High Bias audio-visuals

AMERICAN ROOTS MUSIC
Directed by Jim Brown
(Palm Pictures)
Produced for public television in 2001, American Roots Music is a four-part program covering the art form described in the title. Though they have essentially only four hours to move through one hundred years of music, director Jim Brown and writer Charles Wolfe do an amazingly thorough job. Two episodes appear on each disk. Episode one, "When First Unto This Country," covers spirituals with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, the first glimmerings of country music with the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and recordist Ralph Peer, the rise of the Delta blues with Son House, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Charley Patton, and the origins of gospel music with Thomas A. Dorsey. Not only does the program deal with the music itself, but it also takes a look at the burgeoning American recording industry which presented (some might say exploited) these indigenous sounds. Episode two, "This Land Was Made For You and Me," examines the impact of the industry on the music as recordings spread its popularity across the land. A style called "folk music" is identified for the first time, with Woody Guthrie, Leadbelly and folklorist Alan Lomax. "This Land" also covers cowboy music with Gene Autry and Western swing with Bob Wills, bluegrass with Bill Monroe and Earl Scruggs, honky tonk country with Ernest Tubb, Lefty Frizzell and Hank Williams, and the impact that "race" records, i.e. blues, had on both white and black listenerships after its widespread broadcast from Arkansas and Memphis radio. As bonus material, disk one includes three complete performances of songs featured in the episodes, including recent films of Doc Watson and Scruggs, but more importantly, a rare vintage performance by Bob Wills of "Sittin' On Top of the World," sung by Wills himself.

Disk two begins with episode three, "The Times They Are a-Changin'." Featured here are the evolution of electric blues, from Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf to B.B. King, the so-called "golden age of gospel," with the Golden Gate Quartet, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Mahalia Jackson and the Staple Singers, and the new, socially-conscious folk music from the Weavers and Bob Dylan. Part three culminates in coverage of the Newport Folk Festival, a gathering in celebration of American roots music. Episode four covers what many middle-of-the-roaders would consider the exotic strains of American music: Cajun music (with Marc and Ann Savoy and Amede Ardoin), zydeco (with Clifton Chenier and Steve Riley), Tejano music (with Lydia Mendoza, Valerio Longoria, Mingo Saldivar and Flaco Jiménez) and Native American music (with R. Carlos Nakai, Floyd Westerman and Robert Mirabal). There's also a wrap-up with a look at the future of American roots music. The bonus material here is three more performances, including recent shots of Steve Riley performing at Mardi Gras and a Tejano roundup on "Rosalito" with Longoria, Saldivar and Little Joe, and an amazing vintage piece of film featuring an absolutely rocking Sister Rosetta Tharpe that has to be seen to be believed.

The narration by Kris Kristofferson provides a thorough and reasonably detailed overview of each genre and its development. It would have been nice to see full performances of more of the songs; if they have complete footage of Jimmie Rodgers and Howlin' Wolf, it should have been shared with fans who never had the chance to see them in person. Each episode could've easily been stretched to two hours with more music and more performances. As the series stands, however, it's still a fine piece of work, shining a spotlight on the music that's becoming one of America's most important cultural contributions to the world. Michael Toland [buy it]

Copyright © 2002 High Bias