Back Roads to Cold Mountain
Encyclopedia
Back Roads to Cold Mountain is a 2004 compilation album released by Smithsonian Folkways
. The album was released in the wake of the award winning soundtrack
to the film Cold Mountain
, and is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings compiled by musicologist John Cohen in Appalachia
.
The album was released in 2004, and the material was recorded between 1944 and 2002. The recordings vary from traditional songs recorded by well known artists, such as Wayfaring Stranger
by Bill Monroe
, to obscure field recordings. There is also a Sacred Harp
track.
Thom Jurek of Allmusic says the album is "one of true Otherness, where dislocation, quark strangeness, and untamed spirits gather in order to whisper, cry, moan, shout and laugh in a language that has not so much died as disappeared" and is "essential listening for anyone interested in authentic American roots music".
Liner notes by Charles Frazier
, author of Cold Mountain
, and Cohen are included as well.
Smithsonian Folkways
Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was founded in 1987 after the family of Moses Asch, founder of Folkways...
. The album was released in the wake of the award winning soundtrack
Cold Mountain (soundtrack)
Cold Mountain is the original soundtrack of the 2003 film Cold Mountain starring Jude Law, Nicole Kidman and Renée Zellweger.The album won the BAFTA Award for Best Film Music and the World Soundtrack Award for Best Original Soundtrack of the Year in 2003...
to the film Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (film)
Cold Mountain is a 2003 war drama film written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The film is based on the bestselling novel of the same name by Charles Frazier...
, and is composed of Appalachian folk music recordings compiled by musicologist John Cohen in Appalachia
Appalachia
Appalachia is a term used to describe a cultural region in the eastern United States that stretches from the Southern Tier of New York state to northern Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia. While the Appalachian Mountains stretch from Belle Isle in Canada to Cheaha Mountain in the U.S...
.
The album was released in 2004, and the material was recorded between 1944 and 2002. The recordings vary from traditional songs recorded by well known artists, such as Wayfaring Stranger
The Wayfaring Stranger (song)
"The Wayfaring Stranger" , Roud 3339, is a well-known American spiritual/folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. It became one of Burl Ives's signature songs, included on his 1944 album The Wayfaring Stranger...
by Bill Monroe
Bill Monroe
William Smith Monroe was an American musician who created the style of music known as bluegrass, which takes its name from his band, the "Blue Grass Boys," named for Monroe's home state of Kentucky. Monroe's performing career spanned 60 years as a singer, instrumentalist, composer and bandleader...
, to obscure field recordings. There is also a Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp
Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that took root in the Southern region of the United States. It is part of the larger tradition of shape note music.- The music and its notation :...
track.
Thom Jurek of Allmusic says the album is "one of true Otherness, where dislocation, quark strangeness, and untamed spirits gather in order to whisper, cry, moan, shout and laugh in a language that has not so much died as disappeared" and is "essential listening for anyone interested in authentic American roots music".
Liner notes by Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier
Charles Frazier is an award-winning American historical novelist.Frazier was born in Asheville, North Carolina, and graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1973. He earned an M.A. from Appalachian State University in the mid-1970s, and received his Ph.D. in English from the University...
, author of Cold Mountain
Cold Mountain (novel)
Cold Mountain is a 1997 historical fiction novel by Charles Frazier. It tells the story of W. P. Inman, a wounded deserter from the Confederate army near the end of the American Civil War who walks for months to return to Ada Monroe, the love of his life; the story shares several similarities with...
, and Cohen are included as well.
