Roots Music: An American Journey

Disc 1
1	Tennessee Mountain Fox Chase / Norman Blake 2:53
2	Banjo Picking Girl / Alice Gerrard 3:06
3	Old Corn Liquor / Traditional 3:25
4	Rain and Snow / Dry Branch Fire Squad 2:15
5	The Orphan Child / Kate Brislin 4:04
6	Working on a Building / The Johnson Mountain Boys 3:18
7	You Better Mind / Bessie Jones 2:50
8	Dry Bones / The Persuasions 2:17
9	Did You Hear John Hurt? / Dave Van Ronk 3:15
10	One-Dime Blues / Etta Baker 2:34
11	All the Way from East St. Louis / Mississippi Fred McDowell 3:08
12	Medley, Juke / Robert Nighthawk 1:38
13	Black's Ball / J.B. Hutto & The Hawks 2:57
14	Just a Little While to Stay Here / Rebirth Brass Band 6:17
15	Iko, Iko / Bo Dollis 3:42
16	Mai Kai No Kauai / The Tau Moe Family 2:46
17	Texas Cowboy / Glen Ohrlin 3:20
18	Streets of Laredo / Brownie Ford 4:27
Disc 2
1	Lacassine Special / The Balfa Brothers 3:13
2	Ti Galop Pour Mamou / D.L. Menard 2:39
3	Dimanche Apres-MIDI / Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin' 3:23
4	Père et Garçon Zydeco / John Delafose 4:58
5	Oh Bye Mon Neg / Boozoo Chavis 3:44
6	Zulema Waltz / Santiago Jimenez Jr. 2:21
7	El Ahualulco / Los Pregoneros del Puerto 3:54
8	Ven / Los Cachorros Come to Me 2:59
9	Reels: Catherine McEvoy's/Arkle Mountain / Liz Carroll 2:24
10	Silver Star Hornpipe/Karen's Reel/Temperance Reel / Joe Warren Cormier 3:30
11	Long Journey Home / J.D. Crowe & the New South 3:04
12	Leavin' / James King 3:01
13	Old Folks at Home / Vern Williams 4:11
14	Nobody's Business / The Freight Hoppers 3:36
15	All Around the World / James Booker 3:27
16	Frankie and Johnny / Tuts Washington 2:21
17	Yancey's Bugle Call / Preacher Jack 3:05
18	Bottle Up and Go / Sleepy LaBeef 2:36
Disc 3
1	Friend of the Devil / Rice, Rice, Hillman & Pedersen 3:16
2	Every Time You Say Goodbye / Alison Krauss 3:17
3	Man of Constant Sorrow / Tim O'Brien 4:11
4	Crossfire / Béla Fleck 3:26
5	You're in My Heart / Rhonda Vincent 2:24
6	Second Wind / Claire Lynch 3:05
7	Black Dog / Ray Wylie Hubbard 3:15
8	Don't Kneel at My Graveside / Stevens Sisters 3:37
9	Oh Death / Tarbox Ramblers 3:23
10	You Can't Hold on to a Love That's Gone / The Holmes Brothers 3:47
11	This Time I'm Gone for Good / Johnny Adams 4:37
12	Down the Road / Marcia Ball 3:59
13	Think It Over One More Time / Buckwheat Zydeco 3:33
14	Just One Kiss / Beau Jocque & The Zydeco Hi-Rollers 4:39
15	Le Danse de Mardi Gras / Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys 3:54
16	Chez Seychelles / Beausoleil 3:19
Disc 4
1	Frosty / Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown 3:48
2	Funkyard / Walter "Wolfman" Washington 5:01
3	Doyne/Freylekhs / Klezmer Conservatory Band 4:34
4	Somos Boricuas / Los Pleneros de La 21 We Are Puerto Rican 3:33
5	Hey Little Love / Tish Hinojosa 2:54
6	El Año Viejo / The Blazers 4:25
7	All Just to Get You / Joe Ely 4:13
8	One Endless Night / Jimmie Dale Gilmore 3:48
9	Nebraska / The Cash Brothers 3:47
10	Uniform Grey / Sarah Harmer 3:44
11	Broke Down / Slaid Cleaves 3:12
12	Birches / Bill Morrissey 3:23
13	More Than a Paycheck / Sweet Honey in the Rock 3:55
14	Swing Low, Sweet Chariot / IIIrd Tyme Out 3:17
15	Flamenco Fling / Natalie MacMaster 3:46
16	Ashokan Farewell / Fiddle Fever 4:07

Barnes & Noble

No mere historical survey, Rounder's four-CD box offers a broad and insightful perspective on American roots music, showcasing traditional music styles and then watching them evolve toward the future. Interesting juxtapositions are everywhere, which is what you expect from America's premier folk label. Check out Tish Hinojosa's endearing fusion of Spanish and pop melodies on the beautiful "Hey Little Love," in contrast to the Blazers' harder-edged Tex-Mex approach on "El Año Viejo." Or Béla Fleck's scintillating virtuoso display of instrumental bluegrass, "Crossfire," in contrast to Alison Krauss & Union Station's pop-bluegrass fusion on the chilling ballad "Every Time You Say Goodbye" and J. D. Crowe & the New South's pioneering "newgrass" approach to "Long Journey Home." Cajun, folk, blues, hard country, and gospel are similarly plumbed for past-present-future connections by an all-star lineup of Rounder artists, including the Persuasions, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Hazel Dickens, Joe Ely, Boozoo Chavis, James Booker, Sleepy LaBeef, Rhonda Vincent, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Marcia Ball, Beausoleil, Johnny Adams, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Slaid Cleaves, IIIrd Tyme Out, and the Klezmer Conversatory Band, among many others. At journey's end, it all feels right. Good roots, after all, spread far and wide. David McGee

All Music Guide

Over the course of their 30-year career, Boston's Rounder Records has amassed an amazing catalog of recordings drawing on just about every American musical tradition you can think of. Known primarily as a bluegrass and folk label, Rounder has also released (both under their own imprint and through subsidiary labels like Heartbeat, Bullseye Blues, and Philo) numerous albums by Cajun, old-time, reggae, contemporary folk, zydeco, and blues artists. Roots Music is culled from the catalog of the Rounder imprint itself, and its four discs veer wildly from the hardcore fiddle tunes of Norman Blake and the old-timey singing of Suzanne Thomas to the raucous Cajun two-steps of the Balfa Brothers and D.L. Menard, and from there to the elegant conjunto stylings of Los Pregoneros del Puerto and the Texas country-rock of Jimmie Dale Gilmore. It's a pretty unusual compilation that has the old-time string band the Freight Hoppers rubbing right up against legendary New Orleans pianist James Booker, but then, that's the kind of label Rounder has always been. Roots Music is a fitting and aptly titled tribute to this American treasure. Rick Anderson