Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Vol. 4
| Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 | ||||
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| Compilation album by Various Artists | ||||
| Released | May 23, 2000 | |||
| Recorded | 1927–1940 | |||
| Genre | Country, folk | |||
| Length | 82:47 | |||
| Label | Revenant | |||
| Anthology of American Folk Music chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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| The A.V. Club | (no rating) |
Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music, Volume 4 is a two-disc compilation of twenty-eight American folk recordings originally released on 78 rpm records between 1927 and 1940, issued in May 2000 on Revenant Records, catalogue #211. Compiled by experimental filmmaker and notable eccentric Harry Smith as the fourth album of his Anthology of American Folk Music set from 1952, it was never completed by Smith himself. While the CD is out of print, an LP version has been issued, along with the other three volumes, on the Portland-based Mississippi Records label.
The original anthology jump-started the folk music revival of the 1950s. In 1972, Moses Asch, interviewed by Sing Out! magazine, claimed that tapes for two additional volumes of the project had survived, although the documentation necessary to make a meaningful release of the volumes had been lost. Revenant Records worked with the Harry Smith Archive to recreate and release the fourth volume, associated by Smith with the classical element of earth. The extensive liner notes presented in a hardcover book were written by Dick Spottswood and John Fahey.
Unlike the first set, Smith did not choose the selections for this set strictly from between "1927, when electronic recording made possible accurate music reproduction, and 1932, when the Depression halted folk music sales." As a companion to his three two-album volumes from the original Anthology of American Folk Music categorized by Ballads, Social Music, and Songs, Smith chose "Labor Songs" as this volume's organizing principle. Smith included material released as late as 1940, with a selection of union songs making their first appearances for an Anthology set.
Writing for Allmusic, critic Richie Unterberger wrote of the album "It does differ from the first three volumes in its focus on a slightly later period, with all the tracks culled from the years 1928–1940. Lead Belly, Robert Johnson, Joe Williams, Bukka White, Memphis Minnie, and John Estes are all major blues artists; the Monroe Brothers, the Carter Family, Uncle Dave Macon, and the Blue Sky Boys all giant country/bluegrass pioneers; and the Hackberry Ramblers are one of the pre-eminent Cajun groups. A few of these songs are archetypes that have burned their way into the American collective musical consciousness: John Estes' "Milk Cow Blues," the Carter Family's "No Depression in Heaven," Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go," and the Monroe Brothers' "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy." Other less famous performances are quite intriguing... At 28 songs spread over two CDs, it's a little shorter than might be expected for a box set, though as compensation, it's enclosed in a pretty incredible 96-page liner-note-sized hardcover book with writing by Dick Spottswood and John Fahey."
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