Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965 [Box set]

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 26, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2006
• Number of Discs: 3
• 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: Smithsonian Folkways
• ASIN: B000H4W90S
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #80,957 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

In the early '60s, during the great Folk Scare, an organization called the Friends of Old Time Music (Ralph Rinzler, Izzy Young, Mike Seeger, Jean Ritchie, and John Cohen) brought some of the era's best folk, blues, and bluegrass performers to New York City. A number of them made their debut concerts there between 1961 and 1965, the period covered by this 3-CD set. Some of them are legends (Fred McDowell, Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, Doc Watson) while others are lesser lights (Annie Bird, Joseph Spence, Fiddlin' Arthur Smith). Throughout this compilation, the sound quality varies, and not all is optimum. But even then, there's no denying such thrills as hearing Maybelle Carter announce she's about to perform the first song the original Carter Family recorded in 1927 ("Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow"). Often it's the little-known material or artists who deliver the biggest punch: Ed Young and Emma Ramsay running a shiver up your spine on the mostly a cappella blues dialogue "Chevrolet" or Jesse Fuller, the one-man band, proving a big, commanding presence on "Stranger Blues." Of the 55 tracks, only two have been previously released. All of them carry an air of excitement, as if everybody involved knew the winds of change were about to blow. Indeed, these concerts and others in the series made an enormous impression on rising stars of the genre, including a young transplanted Minnesotan born Robert Zimmerman. "You heard records where you could," Bob Dylan said in 2001, "but mostly you heard other performers... Clarence Ashley... Dock Boggs... You could see those people live and in person." Now you can hear what he heard, too. --Alanna Nash

Product Description

From 1961 to 1965, New York City's trailblazing Friends of Old Time Music presented 14 concerts that brought dozens of legendary traditional musicians before city audiences for the first time. This "folk arrival" changed the course of American folk music, expanding the vision of the Folk Song Revival and leaving an indelible mark on the musical landscape. For Friends of Old Time Music, Peter K. Siegel, who personally recorded most of the concerts, handpicked 55 tracks from the original master tapes. They include the first concert appearances by Doc Watson, Roscoe Holcomb, and Joseph Spence, and the triumphant return visits to New York by Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt, who had made classic recordings in the city during the 1920s.

3 CDs of live concert recordings, 55 tracks (53 previously unreleased), accompanied by a richly illustrated 60-page book

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have For Fans of Music, October 17, 2006

By 

Eli B. Smith (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965 (Audio CD)

This is a must have for musicians and fans of music alike. It is a collection of first rate, awesome music, with great audio fidelity, pictures and liner notes. It is also a document of a little known organization, the Friends of Old Time Music, which has had a huge positive effect on American culture. The series of concerts, presented by the FOTM, cronicled and sampled from in this box were an early and major step in introducing not just the songs themselves but the true musical styles of Southern traditional music to an urban audience in the North and to the population as a whole.

The music displays an artistry, debth of vision and advanced vocal and instrumental technique that is extraordinary. Up until these concerts the broadly influential "folk revival" in the North had been characterized by sanitized and simplified (and some would say bastardized) versions of these Southern traditional and vernacular songs. The concerts presented by the Friends of Old Time Music gave reality to this old-time, blues, pre-blues, carribean and bluegrass music, as played live and in person by some of its foremost artists. This inspired a broader section of the population to develope a sensitivity to the style and really learn to play and appreciate the music.

For me, the debate that this collection of music wades into, and which the Friends of Old Time Music was wading into in the early 60's, was whether and to what extent a song can be separated from its style. If you love this kind of music already, or are just getting into it listen for the style of the music, how it is ornamented and executed. A song cannot really be separated from its style. For musicians: learn the style and innovate within the tradition. You can't really get out of it anyway, might as well check it out as much as you can.

- Eli Smith

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars truly great music, February 6, 2007

By 

Emily "Emily" (New York City) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965 (Audio CD)

This is a beautiful piece of art. The voices are raw and real and the rhythm and tone of the instrumentals are terrific. Sorry am I gushing? The box set itself is gorgeous and the liner notes really tell a great tale. There are some CD's that you just want to download a couple of songs and forget the rest, this set isn't one of those. I love the whole thing. I can remember my father playing some of these songs with his friends, howling some of the harmonies. I remember the words of some of the songs I haven't heard anywhere else and probably would have lost forever if I hadn't bought this. I got one for my brother too, so he could remember.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars FOTM - Folk Arrival 1961-1965, January 10, 2007

By 

William Stringer (Long Beach, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: Friends of Old Time Music: The Folk Arrival 1961 - 1965 (Audio CD)

This is a series or recordings made by the Friends of Old Time Music (FOTM) in NY in the early sixties. FOTM was formed by Ralph Rinzler, Izzy Young, Mike Seeger, Jean Ritchie, and John Cohen. These recordings have several well known people/groups (Maybelle Carter, Fred McDowell, the Stanley Brothers, and Bill Monroe and his Blue Grass Boys), however, there are many "unknowns" like Doc Watson and Roscoe Holcomb. There is also some performers that had played in NY in the 1920's who have returned (Mississippi John Hurt and Dock Boggs). The quality of the recording leaves much to be desired, but these recordings are very up close and personal with the audience. You get the feeling you are back in NY in the 1960's sitting in a smokey club. This works better for the smaller and one person acts, and probably less well for Bill Monroe and his group. The very least known of these artists (Ed Young and Emma Ramsay and Jesse Fuller) put on quite a show playing the blues. I think you will enjoy the banjo, mandolin, and guitar playing of these excellent artists.
I would recommend this album as a slice of the Americana folk scene, but I am not sure you will play them (3 CDs) over and over again. It is more of a one or two time romp! This CD set is best enjoyed at home rather than in your car since the liner notes are excellent and the pictures stunning (unless you can miss all your fellow drivers while reading in the car... :^)