1. Henry Lee
2. Fatal Flower Garden - Nelson
3. The House Carpenter - Traditional
4. Drunkard's Special - Traditional
5. Old Lady and the Devil
6. The Butcher's Boy (The Railroad Boy)
7. The Wagoner's Lad - Traditional
8. King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O - Parker, Charlie
9. Old Shoes and Leggins - Dunford, Eck
10. Willie Moore
11. A Lazy Farmer Boy - Traditional
12. Peg and Awl - Walsh
13. Omie Wise - Grayson, G.B.
14. My Name Is John Johanna
15. Bandit Cole Younger - Crain, Edward L.
16. Charles Giteaux
17. John Hardy Was a Desperate Little Man - Carter, A.P.
18. Gonna Die With My Hammer in My Hand - Traditional
19. Stackalee - Hutchison, Frank
20. White House Blues - Traditional
21. Frankie - Hurt, Mississippi J
22. When That Great Ship Went Down - Traditional
23. Engine 143 - Carter, A.P.
24. Kassie Jones - Lewis, Furry
25. Down on Penny's Farm
26. Mississippi Boweavil Blues
27. Got the Farm Land Blues - Traditional
28. Sail Away Ladies
29. The Wild Wagoner
30. Wake up Jacob - Traditional
31. La Danseuse
32. Georgia Stomp - Baxter, Andrew
33. Brilliancy Medley - Robertson, A.C.
34. Indian War Whoop - Ming, Hoyt "Floyd"
35. Old Country Stomp - Thomas, Henry [1]
36. Old Dog Blue - Jackson, Jim [1]
37. Saut' Crapaud
38. Arcadian One-Step
39. Home Sweet Home - Clifford
40. Newport Blues - Coleman, Bob
41. Moonshiner's Dance (Pt. 1) - Cloutier, Frank
42. You Must Be Born Again - Gates, J.M.
43. Oh Death, Where Is Thy Sting
44. Rocky Road - Traditional
45. Present Joys - Traditional
46. This Song of Love
47. Judgement
48. He Got Better Things for You - Roberts, T.
49. Since I Laid My Burden Down
50. John the Baptist - Parth, Johnny
51. Dry Bones - Traditional
52. John the Revelator - Traditional
53. Little Moses - Carter, A.P.
54. Shine on Me - Phipps, Ernest
55. Fifty Miles of Elbow Room
56. I'm in the Battlefield for My Lord - Rice, Rev. D.C.
57. The Cuckoo - Traditional
58. East Virginia - Traditional
59. Minglewood Blues - Lewis, Noah
60. I Woke up One Morning in May
61. James Alley Blues - Brown, Richard [1]
62. Sugar Baby - Traditional
63. I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground - Traditional
64. The Mountaineer's Courtship
65. The Spanish Merchant's Daughter - Stoneman, Ernest
66. Bob Lee Junior Blues - Clayton, Jennie Mae
67. Single Girl, Married Girl - Carter, A.P.
68. Le Vieux Soulard et Sa Femme
69. Rabbit Foot Blues - Jefferson, Blind Le
70. Expressman Blues - Rachell, James
71. Poor Boy Blues - Thomas, Willard
72. Feather Bed - Cannon, Gus
73. Country Blues - Boggs, Dock
74. 99 Years Blues - Daniels, Julius
75. Prison Cell Blues - Jefferson, Blind Le
76. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean - Jefferson, Blind Le
77. C'Est Si Triste Sans Lui
78. Way Down the Old Plank Road - Traditional
79. Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line - Macon, Uncle Dave
80. Spike Driver Blues - Hurt, Mississippi J
81. K.C. Moan - Blackman, Tewee
82. Train on the Island - Nestor, J.P.
83. The Lone Star Trail - Traditional
84. Fishin' Blues - Thomas, Henry [1]
Amazon.com
This impressive--and frankly, fun--musical document is still sending out shock waves almost 50 years after its original 1952 vinyl release. The Smithsonian's six-CD reissue is painstakingly researched, annotated, and packaged (even boasting an enhanced disc for the techno-capable). Unlike field recorders, eccentric filmmaker/collector/musicologist Harry Smith assembled the Anthology from commercially released (though obscure) 78 rpm discs issued between 1927 and 1935. Its broad scope--from country blues to Cajun social music to Appalachian murder ballads--was monumentally influential, setting musicians like Bob Dylan down the path to folk fandom. The White House started its own national music library with the Anthology; anyone with more than a passing interest in American roots music should do the same. --Michael Ruby More from Smithsonian Folkways
The Harry Smith Connection: A Live Tribute To The Anthology Of American Folk Music | 
Classic Maritime Music from Smithsonian Folkways Recordings | 
Smithsonian Folkways American Roots Collection | 
Classic Mountain Songs from Smithsonian Folkways | 
Classic Blues From Smithsonian Folkways | 
Folkways: The Original Vision |
Album Description
This deluxe 6-CD collector's boxed set contains a 96-page book featuring Harry Smith's original songbook framed by essays by Greil Marcus and other noted writers, musicians, and scholars. Play the enhanced sixth disc on your CD-ROM drive and access historic video footage, rare photos, artist interviews, and additional background information. Edited by Harry Smith. Reissue compiled by the staff of Smithsonian Folkways. Reissue liner notes by Greil Marcus, Neil Rosenberg, Jeff Place, Jon Pankake, Luis Kemnitzer and others. "...the missing link in rock's official history." -Newsweek ***** (five stars) -Rolling Stone
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Click on Product Listings for Details!
