V/A - American Epic : The Best of Country

Country music, folk music, bluegrass, or Americana – all come out of these early rural recordings by a quirky, varied, and instrumentally virtuosic range of musicians. Though they’ve been widely imitated, few later performers have captured the freshness and grit of the original rural stylists, who formed their music in an era before radio or recording homogenized their unique sounds into recognizable genres. This overview includes the rowdy string bands of Charlie Poole and Uncle Dave Macon, the ringing banjo and lonesome vocals of Dock Boggs and Clarence Ashley, the bluesy yodel of Jimmie Rodgers, and the sweet harmonies of the Carter Family, as well as favorite tracks from a half-dozen of their equally talented contemporaries.