Charlie Poole and the Roots of Country Music: You Ain't Talkin' to Me:

Legacy – C3K 92780

Format: 3 x CD, Compilation, Box Set
Country: United States
Released: 2005
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Old Time, & Country
[Disc One}
01 Shootin' Creek (03:26)
02 Baltimore Fire (03:13)
03 Leaving Home (03:11)
04 There'll Come a Time (03:31)
05 White House Blues (03:31)
06 The Highwayman (03:20)
07 Hungry Hash House (03:25)
08 The Letter That Never Came (02:51)
09 Take a Drink on Me (03:17)
10 Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night (02:52)
11 Ramblin' Blues (03:07)
12 Took My Gal A-Walkin' (02:48)
13 Old and Only in the Way (03:29)
14 Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues (02:53)
15 Bill Mason (03:01)
16 A Kiss Waltz (03:10)
17 Flop Eared Mule (03:00)
18 A Trip to New York, Pt. 1 (03:06)
19 Sweet Sixteen (02:54)
20 Write a Letter to My Mother (03:03)
21 If the River Was Whiskey (03:10)
22 Mother's Last Farewell Kiss (03:05)
23 Milwaukee Blues (03:18)
24 Where the Whippoorwill Is Whispering Good-Night (03:09)
[Disc Two]
01 The Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee (03:21)
02 Sunny Tennessee (03:18)
03 Bulldog Down in Sunny Tennessee (02:40)
04 Moving Day (03:14)
05 It's Movin' DayHarry Von Tilzer (03:28)
06 Home Sweet, Home (02:34)
07 I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World (03:04)
08 Man That Rode the Mule Around the World (02:56)
09 Lynchburg Town (03:02)
10 Going Down to Lynchburg Town/Don't Let Your Deal Go Down (03:10)
11 Some One (03:05)
12 Monkey on a String (02:33)
13 Monkey on a String (03:09)
14 Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister (03:13)
15 May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister (02:54)
16 Married Life Blues (02:41)
17 The Infanta March (04:22)
18 Sunset March (02:41)
19 I'll Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms (02:59)
20 Goodbye Eliza Jane (01:39)
21 Good-Bye Sweet Liza Jane (03:06)
22 Good-Bye Booze (03:17)
23 Goodbye Booze (02:51)
24 You Ain't Talking to Me (02:56)
25 You Ain't Talkin' to Me (02:57)
[Disc Three]
01 If I Lose, I Don't Care (03:09)
02 The Battleship of Maine (03:18)
03 Budded Rose (03:04)
04 Standing by a Window (03:17)
05 Uncle Dave's Beloved Solo (03:06)
06 Come Take a Trip in My Airship (02:11)
07 I Once Loved a Sailor (03:08)
08 Dixie Medley (02:43)
09 My Wife, She Has Gone and Left Me (03:18)
10 My Wife Went Away and Left Me (02:56)
11 Baby Rose (04:14)
12 Just Keep Waiting Till the Good Time Comes (03:27)
13 Shuffle Feet, Shuffle (02:40)
14 Coon From Tennessee (03:13)
15 Coon From Tennessee (03:06)
16 On the Banks of the Kaney (03:08)
17 Dixie Medley (04:10)
18 Southern Medley (03:06)
19 The Man That Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man (03:14)
20 Sweet Sunny South (02:55)
21 Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South (02:46)
22 Oh! Didn't He Ramble (02:11)
23 He Rambled (03:00)
[Credits]
Charlie Poole (banjo/ocals) Posey Rorer (fiddle) Odell Smith (fiddle) Roy Harvey (guitar) Henry Whitter (guitar) Uncle Dave Macon (banjo/vocals) Gid Tanner (fiddle/vocals) Doc Walsh (banjo/vocals) Charlie Parker (banjo/vocals) Snuffy Jenkins (banjo) Francis Jenkins (banjo)
Producer: Henry Sapoznik, Liner Notes: Kinney Rorrer, Cover Art: Robert Crumb Designer: Michelle Holme
[Notes]
First, a word about what You Ain't Talkin' to Me is not: it is not a box set of Charlie Poole's complete recorded work. He recorded some 110 songs for the Columbia, Paramount, and Brunswick labels between 1925 and 1931, and 43 of those tracks are collected here, with the balance of this three-disc set given over to sides by Poole's stylistic predecessors and contemporaries. Creating a feel for Poole's life and milieu is the goal here, and presenting musical evidence to place him as the clear grandfather of both bluegrass and modern country is the not-so-hidden agenda. Poole was never an overwhelming banjo player, but his three-finger picking style certainly carries trace elements of what would become bluegrass some 20 years later (when a banjo whiz named Earl Scruggs joined Bill Monroe's band in 1946). Poole wasn't a particularly strong singer, either, but his rambling, gambling persona and flamboyant stage antics (and frequent multi-week alcoholic benders) provide convincing evidence that Poole was outlaw country five decades before the term was even born. Poole's real genius -- since he didn't write songs -- was his ability to take folk tunes, pop songs, fiddle reels, blues fragments, and church hymns and reconfigure them into autobiographical statements by dropping or importing a verse, adding a stray line here and there, changing the title, and eventually delivering fresh, stripped-down versions of familiar songs that now seemed entirely Poole's. What You Ain't Talkin' to Me does best is document how this process worked, and after a first disc of acknowledged Poole classics ("Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues," "White House Blues," "If the River Was Whiskey," "Ramblin' Blues"), the second and third discs present Poole songs alongside their antecedents in what is essentially a workshop in how pop folk is created in a mechanized age. On disc three, for example, you hear Arthur Collins' 1902 version of "Oh! Didn't He Ramble" as a heavily stylized and orchestrated bit of vaudeville. In Poole's hands, stripped down and shaped into a sinewy, sexy, and bluesy ensemble piece for banjo, guitar, and fiddle, it became the self-referential "He Rambled" in 1929. Similarly, Eddie Morton's civil and orchestrated "You Ain't Talking to Me" from 1909 becomes an ominous barroom boast in Poole's version, released as "You Ain't Talkin' to Me" in 1927. This ability to create new possibilities from old choices is what has driven American music from the very beginning, and Poole's talent for making it all seem like personal autobiography makes him very much a modernist, only a short leap away from an artist like Hank Williams. Doubters need only listen to Poole's "If I Lose, I Don't Care," which leads off the third disc, to clearly see the kind of DNA that went into modern country. As a glimpse of Poole's life and times, and a look behind the curtains at the adaptive nature of his creative process, this attractive set (it comes in a small cigar box with a R. Crumb illustration of Poole on the lid and includes a 60-page book insert) does a super job, but listeners should be aware that it is hardly comprehensive. Those interested in a more extensive sampling of Poole's work should check out JSP's four-disc box, Charlie Poole With the North Carolina Ramblers and the Highlanders, which features 96 of his 110 known recordings.-- AllMusic Review by Steve Leggett

Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers Vol. 2: Old Time Songs Recorded 1926-1930

County Records CD-3508

Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: Feb 27, 1996
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Country
[Tracklist]
01 If the River Was Whiskey (3:09)
02 Bill Mason (3:00)
03 Baltimore Fire (3:11)
04 Honeysuckle (3:14)
05 My Gypsy Girl (2:56)
06 Ragtime Annie (3:12)
07 It's Movin' Day (3:26)
08 Budded Rose (3:02)
09 A Kiss Waltz (3:08)
10 Jealous Mary (2:59)
11 Wild Horse (3:07)
12 If I Lose, I Don't Care (3:06)
13 There'll Come a Time (3:29)
14 Southern Melody (3:05)
15 Mother's Last Farewell Kiss (3:03)
16 One Moonlight Night (3:21)
[Credits]
Charlie Poole (banjo/vocals) Lonnie Austin (fiddle) Odell Smith (fiddle) Posey Rorer (fiddle) Norman Woodlieff (guitar) Roy Harvey (guitar)
Liner Notes: Kinney Rorrer, Producer: Dave Freeman, Remastering: Peter Siegel
[Notes]
County Records' second installment of Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers is another great testament to this seminal band: while most or all of Poole and the Ramblers' best-known songs are included on the earlier volume of Old Time Songs, the lesser-known tunes on this disc are every bit as entertaining, if often less familiar.

Charlie Poole And The North Carolina Ramblers: Old Time Songs Recorded 1925-1930

County Records CD-3501

Format: CD, Album
Country: US
Released: 1993
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Country
[Tracklist]
01 White House Blues (3:26)
02 Sweet Sunny South (2:53)
03 Shootin' Creek (3:23)
04 He Rambled (2:57)
05 The Letter That Never Came (2:47)
06 Mountain Reel (3:02)
07 You Ain't Talkin' To Me (2:53)
08 Sweet Sixteen (2:50)
09 Leaving Home (3:08)
10 Took My Gal A-Walkin' (2:46)
11 Monkey On A String (3:05
12 Ramblin' Blues (3:05)
13 Flying Clouds (3:15)
14 Falling By THe Wayside (3:04)
15 Don't Let Your Deal Go Down (2:51)
16 Take A Drink On Me (3:13)
[Credits]
Charlie Poole (banjo/vocals) Lonnie Austin (fiddle) Posey Rorer (fiddle) Norman Woodlieff (guitar) Roy Harvey (guitar)
Liner Notes: Kinney Rorrer, Producer: Dave Freeman, Remastering: Peter Siegel
[Notes]
Old-Time Songs contains 16 songs Charlie Poole recorded for Columbia Records between 1925 and 1930. This sampling features nearly every one of his best songs -- including the hits "White House Blues" and "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues" -- and provides the definitive retrospective of Poole, as well as a good glimpse into the style and sound of old timey country music in the first half of the 20th Century.

Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers: Volume 4

County Records COUNTY–540

Format: Vinyl, LP, Compilation
Country: United States
Released: 1976
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Old Time, & Country
[Tracklist]
A1 Honeysuckle
A2 Coon From Tennessee
A3 Flying Clouds
A4 I'm The Man That Rode The Mule Around The World
A5 Kiss Waltz
A6 Jealous Mary
B1 Southern Medley
B2 Falling By The Wayside
B3 Baby Rose
B4 The Girl I Left In Sunny Tennessee
B5 Mother's Last Farewell Kiss
B6 You Ain't Talkin' To Me
[Credits]
Charlie Poole (banjo/vocals) Lonnie Austin (fiddle) Odell Smith (fiddle) Posey Rorer (fiddle) Roy Harvey (guitar)
[Notes]
Original recordings made in 1925-30

The Legend of Charlie Poole

County Records COUNTY-516

Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: United States
Released: 1968
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Old Time, & Country
[Tracklist]
A1 Look Before You Leap
A2 Hungry Hash House
A3 Old And Only In The Way
A4 Write A Letter To My Mother
A5 Goodbye Booze
A6 My Wife Went Away And Left Me
B1 Goodbye Liza Jane
B2 Leaving Dear Old Ireland
B3 Budded Roses
B4 The Highwayman
B5 Goodbye Mary Dear
B6 Milwaukiee Blues
[Credits]
The North Carolina Ramblers: Charlie Poole (banjo/vocals) Posey Rorer (fiddle) Roy Harvey (guitar)
[Notes]
County continues its excellent survey of works by this popular banjoist and vocalist with this third volume of rural, old-time string-band dance tunes, novelties, minstrel songs, and folk ballads. This time-capsule disc of Poole's North Carolina Ramblers features his nimble three-fingered playing and dry-humored tenor singing with fiddle and guitar. Their tunes were well received in their day; their first eight sides sold almost half a million copies by 1927, and their first two alone sold 167,000 in one year. These first-class transfers belie their age and make enjoying the music easy. This is moving stuff.-- AllMusic Review by Sigmund Finman

Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers: Old Time Songs Recorded from 1925-1930

County Records COUNTY-505

Format: Vinyl, LP
Country: United States
Released: 1965
Genre: Folk, World, & Country
Style: Old Time, & Country
[Tracklist]
A1 White House Blues
A2 Sweet Sunny South
A3 Shootin' Creek
A4 He Rambled
A5 The Letter That Never Came
A6 Sweet Sixteen
B1 Leaving Home
B2 Took My Gal A-Walkin'
B3 Ramblin' Blues
B4 Mountain Reel
B5 Don't Let Your Deal Go Down
B6 Take A Drink On Me
[Credits]
Charlie Poole (banjo/vocals) Lonnie Austin or Posey Rorer (fiddle) Norman Woodlieff or Roy Harvey (guitar)
Remastering: Peter Siegel, Producer: Dave Freeman
[Notes]
Charlie Poole was one of the founding fathers of recorded country music. His distinctive voice and innovative banjo playing have made Poole legendary. His band, The North Carolina Ramblers featured equally accomplished musicians. Charlie was born in 1892, in North Carolina. Around 1900 his family moved to Haw River in search of mill work. Charlie worked in the mill from an early age. Hours were long and wages were poor - $3 a week is cited. As to music, he appears to have made himself a banjo out of a gourd. Once at work he bought a proper instrument. In 1912 he married. The relationship failed, due to his rambling habits, but did produce a son. On one of his rambling jaunts, around 1917, he met fiddle player Posey Rorer. The third member of what would become the North Carolina Ramblers was guitarist Norman Woodlief. Poole claimed they'd recorded at a field session for OKeh in 1925 but no discs have been found. In July 1925, the three travelled to New York to cut four sides for Columbia. Poole would remain with the label until his final recording session. The four pieces cut at the initial Columbia session are presented here in the order they were cut but Columbia issued Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight b/w Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues. The sales were 102,000 at a time when 5000 was reckoned a good seller and 20,000 a hit. The Ramblers took up music full time. At some point Woodlief left the group although he did perform with them occasionally. The fine guitarist Roy Harvey replaced him. With their first issues a success Columbia wanted the Ramblers back in the studios - which Charlie was disinclined to do. He may have been dissatisfied with his royalties and felt the longer he ignored Columbia's pleadings the better the terms he'd get. In fact he did return often to the studio - producing in the process some of the finest music of the era. His waywardness persisted. He died in 1931 after a drinking bout that allegedly had lasted three months.