Various Artists - American Roots: A History of American Folk Music

Title: American Roots: A History of American Folk Music Artist: Various Artists Release Date: 4/25/2000 Re-Released On: 11/7/2000 Label: Disky, Best Music International Duration: 285:40 Album Type(s): Various artists collection, Greatest Hits UPCs: 724382485728, 793515285726, 632427573029, 0724382485728 Genre: Country Styles: Traditional Bluegrass, Old-Timey, Traditional Country, Cowboy, Traditional Folk, Political Folk, Country Blues, Bluegrass, Folksongs, Field Recordings, Appalachian, North American Traditions Total Copies: 0 Members Wishing: 4 Number of Discs/SwapaCD Credits: 4

1. Peach Pickin' Time in Georgia :: Jimmie Rodgers
2. Sail Away Ladies :: Uncle Dave Macon
3. Wildwood Flower :: Carter Family
4. Trail to Mexico :: The Blue Sky Boys
5. The Runaway Train :: Vernon Dalhart
6. When the Saints Go Marching In :: Fiddlin' John Carson, Moonshine Kate
7. All Night Long :: Earl Johnson's Clodhoppers
8. Red Wing :: Riley Puckett
9. I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes :: Carter Family
10. Goin' to the Barn Dance Tonight :: Carl Robinson & His Pioneers
11. Go Long Mule :: Uncle Dave Macon
12. Frankie and Johnny :: Jimmie Rodgers
13. Three Men Went a Huntin' :: Byrd Moore & His Hot Shots
14. My Man's a Jolly Railroad Man :: Moonshine Kate
15. Waiting for a Train :: Jimmie Rodgers
16. Georgia's Three-Dollar Tag :: Fiddlin' John Carson
17. Jamestown Exhibition :: Bayless Rose
18. Lay Down Baby, Take Your Rest :: The Carolina Tar Heels
19. Backwater Blues :: Uncle Dave Macon
20. Wreck of the Old '97 :: Vernon Dalhart
21. The Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim :: Marc Williams
22. Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow :: Carter Family
23. In the Hills of Tennessee :: Jimmie Rodgers
24. Ida Red :: The Blue Sky Boys, Curley Parker
25. Alto Waltz :: Darby, Darby & Tarlton, Tarlton Walker

1. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man :: Carter Family
2. Gambling Bar Room Blues :: Jimmie Rodgers
3. Little Bessie :: Alabama Barnstormers
4. Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms :: Alabama Barnstormers, Buster Carter, Preston Young
5. I'm Goin' Away in the Morn :: Uncle Dave Macon
6. Papa's Billy Goat :: Fiddlin' John Carson
7. Hackberry Trot :: Hackberry Ramblers
8. Abbeville Breakdown :: Alley Boys of Abbeville
9. Tiger Rag Blues :: The Breaux Fréres
10. Louisiana Mazurka :: The Breaux Fréres
11. Step It Fast :: Amédé Breaux
12. High Steppin' Mama Blues :: Gene Autry
13. T for Texas (Blue Yodel No. 1) :: Jimmie Rodgers
14. Anchored in Love :: Carter Family
15. Jimmie Rodgers Visits the Carter Family :: Carter Family
16. Hard for to Love :: Carter Family
17. The Yellow Rose of Texas :: Gene Autry, Jimmy Long, Hayes Shepherd
18. The Brave Engineer :: The Carver Boys
19. Taxes on the Farmer Feeds Them All :: Fiddlin' John Carson, The Carver Boys, Moonshine Kate
20. Hold the Woodpile Down :: Uncle Dave Macon
21. Man of Constant Sorrow :: Emry Arthur
22. Rambling Boy :: Jimmie Rodgers
23. My Little Lady :: Jimmie Rodgers
24. Two Italians...Red Bird :: Monroe Gevedon and Family

1. Orange Blossom Special :: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
2. Brown's Ferry Blues :: The Delmore Brothers
3. Row Us over the Tide :: The Blue Sky Boys
4. Big Rock Candy Mountain :: Burl Ives
5. Oklahoma Hills :: Jack Guthrie
6. Nine Pound Hammer :: Merle Travis
7. Cannonball Rag :: Merle Travis
8. Red River Valley :: Gene Autry
9. Mule Skinner Blues :: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
10. Great Speckled Bird :: Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys
11. Take It to the Captain :: The Delmore Brothers
12. Garden in the Sky :: The Blue Sky Boys
13. Ain't That a Cryin' Shame :: Merle Travis
14. Milk Cow Blues :: Johnnie Lee Wills
15. When My Blue Moon Turns Gold Agian :: The Blue Sky Boys, Gene Sullivan, Wiley Walker
16. Footprints in the Snow :: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
17. You Can't Do Wrong and Get By :: The Delmore Brothers
18. Why Should It End This Way? :: The Blue Sky Boys
19. Cotton-Eyed Joe :: Tommy Duncan, Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys, Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
20. Night Train to Memphis :: Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys
21. You Are My Sunshine :: Rice Brothers
22. Rounder's Blues :: The Delmore Brothers
23. Rocky Road Blues :: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys
24. Wabash Cannonball :: Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys
25. It Makes No Difference Now :: Gene Autry
26. Pig Meat Strut :: Merle Travis
27. No Letter in the Mail :: Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys

