Coming up on our last live show of May, what better way but to dig just a little bit deeper into some of the field recordings of the first half of the 20th century that found popularity in the country, blues, and popular charts. Some of these songs had the ‘right’ rhythm or struck a chord with the message they sent. While most were traditional pieces by the time the musicologists had arrived with their primitive recording machines, others were original and told just the right story. We’ll hear Eric Clapton, Aaron Copland, B.B. King, and Tom Waits right alongside the originals done by Smith Casey, Gwen Foster, Belton Reese, and Ora Dell Graham.
| No. | Artist | Title | Album | Buy |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Warner Williams With Jay Summerour | Worried Life Blues | Blues Highway |  |
| 2 | Thomas "Jaybird" Jones | Worried Life Blues | Field Recordings, Vol. 3: Mississippi (1936-1942) | |
| 3 | David Edwards | Worried Life Blues | Library of Congress Alan Lomax Collection | |
| 4 | Eric Clapton & B.B. King | Worried Life Blues | Riding With The King | |
| 5 | Agustus "Track Horse" Haggerty | Hattie Green | Texas Field Recordings – 1934-1939 | |
| 6 | George Hamilton IV | Abilene | Classic Country | |
| 7 | Rouse Brothers | My Family Circle | Classic Field Recordings | |
| 8 | The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band | Will The Circle Be Unbroken | Appalachian Stomp: Bluegrass Classics | |
| 9 | Ace Johnson w/L. W. Gooden | Mama Don't Low No Swingin' Out In Here | Field Recordings Vol. 6: Texas (1933-1958) | |
| 10 | Doc Watson | Mama Don't Allow No Music | Memories | |
| 11 | W. M. Stepp | Bonapartes Retreat | Country & Western, Vol.2 [Disc 1] | |
| 12 | Aaron Copland, London Symphony Orchestra & William Warfield | Rodeo – Four Dance Episodes (Instrumental): IV. Hoedown | Copland Conducts Copland (Expanded Edition) | |
| 13 | Dock Reed | Down on Me | Field Recordings, Vol. 4: Mississippi & Alabama (1934-1942) | |
| 14 | Big Brother & the Holding Company | Down on Me | Rock: Train Kept a Rollin' Disc 1 | |
| 15 | Ozella Jones | Prisoner Blues | Field Recordings, Volume 7 : Florida | |
| 16 | Fiona Apple | Criminal | Tidal | |
| 17 | Smith Casey | East Texas Rag | Texas Field Recordings – 1934-1939 | |
| 18 | Tom Waits | The Soul Of A Man | God Don't Never Change: The Songs Of Blind Willie Johnson | |
| 19 | Johnnie Barfield | Everybody's Tryin' To Be My Baby | Classic Field Recordings | |
| 20 | Carl Perkins | Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby | Dixie Fried | |
| 21 | Gwen Foster | How Many Biscuits Can I Eat? | Classic Field Recordings | |
| 22 | Mac Wiseman | How Many Biscuits Can You Eat | Sings Old Time Country Favorites | |
| 23 | Belton Reese | Bile Dem Cabbages Down | Field Recordings – Vol 9 – Georgia, SC, NC,Virginia, Kentucky (1924-39) | |
| 24 | Doc Watson | Boil Them Cabbage Down | Milestones | |
| 25 | Smith Casey | West Texas Blues | Texas Field Recordings – 1934-1939 | |
| 26 | John Jackson | West Texas Blues | Front Porch Blues | |
| 27 | Ora Dell Graham | Shortenin' Bread | Field Recordings, Vol. 3: Mississippi (1936-1942) | |
| 28 | Lee Dorsey | Shortnin' Bread | The Ep Collection…Plus | |
| 29 | John Dudley | Cool Drink Of Water Blues | Parchman Farm: Photographs And Field Recordings: 19471959 | |
| 30 | Vassar Clements | Cool Drink of Water | Livin' with the Blues | |
| 31 | Capitol City Laundry Quartet | Ezekiel Saw The Wheel | Field Recordings Vol. 12: Virginia & South Carolina (1936-1940) | |
| 32 | Louis Armstrong | Ezekiel Saw De Wheel | Louis And The Good Book | |
| 33 | Doyle Lawson/Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver | Ezekiel Saw the Wheel | School of Bluegrass Disc 1 | |
| 34 | James Shorty, Viola James, And Congregation | Jesus On The Main Line | Sounds of the South [Disc 3] – Negro Church Music & White Spirituals | |
| 35 | Ry Cooder | Jesus On The Mainline | Paradise And Lunch (Remaster 2013) | |