Artist description Many think of roots music - the endless tapestry of regional and/or ethnic traditions that define and fuel various North American cultures and its rituals - as something sequestered and unchanging: more a museum piece than a fluid, active presence. Such a perspective could not be further from today's reality. For in addition to roots music's vast influence on some of the most creative contemporary performers (Los Lobos, Alison Krauss, Beck, Bob Dylan, just for starters), roots music has birthed an endless stream of performers who take their native or borrowed traditions and expand and develop them - refining them, adding contemporary influences while still maintaining the integrity of the source. Over the course of its four disks, Roots Music: An American Journey explores contemporary recordings of traditional music played with authenticity and strict attention to its heritage. But it pays equal attention to musicians who use traditional materials as a starting place. For some, roots music is the fire. For others, it fans the flames of something new. It is only by placing these two methodologies side-by-side that a full picture emerges. Take, for instance, the examination of Cajun and Zydeco styles that kicks off disk two of the collection. By contrasting the lonesome, fiddle-based music of the Balfa Brothers and the Cajun country of DL Menard with the throbbing Zydeco of Boozoo Chavis and the young Chris Ardoin, the shared characteristics - as well as the distinct differences - are illuminated. Disk three revisits Cajun styles with the even more expansive visions of Steve Riley, BeauSoleil, Beau Jocque, and Buckwheat Zydeco. Louisiana Cajun and Zydeco is but one genre explored on Roots Music. New Orleans R&B is represented by both mentors (James Booker, Johnny Adams, the Wild Magnolias) and upstarts (The Rebirth Brass Band, Marcia Ball), and clearly paints a picture of continuum formed equally by reverence and progress. Bluegrass - itself a fusion a number of previous roots music styles (blues, jazz, stringband, country music, and more), is represented on Roots Music: An American Journey by voices that adhere to the exhilarating formula of its founders as well as by those who have tempered their bluegrass roots with other influences to achieve popular and critical acclaim. James King's "Leavin'" has fast become a bluegrass standard - a new song so rooted in classic values of composition and performance that it has resonance beyond its years. At the other end of the bluegrass spectrum are Bela Fleck and Alison Krauss. Fleck brings expanded technical and harmonic capabilities to "Crossfire," while the instrumentation (banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin, fiddle) maintains Bela's connection to a bluegrass tradition. Krauss, a champion bluegrass fiddler, has opened her music to rock, pop, country, and folk influences, creating an intelligent, accessible sound that still retains an organic foundation. Roots Music: An American Journey doesn't stop there - from Cape Breton fiddle styles to rockabilly, from blues to disk four's extensive look at contemporary roots rock, this richly annotated boxed set is the cornerstone of any comprehensive library of Americana. For the uninitiated and familiar, it is a wondrous introduction. For those familiar with North America's vast array of traditions, it will reveal new commonalities and intricacies in the contrasting styles that it presents side-by-side. As America continues to rediscover its own heritage, Roots Music: An American Journey will become more and more valuable.

Location Cambridge, MA - USA

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