1. This Land Is Your Land :: Woody Guthrie
2. House of the Rising Sun :: Woody Guthrie
3. Grand Coulee Dam :: Woody Guthrie
4. John Henry :: Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston
5. All I Want :: Almanac Singers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger
6. Talking Union :: Pete Seeger
7. Teeroo Teeroo :: Pete Seeger
8. I Know an Old Lady :: Burl Ives
9. Columbus Stockade :: Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Pete Seeger
10. The Sinking of the Reuben James :: Almanac Singers, Burl Ives, Pete Seeger
11. Boll Weevil Blues :: Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Woody Guthrie & Cisco Houston
12. Away Rio :: Almanac Singers, Pete Hawes
13. The Coast of High Barbary :: Almanac Singers, Pete Hawes, Pete Seeger
14. Jackhammer Blues :: Almanac Singers, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry
15. Liza Jane :: Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Sonny Terry
16. Pastures of Plenty :: Woody Guthrie
17. Cumberland Gap :: Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Sonny Terry
18. Casey Jones :: Pete Seeger
19. Cumberland Mountain Bear Chase :: Pete Seeger
20. So Long (It's Been Good to Know Yuh) :: Woody Guthrie
21. Union Maid :: Almanac Singers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger
22. Hard, Ain't It Hard :: Almanac Singers, Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston
23. Erie Canal :: Pete Seeger
24. Pretty Boy Floyd :: Woody Guthrie
25. State of Arkansas :: Lee Hays
26. Worried Man Blues :: Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston, Merle Travis
27. Deliver the Goods :: Almanac Singers, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger
28. Do-Re-Mi :: Woody Guthrie

Year Type Label Catalog # 2000 CD Disky 24857 2000 CD Best Music International 24857 1999 CD Disky 824857

American Roots

Dutch discount reissue label Disky's four-CD box set American Roots: A History of American Folk Music is an ambitious undertaking, at least as far as sheer length is concerned. In other respects, it can be considered skimpy: the packaging is negligible; there are no annotations beyond song titles, artist and songwriter credits, and copyright dates; and the selections, probably mastered from records, often have a primitive sound quality. But the compilation still manages to be an exhaustive collection of vital American acoustic music. Three of the four discs consist of music that today would be referred to as "country," though in its day it was called "hillbilly," and for a period in the 1940s actually was known as folk music. Running from 1927 to 1948, the roughly chronological selections trace some of its earliest recorded manifestations to the beginnings of the modern country music industry. The major early names in country music are extensively represented, with many well-known songs included. Country music is not generally thought of in the same category as folk music in America, if only for political reasons. It may have taken a Dutch compilation to point out the musical similarities by devoting CD four to the urban folk singers of the 1940s (Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger), who borrowed many of their tunes from hillbilly predecessors. After listening to the earlier discs, the concordances are inescapable; you can tell that the city-based folkies deliberately based their approach on rural forebears who wouldn't have thought much of their political views. It seems that, while American record labels continue to assert copyright claims on this material domestically, Europeans are free to consider anything more than 50 years old as in the public domain. But that doesn't explain why American Roots is being readily imported into the U.S., where it was sold for less than $30 by one mail-order firm beginning in 2000. At that price, it's a remarkable bargain, making available a wealth of vintage country and folk material that is difficult to come by in any form, much less gathered into one box set. On that basis, American Roots can be highly recommended. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide

Name Credits Alabama Barnstormers Performer Alley Boys of Abbeville Performer Almanac Singers Performer Amédé Breaux Performer Bayless Rose Performer Bill Monroe & His Bluegrass Boys Performer Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys Performer Burl Ives Performer Buster Carter Performer Byrd Moore & His Hot Shots Performer Carl Robinson & His Pioneers Performer Carter Family Performer Cisco Houston Performer Curley Parker Performer Darby Performer Emry Arthur Performer Fiddlin' John Carson Performer Gene Autry Performer Gene Sullivan Performer Hackberry Ramblers Performer Jack Guthrie Performer Jimmie Rodgers Performer Jimmy Long Performer Johnnie Lee Wills Performer Lee Hays Performer Marc Williams Performer Merle Travis Performer Monroe Gevedon and Family Performer Moonshine Kate Performer Pete Hawes Performer Pete Seeger Performer Preston Young Performer Rice Brothers Performer Riley Puckett Performer Roy Acuff & His Smokey Mountain Boys Performer Sonny Terry Performer Tarlton Walker Performer The Blue Sky Boys Performer The Breaux Fréres Performer The Carver Boys Performer The Delmore Brothers Performer Tommy Duncan Performer Tony Watts Compilation Uncle Dave Macon Performer Vernon Dalhart Performer Wiley Walker Performer Woody Guthrie Performer