Music Of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics 1927-1937

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 19, 1995)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yazoo
• ASIN: B000000G8P
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #284,563 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Called To The Foreign Field - Alfred Karnes

2. Pretty Polly - B.F. Shelton

3. The Ways Of The World - W.M. Stepp

4. The Unfortunate Brakeman - Kentucky Ramblers

5. I Want To Go Where Jesus Is - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Quartet

6. L And N Rag - Alex Hood's Railroad Boys

7. I Am Bound For The Promised Land - Alfred Karnes

8. Bonaparte's Retreat - W.M. Stepp

9. With My Mother Dead And Gone - Kentucky Ramblers

10. A Little Talk With Jesus - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers

11. Ned Went A Fishin' - Walker's Corbin Ramblers

12. Darling Cora - B.F. Shelton

13. Callahan - W.M. Stepp

14. Ginseng Blues - Kentucky Ramblers

15. If The Light Has Gone Out Of Your Soul - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers

16. We Shall All Be Reunited - Alfred Karnes

17. The Old Hen She Cackled - W.M. Stepp/Mae Pucket

18. Do Not Wait Till I'm Laid Beneath The Clay - Kentucky Ramblers

19. Oh Molly Dear - B.F. Shelton

20. Don't Grieve After Me - Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Quartet

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Not for Garth Brooks fans (see previous reviewer), April 15, 2004

By 

wilmoth houdini (Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music Of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics 1927-1937 (Audio CD)

The previous negative review highlights an interesting point.
This music may not be suitable for people who don't listen to much "pre-Elvis" music. Shania Twain fans may be disturbed by the rawness of the music. "Terribly played, Terribly sang?"
Oh please, don't be silly. I play guitar, banjo, mandolin and fiddle, and this music, while raw and at times rudimentary, is entirely credible, impressive and has depth and emotional resonance that will be lost only on the souless. A related point to this, is that this CD should appeal to vintage blues fans. The musical interaction between black and white styles is immediately evident, and fans of powerful artists such as Charley Patton and Skip James should enjoy this CD, as it is mercifully free of much of the pathetic hokey white novelty aspects that have turned you off this music in the past. B.F Shelton, like his close contemporary Dock Boggs, has a dark savage power that will appeal to fans of the "hard stuff" and not family strummalong kumbaya singing kingston trio wannabes.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dig the OLD Breed, Children., December 26, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Music Of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics 1927-1937 (Audio CD)

Alright, ya gotta hear this. This is truly great raw, beautiful American music, much of it sacred, all of it sublimely primitive (in the best possible meaning for primitive, that is "...work marked by directness and naivete...typically rough or simple...handmade and anitique...a work of art produced by a ("self-taught") artist", paraphrased, Langenscheidt's New College Merriam-Webster ENGLISH Dictionary,pg.926). Dig: BF Shelton's Hypnotic Banjo-playin'and far-off vocalizin', Alfred Karnes' maudlin otherworldliness, WM Stepp's vigourous, virtouosity on th' Viddle, and the saintly syncopations of the often almost crazed Ernest Phipps and His Holiness Quartet/Singers. Trust me, kats, this is the real deal, astonishing stuff. Buy it, make the head honchos at YAZOO the rich bastards they deserve to be. AMEN.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Timeless, terrific music from the land of my birth..., December 9, 2005

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Music Of Kentucky: Early American Rural Classics 1927-1937 (Audio CD)

This is a really great record. Sometimes old-timey collections can be a little bit of a chore to get through, but this one is really fun, a record you can have on in the background and be delighted by. Especially nice are the robust, almost rowdy, gospel recordings made by the gruff-sounding Alfred G. Karnes and Ernest Phipps during the legendary Bristol recording sessions of 1927-28.

Contrary to the grouchy comments of the guy from Pennsyvania (below), the sound quality on many of these tracks is actually quite good, and the music is great. Besides, dude, what do you think Bill Monroe and all his buddies were listening to when they created modern bluegrass? This stuff. That's why it's so cool and so important... and if you can get in the right frame of mind, that's also why it's so fun!