On October 12, Rounder Records will release The Rounder Records Story, a 4 CD box set that includes 87 songs (see complete list below) selected to tell the label’s 40 year story and show the true breadth of their catalog.
For forty years, Rounder Records has been on a singular mission, recording a glorious range of American roots music – bluegrass, New Orleans R&B, old time fiddling, singer-songwriter, blues, country, rockabilly, roots rock, Cajun and a few that cross enough boundaries to be genres of their own.
From the old time folk music of Ola Belle Reed to the Grammy sweeping triumph of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, it is fascinating to hear both the underlying consistencies and the ongoing evolution of the label’s vision.
The list of musicians includes many of the defining names in roots music. The discs are arranged by decade, and the package also includes extensive notes by Washington Post journalist Geoff Himes in a 100 page book.
The 1970s
1. Old Home Place / J. D. Crowe and the New South 2:47
2. Take Me Back to Happy Valley / The Bailey Brothers 2:40
3. Armadillo Breakdown / Country Cooking 2:13
4. High on a Mountain / Ola Belle Reed 2:35
5. Killing the Blues / Woodstock Mountains 3:53
6. Johnson’s Old Gray Mule / George Pegram 2:15
7. Cherry River Rag / Ed Haley 2:52
8. Sweet Lucy / Michael Hurley 4:03
9. Parlez-Nous A Boire / The Balfa Freres 3:42
10. Mrs. Scott Skinner/The Smith’s A Gallant Fireman/The Earl of Seafield’s Real / Joseph Cormier 3:39
11. Tom and Jerry / Mark O’Connor 2:14
12. Down Home Summertime Blues / Norman Blake 3:40
13. Memory of Your Smile / Boone Creek 2:32
14. Things in Life / Don Stover 3:05
15. Kitty Puss / Buddy Thomas 2:22
16. Who Broke the Lock? / Highwoods Stringband 2:51
17. Don’t Put Her Down You Helped Put Her There / Hazel and Alice 3:45
18. Jula Jekere / Alhaji Bai Konte 5:02
19. The Only Way / Tony Trischka 4:17
20. Fluxology / Jerry Douglas 3:07
21. La porte dans arriere / D. L. Menard and the Louisiana Aces 3:24
22. I Ain’t Broke But I’m Badly Bent / David Grisman 1:58
23. Sparkling Brown Eyes / Joe Val and the New England Bluegrass Boys 3:05
24. Who Do You Love / George Thorogood and the Destroyers 4:19
The 1980s
1. Frosty / Clarence Gatemouth Brown 3:46
2. Watch Your Step / Ted Hawkins 2:13
3. New Kind of Neighborhood / Jonathan Richman 2:43
4. I Never Go Around Mirrors / Keith Whitley. 3:17
5. Cold on the Shoulder / Tony Rice. 2:34
6. Mama’s Hand / Hazel Dickens 4:30
7. A Freylekhe Nakht In Gan Eydn / Klezmer Conservatory Band 1:49
8. Babylon’s Big Dog / Culture 3:58
9. Ya Ya / Buckwheat Zydeco 3:35
10. Tipitina / Professor Longhair 4:22
11. Zydeco gris-gris / Beausoleil 3:39
12. Cowboy Jubilee / Riders in the Sky 1:42
13. Let the Whole World Talk / The Johnson Mountain Boys 2:42
14. Happy Wanderer / Brave Combo 2:30
15. Classified / James Booker 3:16
16. Got To Have You Be My Man / Rory Block 2:22
17. Electricity / Sleepy LaBeef 2:20
18. Everybody Wants A Piece of Me / Johnny Copeland 2:55
19. Whitewater / Bela Fleck 3:10
20. Once In A Very Blue Moon / Nanci Griffith 2:34
21. My Blue Ridge Cabin Home / Bluegrass Album Band 3:09
22. Howjadoo / John McCutcheon 2:41
23. Viva Seguin / Flaco Jimemez 2:18
24. Me and the Boys /NRBQ 3:25
The 1990s
1. Birches / Bill Morrissey 3:20
2. Baby Now That I’ve Found You / Alison Krauss 3:49
3. One Endless Night / Jimmie Dale Gilmore 3:46
4. Sing It / Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Tracy Nelson 4:18
5. Do Whatcha Wanna, Pt. 3 / ReBirth Brass Band 4:29
6. A Virus Called the Blues / Charles Brown 6:50
7. Only One Shoe / Carrie Newcomer 3:15
8. There Is Always One More Time / Johnny Adams 3:41
9. Something in the Rain / Tish Hinojosa 5:02
10. Bed by the Window / James King 4:57
11. Give Him Cornbread / Beau Jocque 4:55
12. Valse de Kaplan / D. L Menard, Eddie LeJeune, and Ken Smith 3:19
13. High Lonesome / Longview 4:04
14. In the Palm of Your Hand / Alison Krauss and the Cox Family 3:25
15. False Friend Blues / Ruth Brown with Clarence Gatemouth Brown 4:26
16. Carnival Time / Bo Dollis & The Wild Magnolias 2:42
17. Standing Here at the Cross Roads / Roomful of Blues 4:17
18. It’s Harder Now / Wilson Pickett 3:43
The 2000s
1. Don’t Wait Too Long / Madeleine Peyroux 3:10
2. Down to the Wire / Son Volt 4:19
3. More than A Name on A Wall / Dailey & Vincent 2:57
4. Roll In My Sweet Baby’s Arms / The Three Pickers: Earl Scruggs, Doc Watson, Ricky Skaggs 3:07
5. Man With The Blues / Willie Nelson 2:19
6. Rebel Rouser/ Jimmy Sturr 1:54
7. Versatile Heart / Linda Thompson 3:24
8. In the Middle Of It All / Irma Thomas 4:45
9. Please Read the Letter / Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 5:53
10. Through the Window Of A Train / Blue Highway 3:08
11. Resist / Rush 4:26
12. Small Swift Birds / Cowboy Junkies 3:39
13. Basement Apt. / Sarah Harmer 4:07
14. I Have a Need for Solitude / Mary Chapin Carpenter 3:42
15. Lonesome Wind Blues / Rhonda Vincent 3:02
16. Me and John and Paul / The Grascals. 3:13
17. The Crow / Steve Martin 3:23
18. Robert Plant/ The Only Sound That Matters 3:44
19. Trashcan / Delta Spirit 3:37
20. Fibber Island / They Might Be Giants 2:10
21. Back To Me / Kathleen Edwards 3:31
Author: World Music Central News Room
World music news from the editors at World Music Central
