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Vinyl Hunter 22: What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow?

Leave it to me to write whole big post about records that aren't vinyl, and then forget about the newest additions to my old-time music collection that ACTUALLY ARE vinyl. 

First up is an album released earlier this year. I had my local record store pre-order me a copy of Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson, What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, which was released in April on Nonesuch.

The album features two-thirds of the original Carolina Chocolate Drops lineup and arrived shortly before the band's reunion concert at the inaugural Biscuits & Banjos Festival, April 25-27, in Durham, North Carolina, and it also preceded the release of a new documentary about the band that you can watch now on Amazon Prime. 

The Giddens-Robinson duo provide a dozen North Carolina fiddle and banjo tunes. The entire album was recorded outdoors at Joe Thompson’s and Etta Baker’s North Carolina homes, as well as the former plantation Mill Prong House. In the background you can hear the sounds of nature, including two different broods of cicadas, which according to the Nonesuch website had not emerged simultaneously since 1803, creating a once-in-a-lifetime soundscape. The music is beautifully played, and the whole album has a definite field recording vibe. Go check it out if you haven't already. 

Another old-time pickup was from a used record shop near me called Retro Attic, which I visit regularly. One such trip in June yielded Country Music and Bluegrass at Newport: Recorded Live at the Newport Folk Festival 1963, a compilation featuring the likes of Clarence Ashley, Doc Watson, the New Lost City Ramblers and others. The album was released on Vanguard in 1964. 

The sound quality isn't especially great on this album, which is typical for these festival recordings. The album crams in 19 tracks, so you definitely get your money's worth. I believe I paid $8. My old-time music collection on vinyl now hovers around 90 records. 

Speaking of new music, did you see the latest releases from the Field Recorders' Collective? In July, the FRC released two new albums, one by Kentucky fiddler Bill Livers, from the collection of John Harrod, and the other from Kerry Blech, who corresponded with me several times about Ohio old-time musicians and the Kent State Folk Festival. The FRC has released several other collections this year, including the next five volumes of their Survey of Traditional Music series as well as a Lee Hammons album. You can order all of these from the FRC website or on their Bandcamp page. 

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