Description
Outside of the Preview volume (FRC800), the 15 volumes of this survey focus on specific themes within North American traditional music. The tracks are entirely drawn from the North American Traditions (NAT) collection, recorded between 1972 and 2008, primarily by myself, Lou Curtiss, John Harrod, Morgan MacQuarrie, Gordon McCann, and Gus Meade. Most of these recordings were made in connection with a series of commercial releases by Rounder Records, although much of the present survey has not been previously released in any form. The 16 FRC releases serve both as a guide to the full NAT Research Archive (which is now publicly accessible; see fieldrecorder.org/NAT) and as a vehicle for outlining what we have learned about these songs and their position within historical tradition. To this end, Norm Cohen, myself, and others have prepared extensive notes for each volume (also available via fieldrecorder.org/NAT). —Mark Wilson
This is the third box set of three and includes Volumes 11-15 of this monumental collection: In Old Kentucky, The Great Midwest, Way Down East, Gaelic in the Bow, and In Our Own Words. Specially priced at $70 plus shipping in the continental US.
Released May 5, 2025
Box set #1 is available here. Box set #2 is available here.
Notes to the NAT Survey of Traditional Music
FRC811: In Old Kentucky – A central focus of the NAT’s preservation efforts (mainly by Gus Meade, John Harrod and myself) centered upon the intricate instrumental music characteristic of Northeastern Kentucky and its adjacent Appalachian communities. (Songs and other materials from this same region can be found scattered throughout the first ten volumes of this survey.) Volume 11 presents a further sampling of performances (almost entirely unissued) by the great artists that have been featured on earlier LPs and CDs from this region.—Mark Wilson
PDF Notes for Volume 11FRC812: The Great Midwest – A second regional focus of the NAT (conducted mainly by Gordon McCann and myself) documented the varied fiddle music of the central Midwest, ranging from the Ozark Mountains in the south to the Missouri Valley region of Nebraska and Iowa. Our offerings were significantly extended through access to the vast collection of home recordings that Dwight Lamb and his family made in the 1950’s. Only a few of the selections on this sampler have been previously issued.—Mark Wilson
FRC813: Way Down East – In contrast to the large body of Cape Breton materials that the NAT assembled (sampled in Volume 14), our group did not concentrate broadly upon the abundant forms of instrumental music to be found throughout the Maritime Provinces and the New England states. Nonetheless, along the way we managed to record a variety of enticing performances from artists of French-Canadian, Anglo or Irish heritage. Towards the end of the NAT’s affiliation with Rounder Records, the late Burt Feintuch and I hoped to assemble a regional sampler comparable to our other “Traditional Fiddle Music of X” offerings. This project was not completed, but the present CD samples some of the materials that it would have contained, supplemented by some evocative Nova Scotian home recordings provided by Stan Chapman.—Mark Wilson
PDF Notes for Volume 13FRC814: Gaelic in the Bow – In terms of raw bulk, the NAT Archive (https://tinyurl.com/NAT-Research-Archive) probably contains more material in total from Cape Breton instrumentalists than was obtained from any of the other geographical regions in which we worked. (These recordings mainly resulted from a collaboration with Morgan MacQuarrie, a fine fiddler of the old school, himself.) But a typical Cape Breton medley tends to be rather long, and only a limited number of (largely unissued) selections could be accommodated upon this compilation CD. Interested listeners are encouraged to explore the much larger range of recordings that can be found within our full Archive.—Mark Wilson
PDF Notes for Volume 14FRC815: In Our Own Words – Whenever possible, the NAT group attempted to conduct long interviews in which our artists were encouraged to narrate their personal histories in any manner that they chose. These recordings constitute the sources of the autobiographical vignettes that have been reprinted in the notes to the earlier volumes in this survey. The full interviews are available within the “Original Sessions” section of the NAT Research Archive (see fieldrecorder.org/NAT). To encourage further exploration of this rich resource, this final volume within our NAT Survey includes various vignettes, tall tales, poems, and jokes in which our artists can be heard in their own voices, extracted from the original tapes. —Mark Wilson
PDF Notes for Volume 15
