Instrumental Music of the Southern Appalachians

Tradition Everest – TLP 1007

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue
Country: US
Released: 1956
Genre: Blues, Folk, World, & Country
Style: Appalachian Music
[Tracklist]
A01 Cripple Creek: Hobart Smith (01:50)
A02 Pateroller Song: Hobart Smith (01:44)
A03 One Dime Blues: Etta Baker (03:02)
A04 Sourwood Mountain: Mr. Boone Reid (01:52)
A05 Going Down the Road Feeling Bad: Etta Baker (01:26)
A06 Amazing Grace: Mrs. Edd Presnell (01:46)
A07 The Girl I Left Behind Me: Richard Chase (01:28)
A08 Marching Jaybird: Mr. Lacey Phillips (01:22)
A09 John Brown's Dream: Hobart Smith (01:34)
A10 Sally Goodin': Mrs. Edd Presnell (01:03)
B01 Railroad Bill: Etta Baker (02:41)
B02 Soldier's Joy: Mr. Lacey Phillips (02:01)
B03 Molly Brooks: Richard Chase (01:22)
B04 Pretty Polly: Hobart Smith (01:30)
B05 Johnson Boys: Mr. Boone Reid (01:31)
B06 John Henry: Etta Baker (02:40)
B07 Drunken Hiccups: Hobart Smith (01:13)
B08 Shady Grove: Mrs. Edd Presnell (01:11)
B09 Bully of the Town: Etta Baker (02:59)
B10 Skip to My Lou: Richard Chase (01:07)
[Credits]
Boone Reid (banjo) Hobart Smith (fiddle) Mrs. Edd Presnell (dulcimer) Lacey Phillips (banjo) Richard Chase (harmonica) Etta Baker (guitar)
Recorder: Diane Hamilton and Liam Clancy, Liner Notes: Paul Clayton
[Notes]
A group of 20 field recordings of various dances ("Cripple Creek," "Pateroller Song"), folk songs ("Sally Goodin," "The Girl I Left Behind Me," unexpectedly haunting and affecting on harmonica), blues, children's songs ("Skip to My Lou"), and hymns ("Amazing Grace," in an astonishingly beautiful rendition for solo dulcimer), made by Liam Clancy, Paul Clayton, and Diane Hamilton in Virginia and North Carolina during the summer of 1956. They confined themselves to recording local instrumentalists (no singers), including blues guitarist Etta Baker, who was one of Taj Mahal's early mentors. The recordings, as one would expect, have a raw spontaneity that comes from impromptu performance, and the quality of the digital transfer is excellent, with no distortion and surprisingly little background noise. Other players include Boone Reid (banjo), Hobart Smith (fiddle), Mrs. Edd Presnell (dulcimer), Lacey Phillips (banjo), and Richard Chase (harmonica). The raw nature of the recordings is emphasized by little touches, like the foot-stomping one hears in the background of Phillips' rendition of "John Brown's Dream." - AllMusic Review by Bruce Eder