American Roots Music [Box set]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 30, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 4
• Format: Box set
• Note on Boxed Sets: During shipping, discs in boxed sets occasionally become dislodged without damage. Please examine and play these discs. If you are not completely satisfied, we'll refund or replace your purchase.
• Label: Palm Pictures (Audio
• ASIN: B00005OAY6
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #127,800 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

Disc: 1

1. American Roots Music Theme - Ricky Skaggs with Earl Scruggs, James Cotton, and Marc & Ann Savoy

2. Waiting for a Train - Jimmie Rodgers

3. Wildwood Flower - The Carter Family

4. Take Me Back To My Old Carolina Home - Uncle Dave Macon

5. Wabash Cannonball - Roy Acuff

See all 19 tracks on this disc

Disc: 2

1. The King Biscuit Time Theme - James Cotton

2. Crazy Blues - Mamie Smith

3. St. Louis Blues - Bessie Smith

4. Black Snake Moan - Blind Lemon Jefferson

5. Screamin' and Hollerin' the Blues - Charley Patton

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 3

1. Joshua Fit de Battle - Fisk Jubilee Singers

2. Precious Lord, Take My Hand - Thomas A. Dorsey

3. Blind Barnabus - The Golden Gate Quartet

4. Down By The Riverside - Sister Rosetta Tharpe

5. Move On Up a Little Higher - Mahalia Jackson

See all 16 tracks on this disc

Disc: 4

1. Allons A Lafayette - Joe Falcon and Cleoma Breaux

2. Madame Atchen - Amede Ardoin and Dennis McGee

3. Port Arthur Blues - Dewey Balfa

4. I'm a Hog for You - Clifton Chenier

5. Dans la Louisianne - Marc and Ann Savoy

See all 18 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

These are the sounds of the American melting pot in full boil, a vibrant study in musical and cultural collision. The companion box set to the four-part PBS documentary, this four-disc set skims the cream of 20th-century American "roots music"--music based in its own rich ethnic, geographical, and cultural traditions yet malleable and responsive enough to accommodate elements borrowed from other traditions. The 68 songs here traverse country, blues, folk, gospel, Cajun, zydeco, Tejano, and Native American styles, and while there are obviously huge differences between these songs, it's the similarities that are truly remarkable. Thanks to a cross-pollination facilitated by radio, recording technology, and the highway system, traditional American musical forms bounced off each other like atoms--European tradition met African tradition, urban met rural, Northern met Southern, secular met spiritual, and so it goes. This project allows you to trace each genre's development while simultaneously illustrating its connections to other forms. Like any project of this nature, you can lament all the great music that didn't make it--jazz, in fact, is completely ignored except for one boogie-woogie piano duet, presumably because Ken Burns already covered this territory--but it's difficult to find fault with what did make it here. The producers balance well-known original recordings with 20 newly recorded tracks and nine songs taken from archival film sources. Housed in a stylish hard-bound case and boasting detailed song-by-song notes and great photos, the American Roots Music box makes for a valuable gateway into America's musical heritage and a springboard for further investigation. --Marc Greilsamer

Product Description

An impressive four-CD box-set primer that collects more than 100 years of music, from nineteenth-century gospel ensemble The Fisk Jubilee Singers to contemporary acts such as R&B guitarist Keb Mo'. Includes tracks from Robert Johnson, Bob Dylan, Flaco Jimenez, Mahalia Jackson, the Staple Singers, B.B. King, Gene Autry and Jimmy Rogers to name just a few. Contains more than 65 essential American recordings, a wealth of photographs and liner notes written by Robert Antelli, Holly George Warren and Charles Wolfe. Deluxe long digi-book with 56 page collector-quality booklet. Palm Records. 2002.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars scattered roots, November 12, 2001

By 

Jerome Clark (Canby, Minnesota) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Roots Music (Audio CD)

One doesn't envy anyone charged with the task of assembling a collection of essential recordings in America's many folk and vernacular genres. As such things go, American Roots Music is decent enough, though inevitably anyone who knows the music will wonder at the omissions (for example, of Dock Boggs or any of the classic old-time string bands). Perhaps the major problem here is that the four discs encompass such a range of styles that they can hardly begin to do justice to any one of them. The serious listener will already have much of this in his or her collection. Of course it's not exactly a painful sacrifice to hear "Waiting for a Train," "Uncle Pen," "Black Snake Moan," "Cross Road Blues," or any of a number of other warhorses, yet again. I was least familiar with the music on Disc #4 (Cajun/Zydeco/Tejano/Native American) and so enjoyed it the most. A particular treat is Mingo Saldivar's lively version of the old Johnny Cash hit "Ring of Fire." Saldivar doesn't just sing the lyrics in Spanish; he reinvents the melody, making it sound as if "Ring" were always supposed to be a conjunto tune. The disc ends anticlimactically, however, with the inexplicable inclusion of a New-Ageish composition, when a reprise of the wonderful series theme song (a movingly organic rendition of "Worried Man Blues" by performers representing a variety of traditions) would have been a more proper send-off. As a primer set in an unusually attractive package, American Roots Music will do, more or less, but seasoned followers of our homegrown sounds will seek their pleasures elsewhere.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars American Roots Music, November 6, 2001

By 

D. M. Clements "dmclements" (Freeland, MD USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Roots Music (Audio CD)

As an attempt to present a primer on roots music, this set is very well done. With the exception of jazz, all of the bases are covered and most are covered pretty well. However, anyone with some knowledge of roots music who is looking for a "new jem" is probably going to be disappointed. On the plus side, the version here of "We Shall Overcome" is the best recorded one I have heard and the Tejano and Native American sections are a welcome addition. However, the omission of white mountain gospel or shape notes songs is puzzling.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Gotta Love The Uncle Dave Macon, January 11, 2006

By 

Bryan Rosengarten (Seminole, FL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: American Roots Music (Audio CD)

My wife and I had been eyeing this boxset for a few years now and she finally broke down and got it for me this past holiday season. It's a nice mix of country, blues, gospel, cajun/zydeco, tejano and native American. Overall, the box set is excellent. I don't think there is a bad tune on there, but I do feel it felt short on gospel, folk, cajun, zydeco, tejano and native American styles. There's only about 6 or 7 tracks for each of those styles where an entire 16-19 track disc is dedicated to both country and blues. The set should have been 6 discs instead or it should have been limited to just country and blues. Likewise, I felt it strange that an American Roots boxset included no jazz, for jazz is the only true first American born music, which is based on the blues of course. It's a great collection though and I enjoy listening to it every time. The long wait was worth it. I highly recommend it.