Nic McPhee
University of Minnesota, Morris
The eighty-four recordings in this set were made between 1927, when electronic recording made possible accurate music reproduction, and 1932 when the Depression halted folk music sales. During this five year period American music still retained some of the regional qualities evident in the days before the phonograph, radio and talking picture had tended to integrate local types.-- from Harry Smith's original notes for the Anthology
In the early 50's an inveterate and eccentric record collector, field recorder, and film maker named Harry Smith put together a collection of 84 old 78 rpm recordings from the late 20's and early 30's, music from the birth of what has since become a mammoth recording industry. That collection was released in 1952 on the Folkways label as the Anthology of American Folk Music. The recordings, all southern and mostly rural, spanned an enormous range of styles and ideas. They also captured as well or better than any other collection I know of that last moment in the U.S. when almost everyone heard and learned music from other people, by watching and listening as people played and sang, instead of listening to and learning from recorded music.
Thirty-five years later the Folkways label was purchased by the Smithsonian Institution to preserve its incredible collection of key recordings. In 1997, forty-five years after Harry Smith's collection first came out on 6 LPs, Smithsonian Folkways re-released Smith's collection on 6 CDs, with cleaned up sound and a reproduction of Smith's original book of notes. They also added several new pieces including a new set of notes, extra CD-ROM material, and a web site. The extensive new book of notes includes updated information on the artists and songs along with several essays (including most of a chapter from Griel Marcus' fine book Invisible republic). As well as being playable as a "regular CD", the sixth CD (3-B) is a CD-ROM and using a computer one can access sound clips, interviews, photos, and lots of information on Harry Smith. The Smithsonian has an Anthology web page (http://www.si.edu/folkways/harry) containing track listings and a few additional materials.
It is a truly great collection and a wonderful window into a world that seems incredibly far away, even alien, despite the fact that the recordings are from this country and this century. It isn't perfect, and there are unfortunate omissions (e.g., no early conjunto), but it's still pretty darn excellent.
In many ways this collection forms the main "text" of the course, and we will spend the majority of the course listening, studying, and discussing Harry Smith's Anthology. The rub is that it's rather expensive (over $80), especially given that each of the 6 CDs only has about 45 minutes of music on it (the length of the corresponding LP from the 50's). To make things worse, the bookstore can't get their money back on copies they order and don't sell. As a result they've chosen not to stock any and have instead asked that interested students special order it (just ask a clerk); they expect 2-3 day delivery time. This can also be purchased from a variety of other sources, including most major on-line vendors.
To help you decide whether you want to buy it, and as a resource for people who decide the price tag is just too steep, I've had a copy been put on 72 hour reserve. It's available in pieces, i.e., each of the six CDs can be checked out separately, as can both Smith's original 1952 notes and the 1997 notes written for the reissue. The track listings at the Smithsonian Anthology web page are useful if you're checking a CD out and want to know what they heck you're listening to.
If a lot people end up sharing the library copy then 72 hour reserve may be too long; let me know if there's trouble checking it out and I'll change it to 2 hour reserve. In the meantime please try to keep pieces for as brief a time as possible to accomplish your task.
End of FYS: Anthology of American Folk Music
Feel free to send me some mail:
mcphee@morris.umn.eduLast Updated: 27-Aug-99
Unless otherwise indicated, all material in these Web pages Copyright 1999, Nic McPhee. These materials may be redistributed provided that this notice remain attached and intact. Under no circumstances can this material be sold or distributed for compensation of any kind without prior written permission from the author.