On this show, I will let Harry Smith, the compiler and editor of this series, explain the purpose of this entire series:

“Only through recordings is it possible to learn of those developments that have been so characteristic of American music, but which are unknowable through written transcription alone. Then too, records of the type found in the present set played a large part in stimulating these historic changes by making easily available to each other the rhythmically and verbally specialized musics of groups living in mutual social and cultural isolation.”

So, there it is, in a nutshell. This compendium of ‘songs’ is no less than a key to understanding the roots of American music culture.

Featured tracks include:

The Coo Coo Bird – Clarence Ashley

East Virginia – Buell Kazee

Minglewood Blues – Cannons Jug Stompers

One Morning in May – Didier Herbert

James Alley – Richard Brown

Sugar Baby – “Dock” Boggs

I Wish I Was a Mole – Bascom Lunsford

Mountaineer’s Courtship – Mr. and Mrs. Stoneman

Merchant’s Daughter – Stoneman Family

Bob Lee Junior – Memphis Jug Band