Alexander

Today's update features J.P. Nestor and Norman Edmonds performing "Train On The Island," the last of five work songs in a row.

The Memphis Jug Band return in today's update, performing "K.C. Moan."

Mississippi John Hurt returns in today's update performing "Spike Driver Blues."

Uncle Dave Macon returns in today's update with the second of five "work songs," performing "Buddy Won't You Roll Down The Line."

Today's update features Uncle Dave Macon, one of the greatest showmen of all time, performing "Way Down The Old Plank Road.

Cléoma Breaux and Joseph Falcon, along with fiddler Ophy Breaux, return in today's update performing "C'est Si Triste Sans Lui."

Blind Lemon Jefferson makes the last of his three appearances in today's update, performing "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean."

RIP Harvey. A great writer has passed...

Blind Lemon Jefferson returns in today's update performing "Prison Cell Blues."

Good deal! Excellent music on all three sets.

Today's update features Piedmont blues musician Julius Daniels performing "Ninety-Nine Year Blues."

Today's update features the return of Dock Boggs performing "Country Blues," a varient of the traditional mountain ballad, "Darling Cora."

I used to work as an aide at a facility for the mentally challenged. There was one guy there who was a HUGE Marty Robbins fan. He always referred to Robbins as "Mister Spotlight". Nobody on the staff could figure out why. This guy was obsessed with "Mister Spotlight" in a way that only a mentally cahllenged person could be, if you get my drift. Finally, one day, he had pulled me into his room and been going on about "Mister Spotlight" for about five minutes non-stop, so I had to stop him and ask him, "Rufus, what the hell is this 'Mister Spotlight' thing all about?" Wellsir, Rufus didn't hesitate one second, He walked over to his stack of Marty Robbins records & one by one showed me the Columbia logo one each - front cover, back cover, even on the lables, every onw of the accompanied by an excited, "LOOK! SEE? MISTER SPOTLIGHT!!!!!!". Rufus was genuinely delighted that somebody had taken the time to actually give him an opportunity to explain himself, and as the years passed, I came to better appreciate how he felt. So as far as I'm concerned, it's a spotlight. Rufus made a believer out of me. It is a great story. However, I should point out that Marty Robbins had a syndicated TV show in the '70s called "Marty Robbins Spotlight," which might also have something to do with Rufus' nickname for him...

Cannon's Jug Stompers return in today's update, performing "Feather Bed."

Today's update kicks off the last disc of the original three-volume "Anthology of American Folk Music." Today's selection is the Louisiana-born bluesman, Willard "Ramblin'" Thomas performing "Poor Boy Blues."

Today's update features blues guitarist Sleepy John Estes performing "Expressman Blues," with James "Yank" Rachell on vocal and mandolin and Jab Jones on piano.

No, no...a werehouse is a person who turns into a house during the full moon...

Today's update features the legendary blues artist, Blind Lemon Jefferson performing "Rabbit Foot Blues," the first of three Jefferson recordings on the "Anthology."

Today's update features the return of Cajun vocalist/guitarist Cléoma Breaux and her husband, accordianist Joseph Falcon, performing "Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme (The Old Drunkard and his Wife)."

The Carter Family return in today's update, performing "Single Girl, Married Girl," a song from the historic Bristol Sessions...

One of my favorite pieces of Wallace non-fiction...

Today's update features Will Shade's Memphis Jug Band performing "Bob Lee Junior Blues."

The Stoneman Family returns (with Uncle Eck Dunford on fiddle) in today's update performing "The Spanish Merchant's Daughter," another humorous dialogue.

I had a turntable and a cassette player in my room during high school, but I honestly didn't buy much music back then. I didn't work during the school year, so I never had any money (and my allowance always went towards comic books). What music I did have was all copied from a friend of mine onto 90 minute cassettes. Then my stereo died and my parents bought me a little boombox, which (along with my walkman) was my only means of listening to music until my senior year of college. That year, I got a stereo with an unbelievably cheap top-loading CD player for my birthday. I did already own a few CDs, however. There were some albums (like "Into the Music" and "Common One" by Van Morrison) that were very hard to find on cassette, so I would get them on CD and tape them on a friend's machine. The first four CDs I got when I owned the CD player were in the James Brown "Star Time" box set (which I still have). Then I went on a deliberate mission to upgrade all of my cassettes (that I wanted to upgrade, anyway) onto CD. I would take a bunch of cassettes to Nuggets (a used record store in Boston) and trade them in for store credit. With the credit, I would buy a handful of used CDs. Then I would go home and put the cassettes I had upgraded in a box until I had a big enough pile to trade in and start the cycle anew. So I think I started getting CDs around 1992 or 93.

Today's update features country pioneers Ernest and Hattie Stoneman performing "The Mountaineer's Courtship."