Harry Smith Project Press Release
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2006
SHOUT! FACTORY SALUTES AMERICA’S MUSICAL HERITAGE WITH AN ALL-STAR TRIBUTE TO LEGENDARY FOLK ARCHIVIST & GRAMMY® WINNING MUSIC HISTORIAN
The Harry Smith Project:
Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited
All New Four Disc CD/DVD Box Set Features Live Performances By
Elvis Costello, Beck, Wilco, Richard Thompson, Steve Earle, Nick Cave,
Sonic Youth, Lou Reed, Beth Orton And More
Including New Full-Length Feature, Never-Before-Seen Documentary:
“The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith’s Anthology Of American Folk Music”
IN STORES OCTOBER 24, 2006
LOS ANGELES, CA – 50 years after renowned musicologist, filmmaker and painter, Harry Smith (1923-1991) compiled the definitive Anthology Of American Folk Music, Shout! Factory will release The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited, a four-disc audio/video tribute to the legendary archivist. In a series of concerts at the turn of the millennium, Beck, Sonic Youth, Elvis Costello, Nick Cave, David Johansen, Steve Earle, Richard Thompson, Beth Orton, and others paid tribune to Harry Smith and his Anthology, which encompasses the entire repertoire of American folk music. Compiled by producer Hal Willner, the new box set draws inspiration from Smith’s landmark 1952 six-album compilation, which brought such blues and roots artists as Charley Patton, , The Carter Family, Blind Lemon Jefferson, , Mississippi John Hurt, Dock Boggs and Uncle Dave Macon to national attention and sparked the late-1950s/early-1960s urban folk revival. The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited will be available on October 24, 2006, for the suggested list price of $59.98.
Willner, known for staging multi-artist tribute concerts for everyone from Neil Young to Leonard Cohen (The Cohen footage is currently featured in I’m Your Man, a documentary on the legendary musician), has compiled the most stunning and magical moments from these concerts on The Harry Smith Project Revisited – two CDs containing 33 live tracks recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall (1999), St. Ann’s Center in Brooklyn, NY (1999) and UCLA’s Royce Hall (2001). Co-produced by Rani Singh, head of the Harry Smith Archives in NYC and Smith’s former assistant, the set also includes two DVDs: “A Concert Film – The Harry Smith Project Live” featuring 26 songs from the tribute concerts, as well as three of Harry Smith’s short experimental films, and “The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith Anthology Of American Folk Music,” an all new feature-length documentary DVD which traces the roots of the original Anthology to its continuing influence on contemporary music.
Harry Smith’s musical legacy has impacted generations of artists, from Bob Dylan and the Grateful Dead to Wilco and Elvis Costello – all of whom have covered or referenced the Anthology’s tracks. The original Anthology, which was certified gold this year, was reissued on CD in 1997 by Smithsonian/Folkways and went on to win two Grammy® awards. The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited is an inspired, idiosyncratic and exuberant collection of songs from the “Old, Weird America” interpreted by some of today’s most innovative artists.
CD/DVD Contents:
The Harry Smith Project: Anthology Of American Folk Music Revisited box set includes two CDs and two DVDs with deluxe packaging. Disc contents are as follows:
DISC ONE: (CD)
1. Robin Holcomb & Todd Rundgren, THE HOUSE CARPENTER
1. David Johansen, OLD DOG BLUE
2. Steve Earle, PRISON CELL BLUES
3. Wilco, JAMES ALLEY BLUES
4. Beth Orton, FRANKIE
5. Beck, LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN
6. Kate & Anna McGarrigle, SUGAR BABY
7. Elvis Costello, THE BUTCHER'S BOY
8. David Thomas, WAY DOWN THE OLD PLANK ROAD
9. Richard Thompson with Eliza Carthy, THE COO COO BIRD
10. Ed Sanders, MY BABY DONE LEFT ME
11. Nick Cave, JOHN THE REVELATOR
12. Eric Mingus, OH DEATH WHERE IS THY STING?
13. Sonic Youth & Rosewell Rudd, DRY BONES
14. Garth & Maud Hudson, NO DEPRESSION IN HEAVEN
15. Geoff Muldaur, K.C. MOAN
16. Gavin Friday & Mary Margaret O’Hara, WHEN THAT GREAT SHIP GOES DOWN
DISC TWO: (CD)
1. Mary Margaret O’Hara, HE GOT BETTER THINGS FOR YOU
1. Robin Holcomb, A LAZY FARMER BOY
2. Van Dyke Parks with Mondrian String Quartet, SAIL AWAY LADY
3. Geoff Muldaur, POOR BOY BLUES
4. Marianne Faithful, SPIKE DRIVER BLUES
5. Lou Reed, SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN
6. Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Elvis Costello, OMMIE WISE PART 1 & 2 (WHAT LEWIS DID LAST...)