Track listing
| Song | Artist |
|---|---|
| "Field Holler" | T.J. Chesser |
| "I Wish My Baby Was Born" | Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler was an American Appalachian Folk singer from Madison County, North Carolina. He is chiefly known for his a cappella performances on compilation albums recorded by folklorist and musicologist John Cohen.... |
| "Look Down That Lonesome Road" | Bill Cornett |
| "Morning Sun" | Sacred Harp Singers, Stewart's Chapel, Houston, Ms |
| "Camp Chase" | French Carpenter |
| "John Brown's Dream" | Dacosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters |
| "Bright Sunny South" | Dock Boggs Dock Boggs Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs was an influential old-time singer, songwriter and banjo player. His style of banjo playing, as well as his singing, is considered a unique combination of Appalachian folk music and African-American blues... |
| "The Battle of Stone River" | Oscar Parks |
| "Sweet Glories Rush Upon My Sight" | Old Regular Baptists, Defeated Creek Church, Linefork, Ky |
| "Roustabout" | Dink Roberts |
| "Fox Race" | Joe Patterson |
| "Jim and John" | Ed, Lonnie, And G.D. Young |
| "The Day is Past and Gone" | Dorothy Melton |
| "Omie Wise" | Roscoe Holcomb Roscoe Holcomb Roscoe Holcomb, was an American singer, banjo player, and guitarist from Daisy, Kentucky. A prominent figure in Appalachian folk music, Holcomb was the inspiration for the term "high, lonesome sound," coined by folklorist and friend John Cohen... |
| "The Silk Merchant's Daughter" | Dellie Norton |
| "Hicks Farewell" | Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler was an American Appalachian Folk singer from Madison County, North Carolina. He is chiefly known for his a cappella performances on compilation albums recorded by folklorist and musicologist John Cohen.... |
| "Three Little Babes" | Texas Gladden |
| "Wayfaring Stranger" | Bill Monroe |
| "Rank Stranger" | The Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers The Stanley Brothers were an American bluegrass duo made up of brothers Carter and Ralph Stanley.-Biography:Carter and Ralph Stanley hailed originally from Dickenson County, Virginia. The family soon moved to McClure, Virginia where their parents worked a small farm in the Clinch Mountains... |
| "Christmas Time Will Soon Be Over" | Fiddlin' John Carson |
| "Am I Am Born to Die" | Doc Watson Doc Watson Arthel Lane "Doc" Watson is an American guitar player, songwriter and singer of bluegrass, folk, country, blues and gospel music. He has won seven Grammy awards as well as a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Watson's flatpicking skills and knowledge of traditional American music are highly regarded... and Gaither Carlton Gaither Carlton Gaither Wiley Carlton was an American Old-time fiddle player and banjo player. He is best known for his appearances accompanying his son-in-law Doc Watson during the folk music revival of the 1960s. While not recorded before the folk revival, Carlton had been playing with some of the region's... |
| "Pullin' the Skiff" | Ora Dell Graham |
| "Pumpkin Pie" | Joe and Odell Thompson |
| "Give the Fiddler a Dram" | Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler Dillard Chandler was an American Appalachian Folk singer from Madison County, North Carolina. He is chiefly known for his a cappella performances on compilation albums recorded by folklorist and musicologist John Cohen.... |
| "The Carolina Lady" | James Crase |
| "Angel Band" | E.C Estil C. Ball Estil Cortez Ball was an American singer-songwriter, fingerstyle guitarist, and country gospel and folk musician from Rugby in Grayson County, Virginia.-Career:... . and Orna Ball |
| "The Old Man Below" | Gaither Carlton Gaither Carlton Gaither Wiley Carlton was an American Old-time fiddle player and banjo player. He is best known for his appearances accompanying his son-in-law Doc Watson during the folk music revival of the 1960s. While not recorded before the folk revival, Carlton had been playing with some of the region's... |
| "When Sorrows Encompass Me 'Round" | Tommy Jarrell Tommy Jarrell Tommy Jarrell was an American fiddler, banjo player, and singer from the Mount Airy region of North Carolina's Appalachian Mountains.-Biography:... and Fred Cockerham Fred Cockerham Fred Cockerham was a fiddle and banjo player of American folk music.Cockerham was one of the seven children of Elias and Betty Jane Cockerham in North Carolina. He was one of the most accomplished of all the "Round Peak," North Carolina musicians but is most commonly known as the banjo accompanist... |