Description
Over a span of nearly four decades, a small group of friends, the North American Traditions Group, traveled over large swaths of the Appalachians, the Canadian Maritimes, the Ozarks, and the American West, recording many hundreds of hours of traditional music. Styles heard in the NAT collection range from unaccompanied ballads to vocal quartets; virtuoso fiddle solos to string bands; blues to gospel to topical songs. This is the second box set of three and includes Volumes 6-10 of this monumental collection: Between City and Country; Songs of Labor and Recreation; Under Western Skies; Religious Experience; and Songs that Children Like. Specially priced at $70 plus shipping in the continental US.
Box set #1 is available here.
FRC806: Between City and Country – In contrast to the selections within Volume 5 of this survey, another significant sector of a traditional artist’s repertory consists in materials that can be definitively traced to 19th Century professional composers. As Volume 3 already illustrates, the results often became substantially recast, in both text and tune, as the songs were revised to suit the tastes of traditional performers. But here the results often prove humorous or romantic, in contrast to the melancholy of Volume 3.
FRC807: Songs of Labor and Recreation – Volume 7 samples some of the tremendous range of songs and tunes that reflect the daily experiences of working folks, both on the job and off. Some of these represent the “protest songs” that emerged from the bitter struggles over unionization in the 1930’s, whereas others reflect wry or satirical points of view.
FRC808: Under Western Skies – Romantic impressions of the pioneers who settled the western plains have affected American culture in profound and long-lasting ways. This volume presents traditional renditions of cowboy songs by performers who earned their livings from ranch work and by others who acquired them only through hearsay, as these materials found their way into the faraway Appalachian mountains.
FRC809: Religious Experience – The greatest proportion of the traditional song repertory is devoted to religious themes. These materials represent an astonishing range of moods that directly reflect the variations within worship and moral attitudes that have historically characterized religious diversity within this country.
FRC810: Songs that Children Like – Typically, traditional artists first learn to love music in the home, hearing appealing songs and ditties such as the ones sampled in this volume. In terms of ultimate origin, these spring from an astonishing range of sources, as we document within the accompanying notes.
