There'll Come a Time - Charlie Poole, Harris, C.K.
White House Blues - Charlie Poole, Traditional
The Highwayman - Charlie Poole,
Hungry Hash House - Charlie Poole,
The Letter That Never Came - Charlie Poole, Dresser, P.
Take a Drink on Me - Charlie Poole, Poole
Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night - Charlie Poole, Davis, G.L.
Ramblin' Blues - Charlie Poole, Handy, W.C.
Took My Gal A-Walkin' - Charlie Poole,
Old and Only in the Way - Charlie Poole, Billings, L.J.
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues - Charlie Poole, Poole, Charlie
Bill Mason - Charlie Poole, Harte, B.
A Kiss Waltz - Charlie Poole,
Flop Eared Mule - Charlie Poole,
A Trip to New York, Pt. 1 - Charlie Poole,
Sweet Sixteen - Charlie Poole,
Write a Letter to My Mother - Charlie Poole, Bowers, E.
If the River Was Whiskey - Charlie Poole,
Mother's Last Farewell Kiss - Charlie Poole, Poole, Charlie
Milwaukee Blues - Charlie Poole,
Where the Whippoorwill Is Whispering Good-Night - Charlie Poole,
Track Listings (25) - Disc #2
The Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee - Charlie Poole, Braisted, H.
Sunny Tennessee - Charlie Poole, Braisted, H.
Bulldog Down in Sunny Tennessee - Charlie Poole,
Moving Day - Charlie Poole, Sterling, A.
It's Movin' Day - Charlie Poole, Sterling, A.
Home Sweet, Home - Charlie Poole, Bishop, Sir Henry
I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World - Charlie Poole,
Man That Rode the Mule Around the World - Charlie Poole, Traditional
Lynchburg Town - Charlie Poole,
Going Down to Lynchburg Town/Don't Let Your Deal Go Down - Charlie Poole,
Some One - Charlie Poole,
Monkey on a String - Charlie Poole,
Monkey on a String - Charlie Poole,
Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister - Charlie Poole,
May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight, Mister - Charlie Poole,
Married Life Blues - Charlie Poole,
The Infanta March - Charlie Poole, Gregory, G.W.
Sunset March - Charlie Poole, Gregory, G.W.
I'll Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms - Charlie Poole,
Goodbye Eliza Jane - Charlie Poole, VonTilzer, H.
Good-Bye Sweet Liza Jane - Charlie Poole, VonTilzer, H.
Good-Bye Booze - Charlie Poole, Havez, J.C.
Goodbye Booze - Charlie Poole, Havez, J.C.
You Ain't Talking to Me - Charlie Poole, Brooks, S.
You Ain't Talkin' to Me - Charlie Poole, Brooks, S.
Track Listings (23) - Disc #3
If I Lose, I Don't Care - Charlie Poole,
The Battleship of Maine - Charlie Poole,
Budded Rose - Charlie Poole,
Standing by a Window - Charlie Poole,
Uncle Dave's Beloved Solo - Charlie Poole, Macon, Uncle Dave
Come Take a Trip in My Airship - Charlie Poole, Evans, G.
I Once Loved a Sailor - Charlie Poole, Evans, G.
Dixie Medley [From Spooning and Ballooning] - Charlie Poole,
My Wife, She Has Gone and Left Me - Charlie Poole, Vann, C.D.
My Wife Went Away and Left Me - Charlie Poole, Vann, C.D.
Baby Rose - Charlie Poole, Christie, G.
Just Keep Waiting Till the Good Time Comes - Charlie Poole, Christie, G.
Shuffle Feet, Shuffle - Charlie Poole,
Coon From Tennessee - Charlie Poole, Edmonds, S.N.
Coon From Tennessee - Charlie Poole, Edmonds, S.N.
On the Banks of the Kaney - Charlie Poole,
Dixie Medley - Charlie Poole,
Southern Medley - Charlie Poole, Poole, Charlie
The Man That Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man - Charlie Poole, Brown, F.J.
Sweet Sunny South - Charlie Poole, Bloomfield, W.L.
Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South - Charlie Poole, Bloomfield, W.L.
Oh! Didn't He Ramble - Charlie Poole, Handy, W.
He Rambled - Charlie Poole, Handy, W.
It's fitting that this Charlie Poole box set comes in a beat-up cigar box. Enclosed are the stories, both in song and print, that serve to foreshadow a stereotypical hard-living country musician. Poole's tunes of gambling,... more » girls, guns, and gin are real-world tales of a rambling drifter and fighter with a bum pickin' hand (broken on a drunken dare) and broken teeth (shot out during a run-in with the law). The cover illustration by R. Crumb and the photos enclosed within hardly hint at Poole's being one of country music's earliest outlaws--rather, they portray him as a coiffed businessman-cum-banjo. It is in the three discs and the 35-page booklet that we begin to see a true picture of Charlie Poole. Though he didn't write the songs, he sang his rough-and-tumble life in the ones he chose: "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister?," "Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night," and "I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World." These are songs of a simple and stubborn man in trying times. It's not all misery and strife though. The pure George Formby style of "Monkey on a String" hints at a lighter side. "Sunset March" (inspired by Fred van Eps's "Infanta March," also included in this set) may be the track that best gets at Poole's banjo style. "Hellions both, the pair loved nothing more than traveling, raising Cain, playing music, and having a drink, and another tune, and another drink."
