The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited

[Adam]

Hi,

I'll start with a bit of spam, if relevent spam. As mentioned in another thread, I co-produced a couple of DVDs that are in a box set coming out in a month.

The other thread:

http://www.organissimo.org/forum/index.php...mp;#entry559104

The Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited

Here's the Amazon link:

http://www.amazon.com/Harry-Smith-Project-...1103936?ie=UTF8

CD Disc: 1

1. Old Dog Blue - David Johansen

2. Prison Cell Blues - Steve Earle

3. James Alley Blues - Wilco

4. Frankie - Beth Orton

5. Last Fair Deal Gone Down - Beck

6. Sugar Baby - Kate & Anna McGarrigle

7. The Butcher's Boy - Elvis Costello

8. Way Down The Old Plank Road - David Thomas

9. The Coo Coo Bird - Richard Thompson

10. My Baby Done Left Me - Ed Sanders

11. John The Revelator - Nick Cave

12. Oh Death Where Is Thy Sting? - Gary Lucas

13. Dry Bones - Sonic Youth & Roswell Rudd

14. No Depression In Heaven - Garth & Maude Hudson

15. K.C. Moan - Geoff Muldaur

16. When The Great Ship Went Down - Gavin Friday

CD Disc: 2

1. A Lazy Farmer Boy - Robin Holcomb

2. Sail Away Lady - Van Dyke Parks

3. Poor Boy Blues - Geoff Maldaur

4. Spike Driver Blues - Marianne Faithful

5. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Lou Reed

6. Ommie Wise Pt. 1 & 2 - Elvis Costello

7. Fatal Flower Garden - Gavin Friday

8. I Wish I Was A Mole In The Ground - Eliza Carthy

9. Fishing Blues - David Thomas

10. He Got Better Things For You - Mary Margaret O'Hara

11. Harry Goes A Courtin' - Mocean Worker

12. The House Carpenter - Todd Rundgren

13. The Song Of Love - Bill Frisell

14. Shine On Me - Nick Cave

15. James Alley Blues - David Johnson

16. Single Girl, Married Girl - Petra Haden

DISC THREE (DVD): Concert Film – The Harry Smith Project Live

1. Elvis Costello - THE BUTCHER’S BOY

2. David Johansen- OLD DOG BLUE

3. Nick Cave - JOHN THE REVELATOR

4. Beck - LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN

5. Kate & Anna McGarrigle - SUGAR BABY

6. Ed Sanders - ONE HOT SUMMER NIGHT WITH HARRY SMITH

7. Lou Reed - SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN

8. Beth Orton -FRANKIE

9. Roswell Rudd with Sonic Youth - DRY BONES

10. The Folksmen - OLD JOE’S PLACE

11. Robin Holcomb & Todd Rundgren - THE HOUSE CARPENTER

12. Gavin Friday with Maurice Seezer -WHEN THAT GREAT SHIP WENT DOWN

13. Philip Glass -ÉTUDE NO. 10

14. David Johansen -JAMES ALLEY BLUES

15. Eric Mingus with Gary Lucas -OH DEATH WHERE IS THY STING?

16. Petra Haden - SINGLE GIRL, MARRIED GIRL

17. Richard Thompson with Eliza Carthy - THE COO COO BIRD

18. Bob Neuwirth with Eliza Carthy - I WISH I WAS A MOLE IN THE GROUND

19. Geoff Muldaur - POOR BOY BLUES

20. Don Byron, Percy Heath & Bill Frisell - THIS SONG OF LOVE

21. Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Elvis Costello

OMMIE WISE PART 1 & 2 (WHAT LEWIS DID LAST…)

22. Steve Earle -PRISON CELL BLUES

23. David Thomas - FISHING BLUES

DISC FOUR (DVD): The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music

Prepare for an eclectic musical journey through “The Old, Weird America.” Hal Willner’s Harry Smith Project concerts celebrate the eccentric genius collector and his influential Anthology Of American Folk Music. Instrumental in helping inspire the urban folk revival of the 1960s, the anthology’s continuing impact on modern music is incalculable. Join us for a wild ride through a remarkable musical landscape.

