Frank Hutchison, "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-1929"

/ ARTIST: Frank Hutchison / TITLE: "Complete recorded works in chronological order, volume 1, 1926-29" / GENRÉ: American folk music / LABEL: Document Records / FORMAT: CD /

Who says Sham 69 invented street punk? Frank Hutchison had a lot of punk attitude, despite this record  being made with only acoustic guitars, fiddle, harmonica and banjo. Hutchison was a working class man, like so many other of the musicians in his time, he befriended black musicians (but had no qualms with performing a black face routine) and his lyrics are punk too.

But what made me think of punk when I listened to this record is the fact that Hutchsion performs with an enormous speed at some tunes, it's "faster, louder" 50 years before it's time. Some of the rag-times on this album could easily have been made by some punk combo, if they had been recorded with electrical instruments and drums.

On this album, you get, which is logical, as it is the beginning of his complete works, a showcase of his enormous repertoire. You get a lot of blues numbers that could've been recorded by black performers, the quality of the guitar play is that good, only his voice, which I find mediocre and his least quality in music, give him away. He sounds like a southerner trying to pass as a New England man.

You also get, apart from proper blues numbers, early country tunes, singing-free rag-times where Hutchison shows his great techniques with the guitar, pre-bluegrass and talking blues numbers.

I really like the Document Records project of re-releasing on CD a lot of old-timers that would otherwise be left as the luxury of anal 78-collectors. Yeah, record-collecting has it's charm, but at some time it has to be about the music and not about rarity, so let the collectors collect vinyl and let us ordinary fans of American music listen to these CDs.

No mess, no fuss, just pure impact. If you like old-time American music, you'll love this album, I think Hutchison was one of the best performers of his time and this little record should have a place in the collection of every true fan of the genré(s).

The only thing I'm slightly miffed with is the fact that the bio, as usual, is bloody short. I'd love to read more about him.

Get this record!

A great record like this gets a great rating. 94,3% in rate of satisfaction.

Grayson & Whitter, "Complete recorded works in chronological order, vol 1: 1927-1928"

First of all, I must say that it's to the credit of the record company to release this treasure. Country music and related genrés aren't that fashionable, but to us who love the music, some of the best records are only available on old original vinyl that cost a zillion bucks. To release this album is therefor an act of charity to all of us who love the music but can't afford the vinyl.

Musically, this is pre-bluegrass American folk music. If bluegrass is rooted in black, as well as white, musical traditions, this leaves out the banjo, which is an African instrument originally, as well as the more bluesy escapades in favor of acoustic guitars and a mad fiddle.With these instruments, Grayson & Whitter plays American folk deeply rooted in Celtic tradition with some other European influences to it too. Sometimes, I can almost feel a Scandinavian touch.

What I like about this band is that hey took lyrical writing seriously. You got songs dealing with a load of deep subjects country artists of today dare not touch. On the other hand, music was the CNN of times past, you got news as well as entertainment from the musicians.

Most of all, however, this is music made to dance to. It's almost a pity that music with that energy as this and as danceable to as this, has for so long been the treasure of vinyl nerds.

You can sense from the recording that Grayson & Whitter had fun recording it, as they talk to each other backwards and forwards over the tracks, a couple of "yee-haws" and "pass the bottle".

In case you haven't noticed, I really like this album and if you like old American folk too, you're probably going to like this as well.

An old treasure being returned to the audience gets 83,7% in rate of satisfaction!