--Henry "Hank" Sapoznik on Poole and close friend Posey Wilson Rorrer (from the booklet) It's not the lightning speed that the world would hear in the bluegrass greats, but a unique clawhammer arpeggio plucking style that comes across rough yet streetwise, like the player himself. Not all the tracks in this set are performed by Poole, hence the subtitle ...and the Roots of Country Music. Also included are a couple dozen tracks recorded by Poole's mentors and contemporaries, giving excellent context to Poole's work. The term "bluegrass" was yet to be coined and the country outlaw profile was still a good 20 years away. It's surprising to learn that Charlie Poole only recorded and released records during a five-year period leading up to the hell-bent bender that led directly to his death at 39. In terms of packaging, this box set is top-notch. The design, typography, and photographs are as genuine as the music. The booklet contains a brief introduction by Roanoke, Virginia, DJ Kinney Rorrer, whose father was close with Poole. Also included are accounts of Charlie's run-ins with hecklers, women, and the law, as well as an in-depth bio that surely contains the majority of what is known of his short life. Perhaps only Rorrer's out-of-print Rambling Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole reveals more about this grandfather of country music and godfather to country ruffians. --Peter Hilgendorf« less
It's fitting that this Charlie Poole box set comes in a beat-up cigar box. Enclosed are the stories, both in song and print, that serve to foreshadow a stereotypical hard-living country musician. Poole's tunes of gambling, girls, guns, and gin are real-world tales of a rambling drifter and fighter with a bum pickin' hand (broken on a drunken dare) and broken teeth (shot out during a run-in with the law). The cover illustration by R. Crumb and the photos enclosed within hardly hint at Poole's being one of country music's earliest outlaws--rather, they portray him as a coiffed businessman-cum-banjo. It is in the three discs and the 35-page booklet that we begin to see a true picture of Charlie Poole. Though he didn't write the songs, he sang his rough-and-tumble life in the ones he chose: "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister?," "Husband and Wife Were Angry One Night," and "I'm the Man That Rode the Mule 'Round the World." These are songs of a simple and stubborn man in trying times. It's not all misery and strife though. The pure George Formby style of "Monkey on a String" hints at a lighter side. "Sunset March" (inspired by Fred van Eps's "Infanta March," also included in this set) may be the track that best gets at Poole's banjo style. "Hellions both, the pair loved nothing more than traveling, raising Cain, playing music, and having a drink, and another tune, and another drink."
--Henry "Hank" Sapoznik on Poole and close friend Posey Wilson Rorrer (from the booklet) It's not the lightning speed that the world would hear in the bluegrass greats, but a unique clawhammer arpeggio plucking style that comes across rough yet streetwise, like the player himself. Not all the tracks in this set are performed by Poole, hence the subtitle ...and the Roots of Country Music. Also included are a couple dozen tracks recorded by Poole's mentors and contemporaries, giving excellent context to Poole's work. The term "bluegrass" was yet to be coined and the country outlaw profile was still a good 20 years away. It's surprising to learn that Charlie Poole only recorded and released records during a five-year period leading up to the hell-bent bender that led directly to his death at 39. In terms of packaging, this box set is top-notch. The design, typography, and photographs are as genuine as the music. The booklet contains a brief introduction by Roanoke, Virginia, DJ Kinney Rorrer, whose father was close with Poole. Also included are accounts of Charlie's run-ins with hecklers, women, and the law, as well as an in-depth bio that surely contains the majority of what is known of his short life. Perhaps only Rorrer's out-of-print Rambling Blues: The Life and Songs of Charlie Poole reveals more about this grandfather of country music and godfather to country ruffians. --Peter Hilgendorf
CD Reviews
Best box set of 2005 for the old-time fan
5 Steer Banjo | Billings, MN | 05/17/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I had heard about this set several months before it was released and I expected the typical major label treatment for the very important, but largely ignored, Charlie Poole. This box set has completely reversed my expectations. Not only was the artist well-represented in the set, but the design, the notes, and especially the remastering were topnotch! Previous collections from Sony/Legacy left me cold, particularly the dull, overcompensated and heavyhanded remastering (like the Bluegrass box that came out earlier). Not so with this collection! Most of the material on this set sounds far better than I have ever heard and many of the tracks sound like Charlie, Posey, and Roy are in the room with you. I did check the notes and it was no surprise that this is due, probably in large part, to the efforts of Chris King who has done remastering for County, Old Hat, Bear Family and others. In addition, the notes & selections of the producer, Hank Sapoznik, are really exceptional. He shows a rare interest and insight into both the music of Charlie Poole (and old-time music) and also the musicians from which Poole learned. Add to this the fact that the set itself is extremely well-designed and attractive in a nostalgic sense (it resembles an old cigar box)with cover art by R. Crumb and period-style CD sleeves. This is really one well thought out project and I'm glad I pre-ordered it. I highly recommend this to fans of old-time, bluegrass, and roots music."
