CD-Charts Position 1
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Good For What Ails You: Music of the Medicine Shows 1926-1937

by: Pink Anderson, Gid Tanner, Gus Cannon, Emmett Miller, Charlie Poole, Dallas String Band, Grant Brothers, Uncle Dave Macon, Beans Hambone, Clarence Ashley, Blue Ridge Mountain Entertainers, Gwen Foster, Carolina Tar Heels

Release Date June 05, 2006
A rich 2 disc seam of American musical history, presented with a gorgeous booklet containing liner notes, photographs and essays on the phenomenon of medicine show music. May seem like a minority interest item, but if you like early blues or bluegrass there is plenty here for you to enjoy. There is even a version (the original?) of Tell it to me, the song done so well by Old Crow Medicine show. I have given it 4 stars out of 5 only because of the price. JSP records knock out well remastered 4 disc sets of this kind of stuff for half the price (though their liner notes are not is this league).

CD-Charts Position 2
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R. Crumb's Heroes of Blues, Jazz, and Country

from: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Release Date October 06, 2006
Knowing the prices that Robert Crumb's work commands (try getting hold of a copy of his illustrated CD "That's What I Call Sweet Music" and you'll see what I mean), when I first saw this advertised I thought that the price must have been entered incorrectly, but no! Just imagine, a 240 page hardback book, illustrated in colour on high quality paper, with an accompanying 21-track CD, for less than you'd expect to pay for either on its own. The book (and CD), falls into three distinct parts, and three different techniques have been used to produce the illustrations.

I'm familiar with the jazz figures, and my comments therefore concentrate on that aspect. The first is that some of these choices are extremely idiosyncratic. Many (Beiderbecke, ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 3
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American Primitive Vol.1: Raw Pre-War Gospel 1926-1936

by: Various Artists

Release Date October 10, 2005
All I can say is that the music contained within this album has had a profund effect on me. An incredible collection of raw and uncompromising power and beauty. It is almost too much emotion to take in one sitting as track upon track builds to create a stunning collection. Volume 2 is excellent also,(purchased it the day after hearing this).The only other collection of comparable power is the Dave Godin Deep Soul series and praise does not come higher than that,

CD-Charts Position 4
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The Stuff That Dreams Are Made of

by: Various Artists

Release Date April 03, 2006
All I can say is that the music contained within this album has had a profund effect on me. An incredible collection of raw and uncompromising power and beauty. It is almost too much emotion to take in one sitting as track upon track builds to create a stunning collection. Volume 2 is excellent also,(purchased it the day after hearing this).The only other collection of comparable power is the Dave Godin Deep Soul series and praise does not come higher than that,

CD-Charts Position 5
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Music From the Lost Provinces: Old-Time Stringbands From Ashe County, North Carolina & Vicinity 1927-1931

by: Frank Blevins, G.B. Grayson, Henry Whitter, North Carolina Ridge Runners, Woodie Brothers, Jack Reedy, Hill Billies, Ephraim Woodie, Carolina Night Hawks, Smyth County Ramblers

Release Date August 01, 2005
All I can say is that the music contained within this album has had a profund effect on me. An incredible collection of raw and uncompromising power and beauty. It is almost too much emotion to take in one sitting as track upon track builds to create a stunning collection. Volume 2 is excellent also,(purchased it the day after hearing this).The only other collection of comparable power is the Dave Godin Deep Soul series and praise does not come higher than that,

CD-Charts Position 6
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Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow! Vintage Fiddle Music 1927-1935: Blues, Jazz, Stomps, Shuffles & Rags

by: Big Bill Broonzy, Charlie Pierce, Andrew Baxter, Clifford Hayes, Bubbling-Over Five, Memphis Jug Band, Mississippi Sheiks, Peg Leg Howell, Frank Stokes, Big Joe Williams

Release Date September 17, 2001
A fantastic collection of old-time music, "Folks, He Sure Do Pull Some Bow!" captures vintage fiddle music at that rare crossroads where the blues, jazz, and something that would one day be called folk were all in their infancy. For fiddle virtuosos performing between 1927 and 1935, quite simply, anything goes. Banjo Ikey Robinson's red hot "My Four Reasons" swings with humor and pizzazz, the State Street Boys' "Rustlin' Man" features the down-and-out blues vocals and fiddling of Big Bill Broonzy , and the Mississippi Sheiks' jazzy, but blues-inspired "Lazy Lazy River" musically straddles both sides of the Mason Dixon Line. For many listeners, the more esoteric tracks will stick out: Bo Chatman (a.k.a. double-entendre blues king Bo Carter) is heard ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 7
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American Primitive Vol.2: Pre-War Revenants 1897-1939

by: Various Artists

Release Date October 10, 2005
This one's special. If you're digging into the roots of American music for the pleasure of hearing a more raw set of emotions than you'll hear in latter days, I suspect you'll get more out of this double cd than the six cds of Harry Smith's anthology. Homer Quincy Smith's two tracks from 1897 alone are worth the price of admission. Seriously spine-tingling music and singing that bring tears to my jaded, atheist eyes. Tracks by Elvie Thomas and Mattie May Thomas also stand out for me, but the diversity of music, and the caring and thoughtful selection by Revenant make this one a gem. I also reccomend, for similar reasons, Dust-To-Digital's "Goodbye, Babylon".

CD-Charts Position 8
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Anthology Of American Folk Music (Edited By Harry Smith)

by: Various Artists

Release Date January 12, 1998
Some of the songs in this massive collection make you shake your head with wonder - surely this one can't have been released as a record for people to buy in a record shop? Imagine the conversation from 1929 - "Excuse me, have you got I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground, by Bascom Lamar Lunsford?" "Why certainly young sir, it's right here, that'll be 30 cents!" But apparently ALL of these songs, ballads, fiddle tunes, gospel shouts, shape-note choirs, blues, string bands, cajuns and hot sermonising were indeed issued on 78s, and the public did buy them. Well - the rural folk in the Southern states, not those sophisticates in New York.
A guy called Ralph Peer found out by accident that white people down in the South would buy records by Uncle Bunt Stephens in their ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 9
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Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music Vol.4

by: Various Artists

Release Date March 05, 2007
In 1952 Harry Smith released the hugely influential "Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music Volumes 1-3". This album catalogued a huge variety of folk music from the 1920s and 30s, some from well known artists like Blind Lemon Jefferson and The Carter Family and others from ultra-obscure artists, such as Hoyt Ming & His Pep-Steppers. This is currently available as a 6-CD box set.
In 2000, the Revenant label released for the first time the fourth volume of this epic set as a double CD. The formula is still the same, a mix of the well known (eg The Carter Family who appear three times on this setlist) to more esoteric artists like Al Hopkins and his Buckle Busters. The result is a wonderfully entertaining, eclectic mixture of songs covering contemporary politics ... Read More:

CD-Charts Position 10
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Dirt Farmer

by: Levon Helm

Release Date October 22, 2007
Best Helm in years this is rock with goose bumps!Its a long time since I've heard such brilliant vocals, instruments and lyrics plus backing vocals.