyth County Ramblers
Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers
Nobody's Darling - North Carolina Ridge Runners
Short Life Of Trouble - Grayson & Whitter
Don't Get Trouble In Your Mind - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers
Cluck Old Hen - The Hill Billies
Likes Likker Better Than Me
Way Down in Alabama
The Fatal Courtship
I've Always Been A Rambler - Grayson & Whitter
I've Got No Honey Babe Now - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers
Governor Al Smith For President - Carolina Night Hawks
Chinese Breakdown - Jack Reedy & His Walker Mountain String Band
Be Kind To A Man When He's Down - North Carolina Ridge Runners
Old Aunt Betsy - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers
Chased Old Satan Through The Door - Woodie Brothers
Handsome Molly - Grayson & Whitter
Sally Ann - Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers
Reissues 22 songs and tunes recorded between 1927-1931 by stringbands from Ashe County, North Carolina, a mountainous area in the northwest corner of the state once known as "The Lost Provinces" because of its extreme isol... more »ation. The music includes traditional fiddle tunes, folk songs, Anglo-Irish ballads, comic songs, topical numbers, and original compositions, all from a time period often called the "golden era" of old-time string music. The anthology brings together for the first time the complete recordings of Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, the Carolina Night Hawks, the North Carolina Ridge Runners, and many more. All tracks on the CD have been carefully remastered from original 78rpm records. A 28-page booklet presents a detailed history of the music based on interviews with original band members. Also included is a complete discography and numerous vintage photographs, many never before published. Music From The Lost Provinces is the premier release! from Old Hat Records, a label devoted to quality reissues coupled with thorough historical research.« less
Reissues 22 songs and tunes recorded between 1927-1931 by stringbands from Ashe County, North Carolina, a mountainous area in the northwest corner of the state once known as "The Lost Provinces" because of its extreme isolation. The music includes traditional fiddle tunes, folk songs, Anglo-Irish ballads, comic songs, topical numbers, and original compositions, all from a time period often called the "golden era" of old-time string music. The anthology brings together for the first time the complete recordings of Frank Blevins & His Tar Heel Rattlers, the Carolina Night Hawks, the North Carolina Ridge Runners, and many more. All tracks on the CD have been carefully remastered from original 78rpm records. A 28-page booklet presents a detailed history of the music based on interviews with original band members. Also included is a complete discography and numerous vintage photographs, many never before published. Music From The Lost Provinces is the premier release! from Old Hat Records, a label devoted to quality reissues coupled with thorough historical research.
CD Reviews
Astonishing
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | 05/22/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Sure, this CD probably isn't for everyone. If you like your music produced in such a way so that all the life, soul, and passion is drowned out in a slick, radio friendly sound, that makes it sound like everything else on the radio you need to steer very clear of this one. But if you like your music real, exciting, and full of life, snatch this one up pronto.Far from being mere "musicology" (though given its age alone, I suppose, on one level it can exist as that) this is a reminder that often times the best music comes from seemingly "unlikely" places. Unlikely that is, for those who assume that only contemporary pop stars can offer talent. One listen to the rough, no holes barred, fiddling, the shaggy but captivating vocals will prove that the further away music gets from the current corporate run music industry, the more exciting it becomes. Fans of "O Brother" will want to check this one out and see where it came from."
Super-cool, super rare old-timey music
Joe Sixpack -- Slipcue.com | ...in Middle America | 07/26/2002
(5 out of 5 stars)
"It's pretty amazing, this late in the folkloric/historic reissues game, to find a whole album's worth of "undiscovered" old-timey music that is of such a high caliber. Old Hat Records, a tiny North Carolina indie label, packs its discs with some of the best music in the style that you're ever likely to hear. (You might also want to check out the "Violin, Sing For Me" and "Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow" CDs...) This disc concentrates its attention geographically, collecting old 78s from artists out of Ashe County, NC, one of those backwoods areas unusually rich in hillbilly talent. The best known of these artists was the team of Grayson & Whitter (who were favorites of Ralph Stanley), but there are plenty of other great Ashe County artists on here, with fab names like The Woodies, The Carolina Night Hawks and (my favorite) Ephraim Woodie & The Henpecked Husbands. In addition to great sound quality and great material, both discs are also quite handsomely packaged; the insert booklets include some really cool archival photos, as well as extensive liner notes of the sort that have been woefully absent on similar recent reissue efforts."
Great artists, great songs, great album
Frank Allen Blissett III | 08/24/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of the best old-time collections I've found. The featured instrument on most of the tracks is the fiddle (of which you'll hear many different "voices"), which is arranged with guitar, banjo and voice. The remastering was done quite well and the tracks HAVE been cleaned up. Purists need not worry though, as they managed to avoid that "watery" sound some of the worst collections out there have, and also managed to avoid flattness in the sound while keeping with the original mono feel. As for the liner notes, they're about as good as you can get. Three pages are devoted to discographical information, followed by ninteen pages of biographical and cultural information along with numberous photos."
Exhilirating String Band Music!
Tribe | Toledo, Ohio United States | 07/10/2001
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is one of, if no the best, old-time string band compilation I've ever heard. The fiddling is intense, frenetic....as if the fiddler's life depended on getting that riff down. All of the string bands featured on the compilation are tight, rollicking ensembles, ranging from the stellar Grayson & Whitter to the stellar Frank Blevins performances. One listen to Blevins' version of "Sally Ann" and you're hooked on old-time string bands for life. Includes a well-written set of liner notes describing the geographical and sociological milieu these performers came from.This is Old Hat's first compilation and it is great!"
Threw her Arms around me like Grape Vines 'round a Gum
eurydike | Santa Cruz, CA USA | 11/19/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"This is the Holy Grail of Mountain Fiddle Music!
GB Grayson, the archetype of the Mountain Fiddler, lived near Mountain City and was one of the most influential fiddlers of the '20's, who, with his partner Henry Whitter, toured the coal fields of West Virginia, until Grayson was killed in a freak accident, falling from the running board of a car that he was hitching a ride on, on August 16, 1930.
But Frank Blevins is the real star on this recording. He is a fiddler more seminal than Uncle Pen, his fiddle wrapping you 'round in kudzu vines of primal melody...
Track Listings (21) - Disc #1