Give Charlie Poole's music another shot in the arm
J. Ross | Roseburg, OR USA | 05/25/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Comprised of three generous CDs with a total 72 tracks, this box set compiles music of Charlie Poole. In his book "Classic Country," Charles K. Wolfe relates an anecdote about a group of musicians pulling up to country store in Virginia in the late 1920s. Examining the watermelons, a jug-eared man asked the shopkeeper, "How much are those cucumbers? I'm down from North Carolina, and we have cucumbers bigger than these things." After introducing himself, Charlie Poole introduced himself, grabbed his banjo, and played a few tunes. The shopkeeper went into the back and returned with a half-gallon of prime moonshine. Stories are still told about Charlie today, and his songs are still sung today. Born in a textile mill town in 1892, the rough, unsettled and temperamental hard-living man was a skilled banjo picker, songwriter, and arranger of the old folk songs. Some of his songs are "Take a Drink on Me," "Hungry Hash House," and "Husband and Wife were Angry One Night." Liking a good fight, in "Coon from Tennessee," he sings about wanting to run a cemetery of his own.
Poole recorded 84 songs from 1925-31 for such companies as Columbia, Paramount and Brunswick. Joining him for his earliest New York sessions were fiddler Posey Rorer and guitarist Norman Woodlieff. "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" would become a bluegrass standard. I don't see his other hit, "Can I Sleep in your Barn Tonight, Mister?" included in this compilation. After selling over 100,000 copies of the first disc (about five times the normal sales for a 1925 hit), the band released "The Man That Rode the Mule Around Town" and "The Girl I Left in Sunny Tennessee." Both selections are included on this CD set. Fingerstyle guitarist Roy Harvey replaced Woodlieff, and various hits followed.
Included in this collection are White House Blues, There'll Come a Time, Leavin' Home, Budded Rose, and Hungry Hash House. The Depression hurt record sales, but his legacy remained with songs like "Old and Only in the Way," "If the River was Whiskey," "It's Movin' Day," and "He Rambled" (a New Orleans funeral song).
True to his band's name, North Carolina Ramblers, Charlie Poole would sometimes disappear for weeks. Columbia Records wanted him to stick to older musical styles, but Charlie wanted to explore new ones. He formed The Highlanders with piano and twin fiddles. In this box set, "Lynchburg Town" and "Flop Eared Mule" are two selections from this band. "A Trip to New York" is attributed to The Allegheny Highlanders, a name used when they recorded for Brunswick. Poole's drinking led to a heart attack and his ultimate demise in 1931 at age 39.
Nearly thirty tracks on these CDs feature some other old-timey musicians from Poole's time. Some of the singers and groups he learned from are sampled from old 78s and cylinder recordings. Such artists featured are Floyd County Ramblers, Arthur Colins, Dock Walsh, Uncle Dave Macon, Cal Stewart,Blue Ridge Highballers, Branch & Coleman, Fred Van Eps, Red Fox Chasers, Peerless Quartet, Gid Tanner, Eddie Morton and many others. Transferred by sound engineer Christopher King, these digital transfers have an amazingly high fidelity. "You Ain't Talkin' To Me" was produced by Henry Sapoznik, an old-time (and klezmer) musician himself. He also wrote the informative 6,000-word liner notes that accompany the package.
About 1960 following the folk revival, there was a revival of Charlie Poole's old-timey sound. This 3-CD set will give his music another shot in the arm and ensure he and the North Carolina Ramblers aren't forgotten. The release precedes the annual "Charlie Poole Festival" in May in his hometown of Eden, North Carolina. There is also a documentary film about Poole in the works. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)
"
BAD BOY, FIRST-BORN, OF COUNTRY MUSIC
Richard B. Jordan | 09/21/2005
(5 out of 5 stars)
"We're not talking "Dueling Banjos" here - and at times the music seems thin to the modern ear. But listen a while -- the early days of country, of minstrel singing, even the occasional awful vaudeville joke is front and center.
Very early records have been wonderfully cleaned, Charlie Poole and the Ramblers have been thoroughly researched - and packaged with like musicians in a 3 CD group that's a tribute to early country entertainment. This is for the real afficionado of the genre. You Ain't Talkin' to Me should really Talk to YOU!"
Track Listings (24) - Disc #1