Anthology of American Folk Music (Edited by Harry Smith)

Reissue - Originally released in 1953 as 3 volumes of 2 LPs each, this historic collection is now available as 3 separately packaged boxes containing 6 remastered CDs. Rare photos, interviews and essays are also included. "The most influential and magical document of the American urban folk revival." Billboard.

This impressive--and frankly, fun--musical document is still sending out shock waves almost 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release. The Smithsonian's six-CD reissue is painstakingly researched, annotated, and packaged (even boasting an enhanced disc for the techno-capable). Unlike field recorders, eccentric filmmaker/collector/musicologist Harry Smith assembled the Anthology from commercially released (though obscure) 78 rpm discs issued between 1927 and 1935. Its broad scope--from country blues to Cajun social music to Appalachian murder ballads--was monumentally influential, setting musicians like Bob Dylan down the path to folk fandom. The White House started its own national music library with the Anthology; anyone with more than a passing interest in American roots music should do the same. --Michael Ruby

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