Release Date: 2010.
Recording Time: 61 minutes.
Release Info: Compilation (DFGCD8697) Field Recordings.
Art Rosenbaum is a retired University of Georgia art professor, and a collector of traditional American music. Since the early 1960s, he has made field recordings of mostly little-known artists. This set represents black and white American traditions and - most important - examples of productive black and white musical interaction. Impressive. - Digipak w/ 40-page booklet in English and French.
This album will whisk you away to the Deep South, celebrated in a movie such as "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", where Black and White musicians alike laid the foundations for American music as we know it. Following in the footsteps of famed folklorist Alan Lomax, Art Rosenbaum has spent a half-century unearthing and recording these pioneers in their natural environment. His work proves that music in the South has often been the key to a better understanding between communities on both sides of the racial fence. Art’s fieldwork earned him a Grammy in the "Best Historical Album" category in 2008.
Tracklist:
01. Old John Henry Died On The Mountain - Henry Grady Terrell
02. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - The Chancey Brothers
03. John Henry - Mose Parker
04. Don't You Let Nobody Turn You 'Round - Silver Light Gospel Singers
05. Devilish Mary - Gordon Tanner & Smokey Joe Miller
06. Mandolin Stomp - James "Yank" Rachel & Shirley Griffith
07. Down The Road - Lawrence Eller & Vaughn Eller
08. Going Down The Road Feeling Bad - Golden River Grass
09. Going Down The Road Feeling Bad - Jake Staggers
10. Free Go Lily - Brady Doc & Lucy Barnes
11. Flat Foot Charlie - Ben Entrekin & Uncle John Patterson
12. Georgia Bottleneck Blues - Cecil Barfield
13. Jubilee - Lawrence McKiver & The McIntosh County Shouters
14. Lord Daniel - Mary Lomax
15. J'Ai Passé Devant Ta Porte - The Balfa Brothers & Nathan Abshire
16. Don't Go Riding Down That Old Texas Trail - The Eller Brothers & Ross Brown
17. Guitar Pete's Blues - Guitar Pete Franklin
18. Train 45 - Albert Hash & Art Rosenbaum
19. Bowles' Blues - Eddie Bowles
20. Nobody's Business - George Childers
21. Goin' Where The Monon Crosses The Yellow Dog - Scrapper Blackwell
22. Brother, You Ought T've Been There - Fleeta & Rev. Nathaniel Mitchell
23. Broke Down Engine - Tony Bryant
24. Free Little Bird - Juanita & Oscar Shorty Shehan
Compiled By - Art Rosenbaum.
Review on World Music Network:
From soulful blues and gospel to chipper bluegrass, the tracks on this album highlight some of the finest music's of the American South. Rosenbaum is an artist, musician and folklorist who has collected a vast collection of recordings from this region. The music is performed by a mix of local musicians and some professional ensembles.
Highlights include the slow and lilting blues, Going where the Moon crosses the Yellow Dog from blues guitarist, Scrapper Blackwell. Mary Lomax sings the country song, Daniel's Lord with a thick southern accent and a vocal tone that is beautiful in its unadorned simplicity.
Parallels can justifiably be drawn between Art Rosenbaum's collections and the work of hugely influential musicologist Alan Lomax. Lomax, who helped bring blues legend Leadbelly to prominence in the 1940s, left an important legacy of recording local American music-making in its original location. Rosenbaum's work is an excellent contribution towards continuing this tradition. Though recorded in the field, the sound quality is crystal clear and all local performers are duly credited.
Review by Red Lick Records:
Review of 'Black & White: Recorded in the field by Art Rosenbaum
Red Lick Records, January, 2011
Art Rosenbaum is a musician, muralist and writer who searches out and records musicians hidden away in the mountains, hollers, swamps and backwaters of the rural South of America. For over fifty years he's been capturing on tape some sensational cajun, gospel, country, blues, mountain ballads and rural bluegrass.
I love this kind of CD. Right from the start, it's a joyous experience to listen to these folks doing what they enjoy best. The tracks are taken from Art Rosenbaum's two boxed sets The Art Of Field Recording Vols 1 and 2 on Dust To Digital so you could regard it as a sampler from those releases or, like me, you can accept it for what it is – an inspired collection of the best traditional music America has to offer.
The Chancey Brothers are an old-time country band from Georgia who present Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground at a stately pace and some whooping encouragement for the banjo picker. Gordon Tanner (Gid's son) and Smokey Joe Miller duet in the classic guitar/fiddle style of the Skillet Lickers on their loping Anglo-American Devilish Mary while Golden River Grass really let loose on the old warhorse Goin' Down The Road Feelin' Bad with tons of reckless banjo, manic fiddle and that marvellous squeaking harmonica. The Balfa Brothers play their classic Cajun song When I Passed By Your Door with fabulous twin fiddle ramblings held down by the strong rhythm guitar and the heartfelt racket of Nathan Abshire's accordion.
I love the Eller Brothers and Ross Brown's rambunctious Don't Go Riding Down That Old Texas Trail, a rollicking live shot from a string band who just don't know when to let up while their version of Flatt & Scruggs Down The Road features just Vaughn Eller's mouth bow and Lawrence's rustic vocals.
The blues content is fabulous, Guitar Pete's Blues by Guitar Pete Franklin is a tough slice of acoustic blues with smoky vocals and guitar playing in the style of Scrapper Blackwell who turns up four tracks later on a crisply executed Where The Monon Crosses The Yellow Dog which shows that he was still a masterful musician in the 1960s when this was recorded. The obscure Eddie Bowles' languid vocals and offhand guitar playing combine to form a beautifully seductive laid back original tune Eddie Bowles Blues while Curley Weaver's grandson Tony Bryant lays down a solid, slow and elegant Broke Down Engine which, despite the historical link, sounds nothing like Willie McTell's version! The best blues on the album is provided by the divine slide guitar whine and nervous croaking vocals on Cecil Barfield's aristocratic performance of Georgia Bottleneck Blues. Another pre-war blues legend, the mandolin player Yank Rachel teams up with the Mississippi blues guitarist Shirley Griffith to shake the rafters with their superb instrumental Mandolin Stomp which incidentally, segues slyly into the Eller Brothers mouth-bow number like they were made for each other.
A lot of thought has gone into this anthology, every track is brilliant and it's programmed to perfection with all categories of music being neatly mixed together with some excellent engineering. Dixie Frog has designed a nice logical package for the whole concept with a forty page booklet of Art Rosenbaum's artwork, Margo Rosenbaum's location photography and Art's own fascinating notes printed in English and French.
This is one of those anthologies that leaves you with a big smile on your face and the urge to play the whole damn thing over and over again so that's just what I'm gonna do right now!
Notes:
Compiled by Art Rosenbaum, from the two boxed CD sets titled "The Art oF Field Recording: 50 Years of Traditional American Music" released in the U.S. by the Dust-To-Digital label.