The New Lost City Ramblers - Early Years 1958-62 - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

In the original notes to this recording, Mike Seeger writes, InchThe songs on this album were recorded by commercial companies and the Library of Congress in the southeastern mountains between 1925 and 1935, and show the first attempts of the hill musicians to 'make a hit' with old traditional songs that had been in the mountains since pioneer days.Inch

As Southern mountaineers and farmers moved into an industrialized era of coal mines and weaving mills their rural songs evolved to express the confrontation with new modes of life and the ensuing conflicts. This album chronicles just that through songs originating in the 1920s and 1930s demonstrating a mix of styles and influences brought to older folk modes with modern subject matters (machines, cars etc.). Producer John Cohen says in the liner notes InchThe study of folklore is not simply to preserve the past, but to make the present more comprehensible.Inch

In this album's liner notes, John Cohen writes, InchAfter seven years of performing, The New Lost City Ramblers play in a great many country styles. We have each developed our own individual preferences, so one will recognize greater polar ties here, from old time music to some of the more modern sounds.Inch