Memphis Jug Band – American Epic: The Best Of Memphis Jug Band (2017) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Memphis Jug Band – American Epic: The Best Of Memphis Jug Band (2017)
FLAC (tracks) 24 bit/96 kHz | Time – 45:02 minutes | 452 MB | Genre: Blues
Studio Masters, Official Digital Download | Front Cover | © Columbia/Legacy

The Memphis Jug Band, most active from 1926 into the 1950s, revolved around guitarist, harmonica player and singer Will Shade and featured a wide variety of instrumentation including harmonica, kazoo, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, piano, washboard and, of course, jug. They recorded more songs than any pre-war jug band and as a result, were key in developing the jug band tradition and format.

“American Epic” compilation series is a collection of releases of music associated with the film series “The American Epic”, a historical documentaries are a journey back in time to the “Big Bang” of modern popular music.

In the 1920s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. For the first time, a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coalminer in Virginia or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have their thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. It was the first time America heard itself.

This is not “remastering”, in the normal sense, but something closer to fine art restoration. The intent is not for people to marvel at the antiquity of these discs, but rather to experience them as vital, immediate performances that speak to us as directly as they did on the day they were recorded—not simply great art for their time, but great art for all times. Engineer Nicholas Bergh has reassembled this recording system from original parts and it is now the only one left in the world. The system consists of a single microphone, a towering six-foot amplifier rack, and a live record-cutting lathe, powered by a weight-driven pulley system of clockwork gears. The musicians have roughly three minutes to record their song direct to disc before the weight hits the floor. In the 1920s, they called this “catching lightning in a bottle”.

Tracklist:
01. Memphis Jug Band – Stealin’, Stealin’ (Remastered 2002) (02:58)
02. Memphis Jug Band – On the Road Again (02:50)
03. Memphis Jug Band – Cocaine Habit Blues (Remastered 2002) (02:50)
04. Memphis Jug Band – Lindberg Hop (02:49)
05. Memphis Jug Band – Newport News Blues (03:08)
06. Memphis Jug Band – K.C. Moan (Remastered 1990-1991) (02:35)
07. Memphis Jug Band – He’s in the Jailhouse Now (03:14)
08. Memphis Jug Band – Sometimes I Think I Love You (03:08)
09. Memphis Jug Band – Fourth Street Mess Around (03:18)
10. Memphis Jug Band – You May Leave, but This Will Bring You Back (03:05)
11. Memphis Jug Band – What’s the Matter? (02:55)
12. Memphis Jug Band – Aunt Caroline Dyer Blues (03:07)
13. Memphis Jug Band – Memphis Shakedown (03:04)
14. Memphis Jug Band – Whitewash Station Blues (02:45)
15. Memphis Jug Band – Insane Crazy Blues (03:09)

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