Dock Boggs

Dock Boggs | Format: MP3 Download

Product Details

• Original Release Date: January 1, 1964
• Label: Folkways Records
• Copyright: (c) 2004 Smithsonian Folkways Recordings / 1964 Folkways Records
• Total Length: 48:33
• Genres: Country/Traditional Country
• ASIN: B000RKQI40
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #91,846 Paid in MP3 Albums (See Top 100 Paid in MP3 Albums)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Darkness and redemption, June 4, 2000

By 

Rob Damm - See all my reviews

This review is from: Dock Boggs: His Folkways Years 1963-1968 (Audio CD)

This is dark music. Not stagey, Marilyn Manson dark, but really the deepest dark of the soul. All the tunes here sound even better-- more tortured, sadder, lonlier than they did on Boggs' original recordings from the 20's. Best are the "new" gospel tunes he chose for this session... the conviction and passion is just awe-inspiring. Sit in a dark room and listen to these recordings alone. It is a life changing experience. The quality of the recordings (especially with HDCD gear) is spectacular... you can almost believe Dock is in the corner, singing his soul out... just for you...and the demons.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Otherworldly, unforgettable music Ground Zero, December 20, 2006

By 

John H. Rasmussen II "Cleggy" (Middletown, PA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dock Boggs: His Folkways Years 1963-1968 (Audio CD)

Dock Boggs is the quintessential haunting and haunted banjo player and singer. When I first heard his music a decade ago I felt a shock of recognition that I've never experienced with ANY other musician, regardless of musical style. Perhaps growing up in the backwoods of Mississippi in the 1960s lent me a familiarity to his musical & personal power that may be missing from more "modern" sensibilities. Every fibre in my body has been shaped and haunted by intensely personal innerworkings created by listening to & singing old-time songs and hymns and I find that my emotions are exactly reflected in Dock's music.

Upon hearing him for the first time, I immediately became a Dock Disciple and have incorporated many of his songs into my own banjo & guitar repetoire. It's a long shot that folks with more modern sensibilites will be as overwhelmed by Dock's vision as I, but I can only hope & pray that there are people out there (particularly the younger folks) that will be as moved by the awesome power of Dock as I have been. Dock represents a wisdom and strength of character that is becoming increasingly rare in the country's population today.

Several years ago, when I sat down on his grave in Norton, Virginia and played several of his songs to him on the banjo, the sun was beaming as bright as it could be; when I finished half an hour later with his devastating song "Calvary", it was pouring rain....which seemed so very fitting. Dock's playing & singing reflect an overwhelming quality of "terrible beauty".

It's difficult for me to put into words exactly what Dock's legacy means to me but, if you're ready & willing to give yourself over to an unparalled example of the true strength of the American character and the power of an absolutely unique, touching and simple-yet-complex life, Dock's music will thrill you and haunt you as no other. His biography reads like a series of parables straight from the Old Testament and every moment of his life, from his birth to his death, can be heard in his music.

ESSENTIAL listening; now more than ever, this CD set should be issued to every American upon birth.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars harrowing beauty, March 1, 2000

By 

Hayden Childs (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Dock Boggs: His Folkways Years 1963-1968 (Audio CD)

This album is rough, beautiful, chilling, warm (yes, both chilling & warm), spare and rich, terrifying and funny. Dock makes his banjo sound alternately like Judgment Day & payday. Necessary for fans of old-time music.