Various Artists - Wizards Of Country Guitar 1935-1955 : 4 x CDs (due to weight, this price for the USA only. Outside of the USA, the price will be adjusted as needed) (Mega Blowout Sale)
SKU
23-JSP 77144
“Here are 100 tracks by Bob Dunn-one of the very first people to play amplified steel guitar in a country group and on record-and the illustrious string men who followed in his trailblazing footsteps! Dunn and these folks helped forge the very sound of country music: Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant, Lefty Perkins, Billy Briggs.
This is proto-country music, not Western Swing, and largely forgotten. Which is a complete shame. Because the guitar playing here is imaginative and wonderful, quicksilver licks sparkling across the fretboard in serendipitous ways. The steel guitar playing is amazing. You can hear the influence of the blues, of folk music, of Hawaiian music--all blended into a new and joyous music.
This music clearly INFLUENCED in a crucial way country music, rockabilly, rock and roll, surf and even African music. (Yes! Listen to some of these cuts and then listen to King Sunny Ade.) Without this music, it is hard to imagine Scotty Moore or Carl Perkins--and without Scotty Moore or Carl Perkins, well, no Rock. Period.
This music is worthy of listening to both for its historical importance and its sheer joyousness. This is some wonderful music. I read a story--which may be apocryphal--about Charlie Parker going to a bar in the 1940s and playing some country music on the jukebox. He was listening intently to it, and one of his fellow musicians said, "Ah come on Bird, that music is so corny." And he replied, "Yeah, but they really mean it man." I can imagine, if that story is true, that he was playing some of the cuts from these CDs.”