Label: Lonesome Records.
Release Date: April 7, 2009.
Recording Time: 57 minutes.
Release Info: #500194, Studio Recording.
Styles: Acoustic Blues, Bluegrass, Field Recordings, Old-Timey, String Bands, Traditional Bluegrass, Traditional Folk.
The companion CD to the four-part PBS TV series and DVD Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People, this wonderfully sequenced set features a mixture of old and contemporary folk performers that only hints at how much haunting, odd, and powerful music the Appalachians have given the world. A lot of real estate and years is collected here, beginning with Carl Martin's acoustic blues "Let's Have a New Deal," which was recorded in the 1930s, and running through Dock Boggs' banjo instrumental "Coal Creek March" (this has to be the brightest Boggs ever sounded), which was tracked in the early '60s, as was Jean Ritchie's gorgeous "Pretty Saro" (from her album The Most Dulcimer), to contemporary fare like Mitch Barrett's ghostly and vital version of the traditional "Shady Grove," and all of it sketches out a marvelous story of a region where multiple traditions, instruments, and songs collided and blended into something that is at the very heart of American music. ~ Steve Leggett
Credits: Barry Bales - bass (acoustic); Mitch Barrett - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Blue Highway - primary artist; Dock Boggs - banjo, photo courtesy, primary artist; Dewey Brown III - fiddle; Jason Burleson - banjo, vocals; Evan Carawan - guitar, hammer dulcimer, mandolin, primary artist; Clack Mountain String Band - primary artist; Jerome Clark - composer; Shad Cobb - fiddle; Kenton Coe - composer, primary artist; Steve Cooley - bass (acoustic); Tim Cox - photography; J.D. Crowe - banjo; Martin Fox - fiddle, primary artist; John Harrod - guitar, vocals; Rob Ickes - dobro, vocals; Kevin Jackson - fiddle, guest artist; Kevin Kehrberg - bass (acoustic); Jeff Keith - mandolin; Jeff Kennedy - guitar; Kentucky Wild Horse - primary artist; Paul Kuczko - executive producer; Alan Maggard - associate producer, engineer, mastering, mixing; Matt Mangano - bass (electric), vocal harmony; Dan Marshall - vocal harmony; Judy Marshall - vocal harmony; Carl Martin - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Kevin Maul - dobro; Señor McGuire - photography; The Midnight Ramblers - primary artist; Molly Slemp - primary artist; Bill Mullins - bass (vocal); Scott Mullins - tenor (vocal); Kim Neal - vocals; George Pickow - dulcimer; Audey Ratliff - guitar (rhythm); Brett Ratliff - banjo, vocals; Jean Ritchie - dulcimer, primary artist, vocals; Roadside Theater - primary artist; Don Roberts - guitar; Sacred Harp Singers - primary artist; Darrell Scott - composer, guitar, primary artist, vocals; Mike Seeger - photo courtesy; Seneca Singers and Dancers - primary artist; James Alan Shelton - primary artist; Ron Short - audio production, baritone (vocal), bodhran, composer, engineer, guest artist, guitar, liner notes, mastering, mixing, penny whistle, primary artist, producer, tenor (vocal), vocal harmony; Steve Sparkman - banjo; Tim Stafford - composer, guitar, vocals; Art Stamper - fiddle, primary artist; Blake Stamper - guitar; Ralph Stanley - primary artist, vocals; Adam Steffey - mandolin; Benny Thomasson - composer; Verlon Thompson - composer; Traditional - composer; U.T. Symphony - primary artist; Jim Watson - bass (electric); Linda D. Williams - vocal harmony, vocals; Robin & Linda Williams - composer, primary artist; Jeff Winegar - primary artist; Jeff Winegar - banjo, primary artist; Bill Womack - graphic design.
Tracks: 1) Prelude: Mountains - Kenton Coe / U.T. Symphony; 2) Corn Dance - Seneca Singers and Dancers; 3) Pretty Saro - Jean Ritchie; 4) The Last of Callahan - Martin Fox / Jeff Winegar; 5) The Blackest Crow - Molly Slemp; 6) Haste to the Wedding - Evan Carawan; 7) Midnight on the Water - Art Stamper; 8) Susanna Gal - Clack Mountain String Band; 9) Rock Andy - Kentucky Wild Horse; 10) Weeping Mary - Sacred Harp Singers; 11) Banjo Clark - Darrell Scott; 12) Coal Creek March - Dock Boggs; 13) Let's Have a New Deal - Carl Martin; 14) Soldier's Joy - James Alan Shelton; 15) Roll on Buddy - The Midnight Ramblers; 16) Union Man - Blue Highway; 17) Gloryland - Ralph Stanley; 18) Shady Grove - Mitch Barrett; 19) Don't Let Me Come Home a Stranger - Robin & Linda Williams; 20) The Garden Is Growing - Ron Short / Roadside Theater.