Lives lived in parallel, with alternative end points, are a common theme in art and culture: the path not followed, the train not taken. This record, and particularly its impeccably-sourced historical essay by Barry Lee Pearson, offers a parallel interpretation of not only a particular region’s music but also its social and racial relationships.
Just say the word “Appalachia” and a specific mental soundtrack will start playing: fiddles, mandolins, lap steel guitars, yodelled lyrics. Pearson offers a convincing explanation for this: when record company Victor set up field recordings in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1927 they found not just Jimmie Rodgers but also The Carter Family, and this “Big Bang of country music” was enough to define the sound.
But the Appalachian Mountains run from Alabama all the way to Vermont, and a variety of field recordings captured many black blues singers from the region. The 21 tracks on this CD aim to redress the historical understanding, and do so with material that dates from the 40s to the 70s, from artists such as Pink Anderson (the “Pink” of Pink Floyd), Roscoe Holcomb, Sticks McGee and Etta Baker. Think you know how Don’t Let Your Deal Go Down should be played? Listen to Bill “Colonel” Williams and think again.
