The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music.

The Bristol Sessions: Writings About the Big Bang of Country Music. Edited by Charles K. Wolfe and Ted Olson. Contributions to Southern Appalachian Studies. (Jefferson, N.C., and London: McFarland and Company, Inc., Publishers, c. 2005. Pp. x, 296. Paper, $30.00, ISBN 0-7864-1945-8.)

A series of serendipitous events led Ralph Peer, a record producer with RCA Victor, and a significant roster of musicians to a Bristol warehouse in 1927 and 1928 for a series of recording sessions. This book's nineteen essays present different facets of those sessions. Contributions range from excerpted memoirs and interviews to biographical sketches of more obscure artists and from cultural interpretation to technical analysis based on musical transcription. As a whole, this volume sustains the argument that the Bristol sessions were a critical marker for early commercial country music.

One of the consistent themes is the idea that Bristol marks a stylistic shift in early recordings toward vocal music (see Charles K. Wolfe's first essay) and toward more flexible treatments of melody lines and rhythm and musical form, as exemplified in the forward-looking styles of Jimmie Rodgers and Alfred G. Karnes (Thomas Townsend's essay). Another is the tendency to romanticize so-called hillbilly musicians as unschooled or natural musicians, a perception encouraged by Ralph Peer (whose 1953 Billboard essay is included) and other players in early commercialization. The caricature, however, stands in sharp contrast to the apparent professionalism of individuals like Jimmie Rodgers and Ernest Stoneman (Jocelyn Neal's analysis). A question raised here concerns the extent to which Bristol represented rural music in general. Charles Wolfe's third essay compares the 1928 Bristol sessions to a body of recordings made in nearby Johnson City, Tennessee, for Columbia Records under the direction of Frank B. Walker. Walker's project allows for a fascinating comparison of the production practices and artistic attitudes of two contemporary business rivals.

Organized around a discrete body of recordings, the book is a reference source--especially useful for initiates--for names of artists, family connections, song titles, and so on. It also provides a functional framework for considering key themes of roots music study, though some pieces require more reader effort than others in this regard. A strong central axis helps sustain the less-focused essays or those that simply serve to fill informational gaps. In the end, the collection succeeds in arguing the significance of the Bristol sessions.

The book makes a useful contribution beyond its treatment of a historical singularity. The Bristol sessions offer a chance to look forward to later developments in musical style and make connections to the urban folk revival (via the recordings included on Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music) as well as to more recent preservation-minded festivals and community-revitalization efforts. The sessions offer a chance to look back, since a number of the musicians brought to bear their experiences with dying musical formats like vaudeville or medicine shows. They also brought to Bristol a lively musical tradition that drew string band tunes, balladry, popular songs, Hawaiian sounds, blues, comedy numbers, and religious music all together.

TRACEY E. W. LAIRD

Agnes Scott College