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The Return Of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of
Yazoo Records To Release Follow Up To Critically-Acclaimed Collection Of Early Country And Blues Recordings.

Available October 16.

LISTEN to 8 tracks http://soundcloud.com/1888media/sets/yazoo-records-the-return-of-the-stuff-that-dreams-are-made-of

46-Track Collection Culled From The 1920s Contains Rare Tracks From Charley Patton, Bukka White, Ishman Bracey, Dave Macon, Eck Robertson and Charlie Poole

54-Page Booklet Chronicles The History of Collecting Old 78 Records From The 1920s Through The 1960s

New York, NY: On October 16, 2012, Yazoo Records (a division of Shanachie Entertainment), will release the ultimate collection of early country and blues recordings, with the illustrious 2-CD set, The Return Of The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of.

This Dead Sea Scroll of record collecting will delight both the connoisseur and neophyte who are sure to relish this goldmine of rare and lost treasures presented in one remarkable undertaking. The highly anticipated, rare and impeccably packaged collection is a follow up to Yazoo’s lauded 2006 recording, The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of, which was likened to the ‘holy grail’ for record colle...

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2012 Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Festival

If you look at the right side of the Weenie home page, you’ll see a box showing how many days are left until the next Port Townsend Acoustic Blues Workshop and Festival, taking place this year from July 29 to August 5.
 
And if you click on the “About Weenie” link on the left side of this page, you’ll find out that Weenie Campbell was born—fully formed and already in a late stage of life—to a group of midwives attending the 1997 workshop.

The core Weenies who created this wonderful forum spend a lot of time thinking and talking about PTABW, and in our rarely humble opinions, we think that the 2012 faculty lineup is one of the best ever.

Click here and see why. The list includes Robert Belfour and his fellow Mississippian Terry Bean, teaching Hill Country and Delta styles. And Ari Eisinger—the man for learning the music of the "four Blinds": Blake, Davis, Fuller, and Lemon Jefferson. Three great slide teachers: Steve James, Orville Johnson, and Rev. Robert Jones. Reverend Jones has a way of channeling the musicians whose songs he teaches—wait ‘til you hear him sing like Son House. Then there’s our own John Miller, in demand as a teacher on two continents. Every summer he pulls a country blues obscuri...

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Gone to the Country
The New Lost City Ramblers and the Folk Music Revival

I just finished reading Gone to the Country: The New Lost City Ramblers & the Folk Music Revival by Ray Allen (University of Illinois Press). A thoroughly enjoyable read that for me was a fascinating look at the Ramblers and their music from the late '50s through to the 1970s and a little beyond. Since I was not following their musical careers at the time, much of the information in the book was new to me, and the coverage of the growth of the traditional and old-time music scene covered in the book, from the early New York days to the later West Coast scene, filled in a lot of historical background that I was only vaguely aware of. Along the way the book also covers the growth of the Newport Folk Festival as well as the Friends of Old-Time Music concerts, TV shows like Rainbow Quest and Hootenanny, and the pop side of the folk revival in the music of the Kingston Trio and the like - the enemy as far as NLCR were concerned.

The book includes quite a bit of discussion not only of the history but the Ramblers' particular approach to traditional and old-time music, as well as the question of whether they should even be playing it, despite the fact that they were at the centre of rebuilding its popularity during this period. Not just a philosophical question either, for ...

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Mama's Angel Child - The Little Brothers       
Written by Bruce Nemerov     

Mama's Angel Child - The Little Brothers
Penny Records

I've been listening, off and on, to Mama's Angel Child by the Little Brothers for two or three weeks now and each time I find something new — something I hadn't heard before — in the music. This is a very good thing. Depth and subtlety are qualities all too uncommon today when so many "acoustic" bands hit you over the head with wild-eyed energy but little else. I'll resist naming names, but you know who they are.

But back to Frankie and Kim Basile and the 3rd Brother, mandolinist Mike Hoffmann — or is he the second brother, Kim being of the female persuasion? (They really need to straighten this out for the perplexed among us.) Anyway, the three have done a very difficult and pleasing thing with this CD: Using voices (Frankie and Kim) and string instruments (all three), the LBs have recorded a variety of American foundational (I hate the term "roots," don't you?) music in a surprisingly creative manner.

Let me give an example. The first track, "Loose Like That" (one of the numerous offspring of Tampa Red and Georgia Tom's single-entendre hit of a similar name) sounds here like the Skillet-Lickers-play-Dixieland. The mandolin plays the melodic cornet part while Kim's fiddle is the New Orleans clarinet....

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Lay Down My Burden - Grant Dermody
Written by Simon Field
       
Lay Down My Burden - Grant Dermody
Independent

Cards on the table. This is only the second harmonica album I have ever bought. That said, calling it a Harmonica album doesn't do it justice or properly describe it. This is a country blues album, with a huge cast of fantastic musicians, in which the focal point happens to be a fine harp player and singer. There's barely a shuffle in sight, and you certainly won't find any 72 bar harp solos.

Crucially (and perhaps unusually) Grant Dermody's harp never dominates the songs here; it serves them tastefully. Perfectly even. Its all about the songs.

Back to the huge cast- the CD kicks off with Eric Bibb on guitar, delivering a subtle finger picked rendition of Gary Davis' I'll Be Alright to accompany Grant's gentle vocal and laid back harp.

Amazing Grace is a standard (and perhaps a cliché) but hits the right spot. Full of atmosphere but somehow unsentimental, the track features Orville Johnson's unique dobro sound, partnered with lap steel and held together by John Miller's acoustic guitar. The smooth beginnings grow into an unexpected crescendo and a good deal of life is breathed into what is a very familiar old hymn.

John Cephas' last recording, a rendition of Hard Time Killing Floor, sees Grant take a b...