Best of the Down Home “Awesome Out of Print Records” series vol. 1

Hello everybody- well for the past couple months pretty much all I’ve been doing here is digitizing and posting up old out of print LPs from my collection, for what has been known as Down Home Radio’s “Awesome Out of Print Records” series. I’m gonna be doing that in fits and starts from here on out, but I think I’m gonna call this first round complete and start back producing regular episodes of Down Home Radio. I’ve got a lot of good interviews waiting to come out!

On this show I have put together a play list of a bunch of my favorite tracks drawn from all the records I’ve posted up. It was hard to choose which tracks to play, because there are so many great ones on these albums! This show serves as a sampler, and you can go back and download all the records and listen to them in their entirety!

Track list for today’s episode:

Oh Mother It Hurts Me So: Traditional Music from Central Pennsylvania

Cover of the LP: Oh Mother It Hurts Me So
Click Here to Download

Here’s the latest addition to the Down Home “Awesome Out-of-Print Records” series, and I think the last for a little while since I want to get back to producing regular radio shows, I got a lot of good interviews that are waiting to be posted.

This record is great! Its a collection of fiddle, harmonica and vocal music (sometimes accompanied by 4-string banjo and guitar) from central Pennsylvania recorded by Ray Allen in 1979 and originally released by the Union County Historical Society’s Oral Traditions Project. This is not your typical “old-time music;” the musicians represented here are the decedents not only of early Scots-Irish settlers, but also of immigrants from Germany and Italy and the songs and tunes they play reflect that in a wonderful way. Great stuff! And I love that cover photo.

As usual, I have selected this LP from my record collection, played it into my computer, chopped up the tracks, scanned the front and back of the LP, and here it is!

See below for track information:

Big Bill Broonzy: Live at Club Montmarte, Copenhagen 1956

Big Bill Broonzy Live in Copenhagen 1956
Click Here to Download

While looking through my record collection the other day, I realized that this had to be the next addition to the Down Home “Awesome Out-of-Print Records” series. This record is awesome. I first heard it coming over the PA before a show my band was playing at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, Poland in 2004! All I heard that day was Big Bill’s version of “The Glory of Love,” but I was blown away. Eventually I found out that it was from this record and tracked down a copy. What a revelation. This is possibly my favorite Big Bill. Maybe that’s because his set at this live show is kind of a greatest hits of folk music, so he does a bunch of favorites. But he does them so well! There’s great versions of songs you might not think he had covered like “Take This Hammer,” “Midnight Special,” “I Get the Blues When It Rains,” and even “Sixteen Tons”!

See below for notes from the back of the record and more track information.

Traditional Music From The Cumberland Plateau Vol. 1 & 2

Traditional Music From The Cumberland Plateau

Here’s another record in Down Home Radio’s continuing “Awesome Out-of-Print Records” series. This is a collection of field recordings made in Tennessee in the 1970’s by folklorist Bobby Fulcher. Included here are volumes 1 & 2. If anybody has vol. 3, send it along!

This album is actually available to buy, please check out Sandrock Recordings!

www.sandrockrecordings.com

These are incredible records, and very hard to find. They were digitized and sent to me by Norm over at www.juneberry78s.com, an awesome website which is well worth checking out. Huge Thanks to Norm!

I first heard brief selections from these records while listening to a podcast of an interview with Bobby Fulcher.
When Bobby played a bit of one of his field recordings of Retta Spradlin, I was completely floored and had to find the record as soon as possible! She sings and plays banjo and is incredible.  The whole record is great but she really hit me hard.

Another of my favorite musicians is banjo player Virgil Anderson, also recorded by Bobby Fulcher.  Anderson appears on three cuts in this collection.  Fulcher released a full LP of Anderson which is really great.  I have posted it here: Virgil Anderson – On The Tennessee Line.