The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited (2 CD/2 DVD BOX SET)
Revisionism can be as rewarding as rediscovery; indeed, they often make a compelling duo. Those sentiments drive veteran producer Hal Willner's tribute to pioneering musicologistHarry Smith's documentation and preservation of American folk forms--music that was already an endangered species by the time he originally compiled them for Folkways Records in the early '50s. As he's done on similar tributes to musicians as varied as jazz giants Monk and Mingus, Italian film scoring legend Nina Rota, and songwriters Kurt Weill and Leonard Cohen, Willner puts together a group of musicians as intriguingly eclectic as the vintage songs they're covering. That Smith's own original efforts helped fuel the '60s folk boom that in turn inspired more than a few of the musicians here helps give the collection the warm sensibility of musical traditions coming full circle.Spread across two CDs and a pair of DVD's are a rich slate of performances captured in Los Angeles, New York, and London in 1999 and 2001, as well as documentary material about Smith's own pioneering efforts that helped inspire them. Beck and Lou Reed spin spare, harrowing takes on blues godfathers Robert Johnson and Blind Lemon Jefferson, respectively, while Elvis Costello, Wilco, Richard Thompson, Steve Earle, Van Dyke Parks, the McGarrigles, and others offer up covers characterized by varying degrees of reverence. But, as is typical of most Willner projects, it's the more unlikely musical pairings here that yield the greatest intrigues, be they Pere Ubu's David Thomas recasting "Fishin' Blues" in his forceful persona or Bill Frisell's distinctive jazz sensibilities--the latter also suffusing Gavin Friday's "Fatal Flower Garden" with ghostly elegance. A welcome sense of playfulness also surfaces throughout, one whose good humor even makes room for a relevant clip from Chris Guest'sA Mighty Windfolk mockumentary, as well as amusing recollections by some of the artists influenced by Smith's original musical archaeology. More than merely revering history, this is a collection that cheerfully revels in its reinvention.--Jerry McCulley