Anthology Of American Folk Music (Edited By Harry Smith)
- Audio CD: 0 pages (1997-08-19)
- Publisher: Smithsonian Folkways
- Label: Smithsonian Folkways
- Format: Enhanced, Original recording remastered
- Studio: Smithsonian Folkways
- Average Customer Review:
 based on 28 reviews
- Sales Rank in Music: #1743
Avg. Customer Review:
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Ghosts aplenty inside these tunes 2007-09-26
Comment: There are some truly haunting performances here, and some funny ones, and some of everything, really. This stuff is so far deeper and weirder and spookier than any folk I've ever heard. It's the motherlode; Harry Smith wandered around and got these recordings before radio started, and thus we get true folk music, passed down the generations and from that area, or from the motherland of the musicians, with the spirit of the New World.
The vibes are palpable, varied, and intense. Lots of "mistakes", but so much feeling that missed notes only add to the experience.
If you've ever liked any folk music at all, whether Leadbelly, the Seegers, the Carter family, early Dylan, or if you need to know where real country music comes from, this is your collection.
Too many highlights to list. Beautiful and detailed booklet with notes on each tune makes it even better...though listening first with no preconceptions and creating your own story for the songs is probably an even better way to let this stuff seep into your subconscious.
Best of all, it's probably at your local library.
0 of 0 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: THE Chronicles 2007-07-12
Comment: Great stuff. Yet some of the singing is almost too real, too raw. Bob Dylan cites this album as a main inspiration, and you can hear his singing and songwriting style in a lot of the songs. Not for everybody, and may be even too much for casual folk music fans. Has to be listened to in the context of a historical document.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: totally essential listening 2007-02-15
Comment: This CD compilation set is more than just an album of music--it's a historical document. I first heard of the AAFM in a Bob Dylan biography--after buying this and listening to it, I can understand how Bob was inspired to ditch his Little Richard aspirations and travel the rugged road of folk. Through the three sections--Ballads, Social Music (mostly instrumentals), and Songs (kind of like ballads, but less story-oriented), this collection not only contains some great, timeless music and performances, it's also steeped in pure humanity--the real essence of true folk music. The people Harry Smith collected and anthologized were mostly just that: folk. People like you and me who love music, and play the songs they've been handed down. You don't have to be Bob Dylan to appreciate and be moved by songs that have been passed down through the generations and soulfully interpreted by many different artists.
Aside from some essential listening ("Coo Coo Bird," "Stackalee," "Mississippi Boweavil Blues," "I wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," etc. etc.), the package has some great supplementary material. It's very interesting to learn about the song information and performer information that Smith collected with his anthology, but it's also interesting to get a glimpse into his project, seeing how he relentlessly collected and chose which songs to represent. He was a true lover of music, and that love is reflected in his project.
Please don't come to this compilation expecting pristine sound quality--it was assembled in the 50's, which means that the recordings come from then as well as much earlier--it's about the music and performers anyway, and a little bit of scratch really doesn't detract that much from the organic, down home experience. It IS a bit of a shame that there are 6 CDs, but really only about 4 full CDs worth of music--it would have been OK with me if the Ballad/Social Music/Songs organization was not cleanly divided between discs to save space, since the division isn't very efficient, but I suppose the reissuers wanted to emulate the original vinyl collection. I don't really find the material to be homogeneous like the second spotlight reviewer does, although I do agree that Roots N' Blues: Retrospective 1925-1950 is also a great compilation (though it's getting harder and harder to find)--I'd recommend getting both for a great complementary experience.
Hopefully this set never goes out of print, as it's a great piece of art that any music fan or musician can learn a lot from--and enjoy, too! It's a shame that Smith had to preserve this music as it was beginning to die out even as he was collecting it, but it's also heartwarming that such classic sounds can be preserved for us to hear so many years later and keep the tradition alive. Enjoy the living history!
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: The grandfather of the reissue records 2005-02-20
Comment: This collection led to the "re-discovery" of many artists who had dissapeared after when the depression crippled the recording industry. Mississippi John Hurt is probably the most famous as of now, but others, like Clarence Ashley were major finds at the time - and when Folkways sent a field crew to do a new record by Ashley he requested some assist from a young friend named Doc Watson. Watson was unknown outside his home town at the time but went on to become a major star in a field which has very few stars.
Listening to many cuts on this album you can hear the source of much material for folk groups as diverse as the New Lost City Ramblers and The Holy Modal Rounders, rock groups like Canned Heat, and The Grateful Dead. Some of the melodies will be familiar to fans of Dylan, others to Jorma Kaukonan listeners. There are otehrs -- many many others.
This set is the source, the headwaters of reissues, and revivals. An essential part of any folk music collection.
26 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
Customer Rating:
Summary: Necessary. 2003-05-28
Comment: I dont think there is a need to go into to much detail about this *6 CD* set. If you can fork over the cash, just buy it. If you have any interest in roots music, just buy it. If you thought ol' Bobby Dylan and the Band made some great weird music in the basement of big pink in '67 .. for the love of god, BUY THIS! strange, unadorned, raw music , just buy it.
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