I think Harry Smith is in Greil Marcus's book, "Old Weird America" but his WIkipedia entry is probably all you need. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Everett_Smith. The deal with Harry Smith is he was in NYC in the late 50's early 60's. He's right in that folk beat boom that Bob comes into. Harry is collecting and searching high and low for pre war Shellac. The 78 records recorded by field archivist from the 20's and 30's. Eventually he formed his collection into a release, The Anthology of American Folk Music. It's a Bible, archive, index, touchstone for all that stuff. Blues, Country, Gospel, jazz, the building blocks of all American music. Bob was probably digging up stuff on his own but if he bought the Anthology I wouldn't be surprised. He probably means modern in the sense that art does. 1890's or so. Modern art probably starts a little earlier but as we recognize it 1890-1910 is the start. Pre war and Post War are big defining points for Country and Blues.
It’s like Faulkner “The past is never dead. It's not even past." I’m saving the book for Christmas. Do you know about Harry Smith and his work? That fills in a lot. I’m of the opinion that if you don’t know music from the 1920’s at least until now your missing out, especially if your a songwriter.
I think Harry Smith is in Greil Marcus's book, "Old Weird America" but his WIkipedia entry is probably all you need. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Everett_Smith. The deal with Harry Smith is he was in NYC in the late 50's early 60's. He's right in that folk beat boom that Bob comes into. Harry is collecting and searching high and low for pre war Shellac. The 78 records recorded by field archivist from the 20's and 30's. Eventually he formed his collection into a release, The Anthology of American Folk Music. It's a Bible, archive, index, touchstone for all that stuff. Blues, Country, Gospel, jazz, the building blocks of all American music. Bob was probably digging up stuff on his own but if he bought the Anthology I wouldn't be surprised. He probably means modern in the sense that art does. 1890's or so. Modern art probably starts a little earlier but as we recognize it 1890-1910 is the start. Pre war and Post War are big defining points for Country and Blues.
Great post Joel!
The diversity in your library never ceases to amaze me. 😁
It’s like Faulkner “The past is never dead. It's not even past." I’m saving the book for Christmas. Do you know about Harry Smith and his work? That fills in a lot. I’m of the opinion that if you don’t know music from the 1920’s at least until now your missing out, especially if your a songwriter.