Excellent value, budget-priced new collection of x20 (various artists) CD's in a cardboard lift-off lid box
Sometime after the Great War of 1914-1918 the American music business really started to get going. Much of what was recorded is now forgotten, whilst the most historically important work was being done away from the mainstream with pioneering record producers and enthusiastic entrepreneurs recording the music that would become the building blocks for the greatest sounds of the latter part of the century. Men such as Ralph Peer, Frank Walker and Don Law saw both a commercial and artistic value in recording the music that was popular at dances and juke joints in the outlying south.
These recordings, by the black and white poor would form the basis of rock and roll and country music with its own roots in such diverse forms as prison work chants, African griots and European folk ballads. This is vital, raw and heartfelt music, capturing warmth and joy, but also troubles and heartache. It is music that reflects the lives of its makers and their time whilst remaining some of the most influential ever recorded, it is the heart of Americana, and this collection on 20 CDs gives you an exceptional entry point into its heart and soul.
