“The itinerary in ‘Protobilly’ is exhilarating, the history is enlightening — and for some fancying or working in roots music —  it will prove downright inspiring.” 

Barry Mazor, The Wall Street Journal, December 16, 2019

 

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This critically-acclaimed three-CD reissue anthology is the first to track twentieth-century American vernacular music of old-time country, bluegrass, jazz, and blues by tracing their beginnings in 19th-century blackface minstrelsy and early Tin Pan Alley.

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"This engrossing, thoroughly researched, and well-produced collection will take a place alongside such classic sets as the 'Anthology of American Folk Music' and 'That Devilin’ Tune.'"

                                          Hoyle Osborne, The Syncopated Times October 24, 2019 

 

By aligning performances from the earliest cylinder recordings with later 78rpm, LP and CD versions, Protobilly brings to life 81 historic performances – more than half never before reissued – all brilliantly remastered by award-winning engineer Doug Benson to vividly demonstrate the checkered and enormously powerful elasticity of American music.

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“The various pairings are all striking and often quite surprising, and this set is highly recommended to anyone interested in setting aside romantic notions of the isolated rural bard in order to explore the wonderful complexity and creolized nature of American music traditions.”   

                                          Scott Barretta, Living Blues Magazine, December 2019