Protobilly is an in-depth exploration of the reverberations of American popular songs of the 19th Century and the Turn-of-the-Century through early country music in the 1920s and 1930s. Just as much of the early jazz repertoire came from 19th Century and early 20th Century popular songs that the pioneer jazz musicians had grown up with, the early country music recording artists adapted many of the same kinds of songs and tunes.
Three dozen Turn-of-the-Century recordings of vaudevillian performers are juxtaposed with recordings made in the ’twenties and ’thirties mainly by old-time country music artists. Also included are recordings by African American blues and jazz artists, expanding the concept laid out in the set’s already lengthy subtitle. The performers range from the very obscure to such legendary figures as Hank Williams and Louis Armstrong.
The accompanying 80-page booklet, set in generously large and readable type, gives information about the original songs and the performers, and is illustrated with vintage sheet music covers and photographs of performers. The digital transfers, especially of the earliest recordings, are superb.
The groups of songs show the many different kinds of transformations made by the later musicians. Some differ only slightly from the originals, as with Grandpa Jones’s 1947 version of the 1915 song “Are You From Dixie?.” In other
