The Rough Guide to Hillbilly Blues [Audio CD]

A diverse selection of tracks which highlights how early white country musicians were heavily influenced by the blues. Includes tracks by early country music pioneers Jimmie Rodgers, Charlie Poole and Dock Boggs. The album has been lovingly remastered using pioneering restoration techniques. When the Country blues was first recorded in the mid-1920s, it was not only played and appreciated by African-Americans but also by white performers and audiences alike. During this time, it was common practice for record companies to separate the music of the American South into two categories: the 'race' series, aimed at a black audience; and the 'hillbilly' series, aimed at white audiences. This division along racial lines was in fact superficial, as black and white musicians shared much with respect to genre and repertoire and the separation of the two on commercial recordings grew out of the prejudices of record companies. Often overlooked is the fact that there was a huge amount of musical exchange and interaction between white and black musicians at this time.