The 500 - #278 - Anthology of American Folk Music - Various Artists

I was inspired by a podcast called The 500 hosted by Los Angeles-based comedian Josh Adam Meyers. His goal, and mine, is to explore Rolling Stone Magazine's 2012 edition of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. 

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Album: #278

Album Title: Anthology of American Folk Music

Artist: Various

Genre: American Folk, Country, Blues

Recorded: Multiple (Songs recorded from 1926-1933)

Released: August, 1952

My age at release: Not yet born.

How familiar was I with it before this week: Not at all

Is it on the 2020 list? No

Song I am putting on my Spotify Playlist: Poor Boy Blues

I’ll admit, this record was a slog to get through. Released in 1952, Anthology of American Folk is a three-disc, 83-song compilation of music recorded in the United States between 1926 and 1933. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed the listen. It was just a lot to absorb in a week and I often found myself drifting and not fully appreciating the music.

Occasionally, I would pause and make the effort to concentrate on the song emanating from my headphones or speakers. During those moments I found myself transfixed by what I was hearing and couldn’t help but think about those artists recording songs with the technology of the time.

• Could they conceptualize how much their work would influence American music in the future?
• Did they imagine they would be listened to nearly a hundred years in the future?
• Could they even anticipate the advances in recording technology? (Imagine trying to explain to someone from 1926 that their song would be streamed digitally from a Spotify account to a pair of Bluetooth headphones.)

1925 marked the second wave in the history of sound recording, the first being the “acoustic age” (1877-1925). The new “electric age” was made possible by the development of electric microphones, electronic signal amplification and electro-mechanical recording devices. Sound could now be captured, amplified, filtered and balanced electronically. Additionally, sound signals could be inscribed onto a wax master disc which could be mass produced through a stamping method on polyvinyl plastic -- the 78 rpm (revolutions per minute) record.

Those 78 rpm records became the industry standard for a few years, first marketed in 1894. By 1948 the long playing (lp) record, which had an rpm of 33 ⅓, became the standard.

This anthology exists because of Harry Smith (1923-1991), an American who painstakingly collected 78 rpm records throughout his life. But Smith was far more than a collector. He was a polymath, an individual who has extensive knowledge in many subject areas. As well, Smith was an artist, film-maker, Bohemian mystic, anthropologist and Neo-gnostic bishop.

Harry Smith

Smith was an important figure in the Beat Generation of the 1950s because of his insatiable appetite for collecting all manner of items in addition to 78 rpm records, such as paper airplanes, textiles from Seminole tribes and Ukrainian Easter Eggs, to name just a few.

Smith & Beat poet Allen Ginsberg

Born in Portland, Oregon, Smith called himself a magickian - a practitioner of magick. Magick (the k is not a typo) is a form of ceremonial, high magic from the world of the occult. The unusual spelling comes from the Renaissance period and is used to differentiate the practise from stage or performance magic. It is defined by its practitioners as “the science and art of causing changes to occur in the conformity of will”.

Smith also collected "string figures"

When Smith released his Anthology, he organized it into three, two-album volumes which he labelled Ballads, Social and Songs. The first, Ballads, featured American versions of traditional ballads from England. These were called Childs’ Ballads after Francis James Childs who anthologized them in the latter half of the 19th Century. Each one contains a narrative about a specific event or time.

The Social volume contains songs that would have been popular at dances and other public gatherings, including religious ceremonies. Consequently, these are considered the first American gospel recordings.

The final volume, Songs, consists of music about real-life events -- marriage, labour, prison and death.

When released, the album did not sell well or gain any recognition. However, it is now considered a landmark release and is credited with the American Folk Music revival that occurred in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. A clear line can be drawn from the album to artists such as Pete Seeger, The Kingston Trio, Peter, Paul & Mary, Bob Dylan and Simon & Garfunkel. Even Canadian artists were inspired, and performers Ian & Sylvia moved from Toronto to New York to perform traditional folk songs.

Typically, I like to listen to the record I am writing about at least four times. For this week’s blog, once was all I could manage. However, I am not done with it. I’ll go back to it again later this year and enjoy the performances at leisure. They are so earnest in their presentation and, in a way, connect me to the past. These singers and musicians recorded their pieces in a single take, directly into a microphone that had only been invented a few years earlier. To me, each song is an artistic endeavour captured in time. Somehow, I find comfort in that.

Thanks for reading -- all the blogs can be found here (just scroll down).