Customer Reviews

Ballads, Banjo Tunes, And Sacred Songs Of Western North Carolina

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This is a superb collection of 19 songs that were collected by the eminent folklorist Bascom Lamar Lunsford and recorded by him for the Library of Congress. It is a gem of a recording graced with excellent liner notes by one of Lunsford's daughters and by Loyal Jones his biographer, as well as extensive commentaries on each of the songs from Lunsford himself taken from his papers and directly from his Library of Congress recordings. For anyone even remotely interested in the folk traditions of the southern Appalachians, this disc is an unquestioned must. Kudos to the Smithsonian for issuing this CD, and please let us have more!

Bascom Lamar Lunsford was a fascinating figure, who in his 91 years on this earth managed to record more American folk songs, British ballads, Negro spirituals, breakdowns, reels, topical songs etc. than probably anyone else who ever lived. He was a jack-of-all-trades and a very educated man of a middle class background. On this particular album, "Old Stepstone" is the masterpiece, in my opinion. Its lyrics are simply breathtaking! Lunsford's greatest strength is not in singing or his banjo playing, but rather in his huge repertory of songs and the laid-back way in which he plays them. His vocals are also easier on the ears than those of a Dock Boggs or a Roscoe Holcomb. Unfortunately, the vast majority of the thousands of songs that the man recorded are not available on compact disc, and that's a tragedy. In conclusion, this is an excellent album of Old-Timey and American folk music which is very easy to listen to and is extremely rewarding and heartfelt.

This is much, much more than a music CD; this is history, and tradition, and an echo of life as it once was. Having been born and raised in the North Carolina foothills, this music is especially significant to me. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, music was a way of life in the North Carolina mountains; thanks to Bascom Lamar Lunsford, that old way of life and culture is not completely lost to us in this modern age. Lunsford had many professions during his long life, but the music he grew up with was his passion. He recorded many songs that would almost certainly have been completely lost to us; not only that, he described each song, talked about where he heard it, who played it, etc. He was called "the Minstrel of the Appalachians" because he collected songs from all over western North Carolina and preserved them. He played the fiddle, banjo (in two distinctive styles), and mandoline (sort of like a mandolin), and he sang, recording hundreds of the living tunes of his friends, neighbors, and neighborly strangers over the years - all sorts of songs, including ballads, folk songs, gospel songs, fiddle tunes, and banjo tunes. He also wrote a few songs of his own, including the classic Old Mountain Dew. No American contributed more material to the Archive of Folk Song than Lunsford, and all but five of the recordings on this album come from his "memory collection" recordings made at the Library of Congress in 1949 (the "memory collection" actually consists of no less than 318 songs); the other five were recorded for Brunswick Records in 1928.

I can't really describe all of these tunes and do them justice; they are all so much more than just songs. How do you describe the lone voice of a culture that no longer exists? You have to hear it for yourself. Lunsford does describe many of the songs on his recordings, and the accompanying CD booklet features a lot of valuable information about each tune. The only one of these recordings I was at all familiar with was Old Mountain Dew, but Grandpa Jones' recording didn't include all of the verses of Lunsford's original version.

After listening to this album, one has to ask where all of the other 300 or so Lunsford recordings are. This music is so pure and historically important, it seems a shame that Lunsford's entire "memory collection" of tunes is not available in a box set. Lunsford recorded these songs so that they would never be forgotten, and I for one would love the chance to listen to every single recording Lunsford ever made.

What a gift he gave the world. Bascom Lunsford did the near-impossible: he saw and heard this music as both an insider and an outsider. As an insider he knew exactly how it should be played, because he never learned it any other way. He knew the music, the people, the nuances and turns of phrase, as completely as he knew his own name. His voice was as ragged and unschooled as any miner or hill country farmer who never cracked a book. As an outsider, he understood this music for what it was - the last exhalation of a great American culture, the tangible sound of a people and a place that were, if not vanishing, then certainly in the process of changing permanently into something very different. He understood how important it was to save as much as he could, as fast as he could. And we are all deeply in his debt.

After first hearing "mole in the ground" and "dry bones", I needed to hear whatever other recorded output was available by Lunsford. It is quite unfortunate that this is the only thing available on cd; on the other hand, it's a real treasure of american folk song. I feel like I somehow ripped off the cd store and record company, because I can't understand how the beauty of these recordings can even be associated with a monetary value. While I was doubtful I would like the other songs as much as the two aforementioned, I could not pick one that I like less. In the shadow of the pines still gives me shivers, the same as the first time I heard it. Please release more of this amazing stuff.

This is a pleasant and intimate little collection of old time music. The feel of it is that I've pulled up a rocking chair and it's just Mr. Lunsford and me by the big fireplace pictured on the cover. It includes such Lunsford classics as "Old Mountain Dew," which he wrote, and "A Mole in the Ground." It also includes such little gems as the fiddle tune "Ten Steps," which would have been lost forever had Lunsford not learned and recorded it. The booklet accompanying the CD is very informative on Lunsford's life and work, and provides background for each cut. Lunsford also has comments on some of the pieces before or after playing them, and the final cut is his own autobiographical sketch. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in folk/roots/old-time music and the Appalachian culture.

Bascom Lamar Lundsford is one hardcore person. I was looking for slipknot but instead came across this CD. I love his banjoing and I espicialy love his harcore song of "I wish I was a mole in the ground." Who needs Slipknot when you have Bascom.

Bascom is more than just a folk singer, in a way he is a messiah and role model of how human kind should live. When I listen to his music, a certain tranquility enters my heart, a tranquility that floods my body and mind with a warm, fuzzy tingly feeling. I think this could be the key to world peace and further understanding to the universe. The only reason Bascom is not used for world peace is because of the ignorance of other people. People always say that they HATE folk music and will not give Bascom a try. If we can rip away this ignorance from people and EVERYONE listens to Bascom, it would be a step closer to a perfect utopia where we would not need law. It would be a perfect society, a society of love and peace and tranquility.