Boone-Tolliver Recordings

Description

In the 1950s, when audio recording was still a prohibitively expensive art, limited to the quasi-laboratory environment of professional studios, a few avant-garde artists began experimenting with home recording. Sun Ra in Chicago and Les Paul in New York made history far from the studios. And deep in the Appalachian mountains, folk singer John Jacob Niles recorded a series of EPs in the place where he felt most comfortable singing: his living room. Niles's decision may have seemed strange to those around him; he was internationally known, had released records on RCA Victor, played Carnegie Hall, toured extensively in the US, and had been to England. But for Niles, it must have been a natural choice, as his life was directly linked to his creations: he built his own dulcimers, tilled his land, carved the grand doors of his Boot Hill farm. Niles then went further and created his own label, Boone-Tolliver, a true family affair (his wife Rena was responsible for mail order). The label released two EPs: John Jacob Niles: American Folk Love Songs and Ballads by Niles, before larger folk labels, such as Tradition, signed him. While, in the 1950s, managing an independent, artist-owned label proved too difficult for Niles, by avoiding the studio and surrounding himself with family and friends, he managed to produce some of the best recordings of his career. Until now, these recordings had not been reissued on any medium. It is therefore with great pleasure that another family-run, artist-led label, L.M. Duplication, is once again presenting them to the world. Boone-Tolliver Recordings contains some of Niles's greatest original compositions, such as "Go 'Way from my Window," as well as traditional Appalachian ballads, unearthed during his travels in Kentucky to collect songs. "The Lass from the Low Country" is a haunting classic where Niles's singular falsetto lends an eerie dimension to the painful story of two lovers who cannot be together due to their class difference. "Little Mattie Groves," a 16th-century English song, is one of the collection's masterpieces. With an increasingly sustained rhythm and tension, Niles takes on the voices of three distinct characters, as well as the narrator. As the story reaches its violent climax, Niles completely loses himself in the narrative, like a ghost from 400-year-old England come back to haunt the hills and valleys of Appalachia. First reissue of 1950s home recording sessions by an Appalachian folk artist. Printed on 1940s offset presses. Includes a booklet with original liner notes, as well as bonus material on the recordings and the history of Boone-Tolliver by Niles's biographer, Dr. Ron Pen. The vinyl includes a digital download coupon. Released on A Hawk And A Hacksaw's LM Duplication label.