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Ashley and Shannon Campbell on 2-disc album set to be released Spring 2015
Way back in the summer of 1927, Victor Talking Machine Company producer and talent scout, Ralph Peer, was on a search to find and record rural American music, "music from the mountains". He traveled to Bristol, Tennessee, set up a temporary studio on a couple floors of a hat and glove company, and advertised for local country music (then known as "hillbilly") performers, really just ordinary folks with extraordinary talents, to record their music at his studio. The first session in 1927 took place July to August and attracted ballad singers, street evangelists, string bands, gospel quartets, harmonica virtuosos, Holiness preachers, blues guitarists and rural storytellers. These recording sessions, which became known as the Bristol Sessions, made unprecedented history by not only capturing the beautiful, pure essence of country music at that time in America but also by discovering some of the most revered artists in music history, The Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers. These sessions provided the Carters and Rodgers with their first opportunity to record and their eventual path to stardom. In total, 19 performers recorded 76 songs and ultimately set the foundation for what became the signature sound of the entire genre of country music. Furthermore, the Bristol Sessions became such a phenomenal event that they are commonly referred to as the "Big Bang" of modern country music.
Johnny Cash referred to the Bristol Sessions as "the single most important event in the history of country music."
Now, almost 90 years later, Rusty Morrell, songwriter, with Carl Jackson are producing the album "Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited," a 2-CD album of 16 songs taken from the original 1927 Bristol Sessions for the Birthplace of Country Music and tourism officials from Tennessee and Virginia. The album includes some of Nashville’s top recording artists with
Ashley and Shannon Campbell. Its release date is scheduled for this spring (2015).
Check out these articles about this exciting music project:
"Orthophonic Joy" from the Birthplace of Country Music website at:
http://www.birthplaceofcountrymusic.org ... phonic-joy" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
"The Bristol Sessions are getting a little refresher with some familiar faces and voices", TriCities.com,
http://www.tricities.com/news/local/art ... b2370.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Also, watch a glimpse of some of the new album's artists discussing this special project on Vimeo, "Orthophonic Joy - 2015", uploaded by Birthplace of Country Music (
look for Ashley and Shannon and other familiar faces!):
http://vimeo.com/116788229" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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