Harry Smith’s three-volume Anthology Of American Folk Music on Folkways in 1952 kickstarted the folk boom and legitimised the passion of early record collectors combing the country for vanishing 78s. Smith planned a fourth volume but argued with Folkways before his tapes went on a convoluted journey. His friend Rani Singh started the Harry Smith Archive after his death in 1991 and brought them to John Fahey’s Revenant who, in 2000, released the two CDs with a beautiful 94- page book containing enlightening essays (including one by Fahey himself). After winning a Grammy it went out of print but is being reissued so a new generation can appreciate these remarkable ‘signals from a lost world’.
Many of the country, folk and blues romps date from Depression-era 30s. Bukka White, Memphis Jug Band, Uncle Dave Macon, Sleepy John Estes, the Carter Family, Memphis Minnie and a host of delightful obscurities emit raw emotion with humour and poignancy. The roots of rock’n’roll sprout in Robert Johnson’s Last Fair Deal Gone Down and Leadbelly’s Packin’ Trunk blueprints Carl Perkins’ Matchbox. There’s a timeless spirit coursing here, which would have been lost but for Harry Smith. Revenant keep it alive and shouting loud.
