Birth of a Nation
Documentary series on American folk music. In the 1920s, the likes of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers and Blind Lemon Jefferson ushered in a golden age of folk.
Three-part documentary series on American folk music, tracing its history from the recording boom of the 1920s to the folk revival of the 1960s.
The opening part looks at how, in the 1920s, record companies scoured the American south for talent to sell. This was a golden age of American music, as the likes of the Carter Family, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charlie Poole, Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt burst onto record, eager to have a share in the new industry and the money it made, only to lapse into obscurity when the depression hit at the start of the 30s.
Contributors include Judy Collins, Steve Earle, Tom Paxton and Pete Seeger, surviving relations of 1920s greats such as Mississippi John Hurt, the Carter Family and Uncle Dave Macon, plus three actual survivors of the era - guitarist Slim Bryant, banjoist Wade Mainer and Delta bluesman 'Honeyboy' Edwards.
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Steve Earle on Lead Belly
Duration: 01:23
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Steve Earle on Folk
Duration: 01:23
Music Played
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Steve Earle
Satellite Radio
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The Byrds
Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There is a Season)
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Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
White House Blues
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Mamie Smith
It's Right Here for You
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Mamie Smith
Crazy Blues
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Theodore Bikel
Dodi Li
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Caruso
Apri la tua finestra
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Hoyt Ming & his Pep-Steppers
Indian War Whoop
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Uncle Eck Robertson and Family
Brilliancy Medley
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Fiddlin鈥� John Carson
The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane
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Fiddlin鈥� John Carson
I'm Going to Take the Train to Charlotte
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Ernest and Hattie Stoneman - The Mountaineers Courtship
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Ernest V. Stoneman's Trio
The Spanish Merchant's Daughter
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Ernest Stoneman
Watermellon Smilin' on the Vine
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The Stoneman Sisiters
The Titanic
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William & Versey Smith
When that Great Ship Went Down
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Wade Mainer
White House Blues
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Uncle Dave Macon
Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line
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Tom Paley
From Earth to Heaven
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Bently Boys
Down on Penny's Farm
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
See That My Grave is Kept Clean
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
Prison Cell Blues
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
Christmas Eve Blues
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
Mosquito Moan
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David 鈥淗oneyboy鈥� Edwards
Stagolee
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David 鈥淗oneyboy鈥� Edwards
Roamin' and Ramblin' Blues
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Mississippi John Hurt
Stockwell
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DeFord Bailey
Ice Water Blues
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Charley Patton
A Spoonful Blues
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The Skillet Lickers
Pretty Little Widow
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The Skillet Lickers
Hell Broke Loose In Georgia
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Lead Belly
Where Did You Sleep Last Night?
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Doc Watson
In the Pines
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Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Shootin' Creek
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Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Don't Let Your Deal Go Down Blues
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Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
Take A Drink On Me
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Charlie Poole & The North Carolina Ramblers
You Ain't Talking to Me
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The Charioteers
Flying Clouds
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Mississippi John Hurt
Wade In The Water
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Mississippi John Hurt
Frankie
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Mississippi John Hurt
Pay Day
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Henry Thomas
My Creole Bell
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Henry Thomas
Railroadin' Some
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Dock Boggs
Fishing Blues
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Dock Boggs
Country Blues
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The Carter Family
Single Girl, Married Girl
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The Carter Family
Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow
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The Carter Family
Will the Circle be Unbroken?
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Jimmie Rodgers
Whippin' that Old TB
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
Rising High Water Blues
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Blind Alfred Reed
How Can a Poor man Stand Such Times and Live
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Charley Patton
Prayer of Death
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Blind Lemon Jefferson
See That My Grave is Kept Clean
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Mississippi John Hurt
I Shall Not be Moved
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The Carter Family
No Depression In Heaven
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Woody Guthrie
Blowin' Down this Road
