(Blues, Folk, Country) VA - Music From The American Epic: The Sessions - 2017, MP3, 320 kbps

"American Epic" compilation series is a collection of releases of music associated with the film series "The American Epic", a historical documentaries are a journey back in time to the "Big Bang" of modern popular music.
In the 1920s, as radio took over the pop music business, record companies were forced to leave their studios in major cities in search of new styles and markets. Ranging the mountains, prairies, rural villages, and urban ghettos of America, they discovered a wealth of unexpected talent. The recordings they made of all the ethnic groups of America democratized the nation and gave a voice to everyone. Country singers in the Appalachians, Blues guitarists in the Mississippi Delta, Gospel preachers across the south, Cajun fiddlers in Louisiana, Tejano groups from the Texas Mexico border, Native American drummers in Arizona, and Hawaiian musicians were all recorded. For the first time, a woman picking cotton in Mississippi, a coalminer in Virginia or a tobacco farmer in Tennessee could have their thoughts and feelings heard on records played in living rooms across the country. It was the first time America heard itself.
This is not "remastering", in the normal sense, but something closer to fine art restoration. The intent is not for people to marvel at the antiquity of these discs, but rather to experience them as vital, immediate performances that speak to us as directly as they did on the day they were recorded—not simply great art for their time, but great art for all times. Engineer Nicholas Bergh has reassembled this recording system from original parts and it is now the only one left in the world. The system consists of a single microphone, a towering six-foot amplifier rack, and a live record-cutting lathe, powered by a weight-driven pulley system of clockwork gears. The musicians have roughly three minutes to record their song direct to disc before the weight hits the floor. In the 1920s, they called this "catching lightning in a bottle".
American Epic is a three-part documentary that tells the extraordinary story of the trailblazing era when country-wide, the music of ordinary Americans was recorded for the very first time. The series culminates with The American Epic Sessions, the feature-length film showcasing contemporary artists in recording sessions using original recording equipment from the era. American Epic: The Sessions is an album of exclusive new recordings produced by Jack White and T Bone Burnett of music legends and contemporary artists including Alabama Shakes, The Americans, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Frank Fairfield, Ana Gabriel, Rhiannon Giddens, Merle Haggard, Bobby Ingano, Elton John, Auntie Geri Kuhia, Pokey LaFarge, Bettye LaVette, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Taj Mahal, Steve Martin & Edie Brickell, Fred Martin and The Levite Camp, Ashley Monroe, Nas, Willie Nelson, Charlie Kaleo Oyama, Blind Boy Paxton, Raphael Saadiq, and Jack White. The artists have recorded both new compositions and songs from the 1920s and 1930s that are featured in the PBS documentary, American Epic
For the American Epic: The Sessions segment, the producers re-assembled a recording lathe from the late 1920s-the last of it's kind in existence-and replicated the atmosphere of America's seminal 1920s field recordings down to the smallest detail. The artists recorded straight to wax, using all the original microphones, amplifiers, and other equipment from that era. It was the first time that any performer has been able to use this machinery for over 80 years.