1. St. James Hospital
2. Old Chisholm Trial
3. Ranging Buffalo (The Buffalo Skinners) - Pete Harris
4. Western Cowboy - Leadbelly
5. Western Cowboy
6. St. James Hospital - James "Iron Head" Baker
7. Jack of Diamonds - Pete Harris
8. He Rambled - Pete Harris
9. My Pretty Little Yellow Gal (My Yellow Gal)
10. Pick a Bale of Cotton - Alan Lomax
11. That's All Right, Baby
12. Old Aunt Dinah
13. Square Dance Calls (Little Liza Jane) - Pete Harris
14. East Texas Rag - Smith Casey
15. When I Was a Little Boy
16. Rabbit in the Garden
17. Old Aunt Dinah - Henry Truvillion
18. Let's Go A-Hunting (Come on Boys and Let's Go to Huntin') - Henry Truvillion
19. Walk-A-Dolly Walk - Henry Truvillion
20. Fox Chase - Alan Lomax
21. Old Joe Clark
22. Long Summer Day
23. Log Rolling
24. Buzzard Song (Old King Buzzard)
25. Boll Weevil
26. Been on the Cholly So Long - Don Mooney
27. Dallas Railway
28. Traveling Man
29. Train - Alan Lomax
South Carolina
Bahamas 1935
Bahamas 1935 Volume 2
Mississippi: The Blues Lineage
Mississippi: Saints and Sinners
Georgia
Big Brazos
Black Appalachia
Virginia and the Piedmont
Alabama
I bought the entire Deep River Of Song series all at once. So many surprises awaited me! Some discs I thought about not buying because maybe I wouldn't be into them, and some I assumed I'd love. This was one of the discs I was iffy on. Until I heard it.
This and Big Brazos are two of the best discs in the series, in my opinion. They are also two I originally thought maybe I wouldn't like. Moses "Clear Rock" Platt is great. I particularly love his Old Chisholm Trail, which happens to be the source for Mike Seeger's Whoopin' Up Cattle on his excellent solo cd, Southern Banjo Sounds. James "Ironhead" Baker's St. James Hospital, which was clearly the source for Doc Watson and Tony Rice's excellent versions (on the Doc Watson and Native American albums, respectively), haunts me. Ironhead is a true highlight of this disc.
This disc also contains my one exposure to "eephing". An odd vocal thing that defies description. In terms of musicianship... guitar playing... Smith Casey is the hidden gem of this collection. His East Texas Rag is sublime acoustic slide guitar. He certainly could have earned more tracks here. I also particularly enjoy Phineas "Flatfoot" Rockmore's Boll Weevil done to a familiar Frankie & Johnny melody.
Of course if you are into American history (the true history, not the white-washed garbage that still gets taught in American schools) then these recordings become all that more meaningful. Imagine a song that dates back to slavery being sung by a group of prisoners in the 1930's, one of the harshest era's within the Jim Crow Era.
I love this disc, but the official review on this site is correct. It may only appeal to roots fanatics. I fear most of it is just too rough for the modern listener who is used to everything being more polished. I just want people to take that into account. I'd hate to recommend something and find out someone was disappointed when they heard it for themselves. If you don't like field-recordings of true real-people folk music, then this is probably not for you.