I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs 1880-1955

by Various Artists

I Listen to the Wind That Obliterates My Traces: Music in Vernacular Photographs 1880-1955 cover art

A fascinating multimedia archival project that pairs historical vernacular photography with incredibly raw, early 20th-century field recordings. The audio features haunting, unpolished performances of gospel, delta blues, and Appalachian folk music, serving as a ghostly, atmospheric window into a vanished era of American life. The exhaustive curation is highly praised for its deeply immersive and evocative presentation of American roots music.

Genres

  • Old-Time
  • Blues
  • American Folk Music

Tracklist

  1. HMV Weather Effects - Wind
  2. John Jacob Niles - John Henry
  3. Anonymous (Société Anonyme) - Untitled
  4. Reverend Edward Clayborn - Then We’ll Need That True Religion
  5. Ernest Thompson - In the Baggage Coach Ahead
  6. Emery Glen - Blue Blazes Blues
  7. Gennett Sound Effects - Walking on Ice
  8. Clara Smith - Kind Lovin’ Blues
  9. Nick Lucas - If You Hadn’t Gone Away
  10. Anonymous (Knight Home-recording Disc) - Beautiful Mansions of Gold
  11. Eva Parker - I Seen My Pretty Papa Standing on a Hill
  12. Pale K. Lua - The Rosary
  13. Gennett Sound Effects - Mocking Bird
  14. Bradley Kincaid - Froggie Went A-Courting
  15. Sylvester Weaver - Damfino Stump
  16. Seger Ellis - Montana Call
  17. Alfred G. Karnes - When They Ring the Golden Bells
  18. Anonymous (Recordio Home-recording Disc) - Mandolin
  19. Anonymous (Recordio Home-recording Disc) - The Stranger
  20. Ex-Governor Alf. Taylor’s Old Limber Quartet - Brother Noah Built an Ark
  21. Ed Lang - A Little Love a Little Kiss
  22. Standard Radio Sound Effect - Canadian Geese
  23. Roy Smeck’s Trio - Reaching for the Moon
  24. Roland Hayes - I Want to Go Home
  25. Obed Pickard of Station WSM Nashville Tennessee - The Old Grey Horse
  26. Gennett Sound Effects - Walking in Snow and Thin Underbrush
  27. Kelly Harrell - Rovin’ Gambler
  28. Sara Martin & Sylvester Weaver - I’ve Got to Go and Leave My Daddy Behind
  29. Frank Ferera’s Hawaiians - Pinin’ Hawaii for You
  30. Gabriel Brown and his Guitar - Going My Way
  31. Gennett Sound Effects - Rainfall and Thunder (Thunder Not from Life)
  32. Lew Childre - It Don’t Do Nothing but Rain
  33. Bertha Idaho - Graveyard Love
  34. Frank Luther - Pretty Polly
  35. Gennett Sound Effects - Canary Birds: Several Hundred
  36. Roland Hayes - Xango
  37. Dick Reinhert - The Girl I Left Behind Me
  38. Rev. Calbert & Sister Billie Holstein - Yes I Know
  39. Chubby Parker - Bib-a-lollie-boo
  40. Thurlow Lieurance & Clement Barone - Winnebago Love Song (Duet)
  41. Clara Smith - My Good for Nuthin’ Man
  42. Sol Hoopii’s Novelty Trio - Stack O’Lee Blues
  43. Ukulele Ike (Cliff Edwards) - (I’m Cryin’ ‘cause I Know I’m) Losing You
  44. Marc Williams - William & Mary
  45. Anonymous (Recordio Home-recording Disc) - Way Down Home
  46. Gennett Sound Effects - Night Noises
  47. Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers with Riley Puckett - Ya Gotta Quit Kickin’ My Dog Aroun’
  48. Stovepipe No. 1 (Sam Jones) - Cripple Creek and Sourwood Mountain
  49. Goebel Reeves - Cowboy’s Prayer
  50. Bill Kearney & Earl Bush - Precious Memorys (sic)
  51. Carl T. Sprague - O Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie