Includes the songs "Midnight Special", "Cotton Fields", "Special Delivery Blues","Rambling Round Your City", "Cool Water", "Down On Me", "I've Been Driving On Bald Mountain/Water Boy", "Saro Jane", "Battle Hymn Of The Republic","If I Had A Hammer", "Joshua Fit The Battle Of Jerico", "Meetin' At The Building", "No More Auction Block For Me", "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child", "Spoken Introduction: He Had A Long Chain On", "Another Man Done Gone", "He's Got The Whole World In His Hands", "Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor", "Livin' With The Blues", "Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out", and "House Of The Rising Son". CD

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A nicely rootsy set – one that mixes vintage work with new material done in a similar mode – all at a level that criss-crosses between rural blues, trad jazz, and a range of other older styles! The package is maybe less a full compendium of the roots of black music than it is a set that does a good job of changing artists while keeping an eye on a thematic sense of expression – beginning with actual roots, then using roots revival and contemporary material to echo a unified aesthetic! The package has track by track notes, and essays on the music – and the 40 track set features work from Cedric Burnside, Corey Harris & Sharde Thomas, Ranky Tanky, Carolina Chocolate Drops, Lightnin Hopkins, Staple Singers, Bennie Richardson, Golden Eagles, Martin Bogan & Armstrong, Bessie Jones, Skip James, Cephas & Wiggins, Inmate Named Peter, Rev Gary Davis, John Jackson, Odetta, Mississippi John Hurt, Professor Longhair, Campbell Brothers, Dom Flemons, Tuts Washington, and others. CD

Includes 24 tracks from Buddy Guy, Larry Johnson, India Arie, Keb Mo, Mavis Staples, Solomon Burke, Mos Def, Gregg Allman, Natalie Cole and Odetta. CD

Another masterpiece from the Soul Jazz collective – a collection of tunes that bridges the secular and spiritual worlds, and brings together a mixture of gospel and soul tracks from the 60s and 70s! It's no secret that soul music has drawn quite a bit of inspiration from gospel (as well as more than its share of stars!) – but rarely has that inspiration been so clearly traced than in this wonderful set! The tunes include gospel numbers that have a classic soul sound, and classic soul tunes that really lean towards the gospel side of the spectrum – and most of the artists on the set are familiar ones, but heard here in a style that links them all nicely together. Titles include "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child" by Clarence Smith, "Let's Get Together" by Bobby Bland, "Grandma's Hands" by Marion Gaines Singers, "Every Day Will Be Like A Holiday" by The Sweet Inspirations, "Pastures Of Plenty" by Odetta, "Love Lifted Me" by Jesse Dixon, "I Don't Know Where We're Headed" by Sons Of Truth, "Eleanor Rigby" by Kim Weston, "In Between Tears" by Irma Thomas, "Lort Is It" by Gospel Artistics, "Tripping On Your Love" by Staple Singers, and "Mama" by Esther Marrow. CD

Music from Etta Baker, Lead Belly, Woody Guthrie, Big Bill Broonzy, Louis Armstrong, Odetta, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Woody Herman, and others – 15 tracks total. CD

Music from Arlo Guthrie, Will Geer, Robert Ryan, Odetta, Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, Tom Paxton, Joan Baez, Peter Fonda, Judy Collins, and more. CD