7. Gavin Friday, FATAL FLOWER GARDEN
8. Bob Neuwirth with Eliza Carthy, I WISH I WAS A MOLE IN THE GROUND
9. David Thomas, FISHING BLUES
10. Mary Margaret O'Hara, HE GOT BETTER THINGS FOR YOU
11. Mocean Worker, HARRY GOES A COURTIN' (THE MOWO! LIVE HOOTENNANNY THROW-DOWN)
12. Robin Holcomb & Todd Rundgre, THE HOUSE CARPENTER
13. Don Byron, Percy Heath & Bill Frisell, THE SONG OF LOVE
14. Nick Cave, SHINE ON ME
15. David Johansen, JAMES ALLEY BLUES
16. Petra Haden, PRETTY GIRL MARRIED GIRL
DISC THREE (DVD):
Concert Film – The Harry Smith Project Live
1. Elvis Costello, THE BUTCHER’S BOY
2. David Johansen, OLD DOG BLUE
3. Nick Cave, JOHN THE REVELATOR
4. Beck, LAST FAIR DEAL GONE DOWN
5. Ed Sanders, ONE HOT SUMMER NIGHT WITH HARRY SMITH
6. Kate & Anna McGarrigle, SUGAR BABY
7. Lou Reed, SEE THAT MY GRAVE IS KEPT CLEAN
8. Beth Orton, FRANKIE
9. Roswell Rudd with Sonic Youth, DRY BONES
10. Folksmen, EAT AT JOE'S
11. Robin Holcomb & Todd Rundgren, THE HOUSE CARPENTER
12. Gavin Friday with Maurice Seezer, WHEN THAT GREAT SHIP GOES DOWN
13. Philip Glass,
ÉTUDE NO. 1
14. David Johansen, JAMES ALLEY BLUES
15. Eric Mingus with Gary Lucas, OH DEATH WHERE IS THY STING?
16. Petra Haden, SINGLE GIRL, MARRIED GIRL
17. Richard Thompson with Eliza Carthy, THE COO COO BIRD
18. Bob Neuwirth with Eliza Carthy, I WISH I WAS A MOLE IN THE GROUND
19. Geoff Muldaur, POOR BOY BLUES
20. Don Byron, Percy Heath & Bill Frisell, THIS SONG OF LOVE
21. Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Elvis Costello, OMMIE WISE PART 1 & 2 (WHAT LEWIS DID LAST...)
22. Steve Earle, PRISON CELL BLUES
23. David Thomas, FISHING BLUES
Disc Three Bonus Features:
Three films by Harry Smith and interactive music selections: “Film #2,” “Film #7,” “Film #10,” “Philip Glass – Étude No. 10,” “DJ Spooky – HS Tone Poem,” “Mocean Worker – Harry Goes A Courtin’ (The Mowo! Live Hootenanny Throw-Down)”
DISC FOUR (DVD):
The Old, Weird America: Harry Smith Anthology Of American Folk Music
Prepare for an eclectic musical journey through “The Old, Weird America.” Hal Willner’s Harry Smith Project concerts celebrate the eccentric genius collector and his influential Anthology Of American Folk Music. Instrumental in helping inspire the urban folk revival of the 1960s, the anthology’s continuing impact on modern music is incalculable. Join us for a wild ride through a remarkable musical landscape.
About Shout! Factory:
Shout! Factory is a diversified entertainment company devoted to producing, uncovering and revitalizing the very best of pop culture. Founders Richard Foos, Bob Emmer and Garson Foos have spent their careers sharing their music, television and film faves with discerning consumers the world over. Shout! Factory’s DVD offerings serve up classic, contemporary and cult TV series, riveting sports programs, live music, animation and documentaries in lavish packages crammed with extras. The company’s audio catalogue boasts GRAMMY®-nominated boxed sets, new releases from storied artists, lovingly assembled album reissues and indispensable “best of” compilations. These riches are the result of a creative acquisitions mandate that has established the company as a hotbed of cultural preservation and commercial reinvention. Shout! Factory is based in Santa Monica, Calif. Its fine products are distributed by Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc. For more on Shout! Factory, visit www.shoutfactory.com.