Bonus Features:

Three films by Harry Smith with interactive music selections:

Film #2

Film #7

Film #10

Interactive music selections:

Philip Glass – Étude No. 10

DJ Spooky – HS Tone Poem

Mocean Worker – Harry Goes A Courtin’ (The Mowo! Live Hootenanny Throw-Down)

Anyway, that's the spam. I of course think it's great, and hope that you all will check it out.

I think the Byron/Heath/Frisell THIS SONG OF LOVE is rather lovely. I also think that David Johansen & Elvis Costello are both in excellent form. And the standout for me, in addition to Lou Reed, just might be Roswell Rudd with Sonic Youth. If you have any questions, ask away.

[Chuck Nessa]

I find the entire Harry Smith idolatry silly.

Nothing wrong with the music.

[Alexander]

Well, I'm looking forward to this! I love all four volumes of the Anthology. Nothing to do with Harry Smith (I think that idolatry is silly too). I just love the music and I'm interested in hearing with these artists do with it...

[Chuck Nessa]

Well, I'm looking forward to this! I love all four volumes of the Anthology. Nothing to do with Harry Smith (I think that idolatry is silly too). I just love the music and I'm interested in hearing with these artists do with it...

I had/have most of the music elsewhere.

[Adam]

Hi all,

There were 5 concerts, each over 4 hours long, so there are lots (and lots and lots) of performers and music that didn't make it into the box. Three concerts (at Nick Cave's Meltdown in London, and 2 in NYC) were in 1999, and the other two were at UCLA in 2001.

I think Stampfel was at one or both in NYC, performing with Sanders (I only attended one of them, in Los Angeles, and he was not at that one).

Carla Bozulich would have been great, but I don't know if she was on the "reinterpretive radar" in 1999/2001. Her "Red Headed Stranger" was later. And indeed, I only heard of her after 2001, although I had a Geraldine Fibbers album. But I had nothing to do with choosing the line-ups - Hal gets all the credit & blame for that. I'm sure some people were also invited but couldn't make it.

The selects were made here for peformances. I think they are quite good to excellent.

I also don't like any idolatry. Except occasionally for the occasional Nessa Record performer or producer. :-)

But I was hired by the Harry Smith Archives to work on it all, so obviously there is a Harry Smith bias. I also think he was a creative and marvelous madman. I hope that the doc on disc 4 will convey that successfully, and will introduce more people to his films and art, and also to a bunch of great musicians

We'll just disagree on the Am. interpretive abilities of some of these folks.

But if you don't care for Greil Marcus, stay away from the doc on disc 4. :-)

I would think that some will be available individually some day from one of the download services.

Don't worry, I don't take offense at any of the responses; I rather enjoy it. When you all can hear it, we can discuss song interpretations.

[medjuck]

Been listening to the music in my car for the last two days and just watched the documentary. Will watch the concert disc soon but it looks like a lot of the concert footage was excerpted in the documentary. Interesting how the music affects me differently when I see the perforance rather than just listen to it.

BTW I met Ranni once. Had dim sum with Ron Mann and a bunch of other people. Were you by any chance there Adam?

[AllenLowe]

looks like an interesting project; the whole roots thing is worthy of some deeper examination, as it has become something of a bandwagon thing. Still, if the music is good the music is good, and sometimes you just need a way of getting people to pay attention. Ditto with Clem on Greil Marcus; Marcus wrote one great book, I think, and than proceeded, intellectually, to jump the shark. He just works too hard at it and has succumbed to stardom, in the media/commentary sense. And some of his stuff is just plain silly.

As I said, I have some more thoughts on the whole "roots" phenomenon. My main observation is that, from my experience, few of the contemporary musicians who profess to like the deeper aspects of the American vernacular have really listened to a lot of it (Rudd, by the way, is a notable exception). I try to deal with this somewhat on a CD I have coming out in January - I refer to contemporary musicians in their generally shallow deference to roots musical heroes as name-droppers in a post-modernist gossip column. Obligatory reference, big on surface, not a lot of depth. Look at the NPR show American Routes - same three musicians played every week (Ray Charles, Alan Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, I kid you not - almost) - American Music History Light, I call it -

Edited November 15, 2006 by AllenLowe