Various Artists
Harry Smith Project: Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited
Shout Factory

When Harry Smith’s Anthology of American Folk Music was released in 1957, Allen Ginesberg called it a “historical bomb.” The recordings defined the bourgeois hegemony… err… “urban folk revival” of the next two decades, and, more resonantly, they helped establish the dialogues between vernacular style and postmodern America that continue to define our popular music.

The 1997 reissue never really achieved the revivalist success of its predecessor or, as Aaron Fox noted, O’ Brother Where Art Thou?’s, partially because the tracks were too esoteric, lo-fi and strange to be commercially successful, but also because—unlike those two releases (and most box sets of their kind)—there was no crises of national identity to exploit, and, consequently, no heightened sense of nationalism or cultural nostalgia to appeal to. Still, Smith’s collection remains a unique venue: one where ghosts and minstrels can meet, and the bizarre sound of (mostly white) pop musicologists singing worried songs from an “old, weird, America” is always a bizarre one. In this third installment—highlighting a series of concerts which paid tribute to Smith’s legacy—the static between present and past is stronger than ever. Hipster Scientologist Beck’s funky take on Robert Johnson’s “Last Fair Deal Gone Down” does as much with a few instruments as he’s done on most sound collages, and Wilco’s “James Alley Blues” come off as sweet and slinky as Tom Thumb’s. The centerpiece, however, is Van Dyke Parks’ beautiful transformation of “Sail Away Lady” into modern chamber music. Maybe it takes a national treasure to evoke one.

Only registered users can write comments.
Please login or register.

Powered by AkoComment 2.0!