The Smoky God

John Fahey - Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You: The Fonotone Years 1958-1965 (2011) {5CD Set, Dust-to-Digital DTD-21}
XLD rip (secure mode) | FLAC (tracks)+CUE+LOG -> 1.25 Gb | MP3 @320 -> 818 Mb | Artwork | 5% repair rar
© 1958-65, 2011 Dust-to-Digital / Revenant | DTD-21
Finger-Picked Guitar / Contemporary Folk / Folk Jazz / Folk-Blues / Progressive Folk

As with all histories, context and an appreciation for the times are essential. In 1958, when the earliest of these recordings were made there were probably no more than a handful of reissues of pre-war country blues 78s available on record in the United States. The long-playing 33 1/3 record was, itself, only a recent invention. Today, with hundreds, perhaps thousands, of pre-war blues and hillbilly reissues available and in print, when it’s possible to walk into any halfway decent record store (to the extent record stores, halfway decent or otherwise, still exist) and find the complete recordings of Charley Patton or Blind Willie Johnson, it may be difficult to comprehend just how obscure and how otherworldly this music once was. — Glenn Jones, from the Introduction toYour Past Comes Back to Haunt You.

This double-disc set is one of the more bountiful compilations gleaned from Mitch Miller's voluminous Columbia Records catalog. Unfortunately, the contents of 50 All-American Favorites (2004) have been confined to the years 1958 to 1962, during which time Miller's unconventional performance style was on its final descent. Mitch Miller & the Gang consisted of Miller fronting a full choral ensemble of vocalists who sang in unison.