1-CD with 44-page booklet, 26 tracks.
‘We Shall All Be Reunited’ showcases on a mid-price single-CD 26 memorable and varied recordings from the late 1920s Bristol sessions by a range of Appalachian musicians.
The recordings were painstakingly remastered in 2020 by sound engineer Marcus Heumann.
The album features an evocative 44-page insert booklet designed by Bear Family art director Mychael Gerstenberger.
New liner notes written by Ted Olson in which the 1927 sessions are reassessed based on recent scholarly research and discussion.
The liner notes explore “the rest of the story”- the related cultural occurrences all-too-often ignored or marginalized.
This CD continues the series of Bear Family’s mid-priced releases exploring East Tennessee’s influential 1920s-era location recording sessions.
Follow-up album to the Independent Music Award-winning 2019 single-CD ‘Tell It To Me: Revisiting The Johnson City Sessions, 1928-1929’ ( (BCD17591).
‘We Shall All Be Reunited: Revisiting The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928’ casts new light on an old story - that of the 1927 Bristol sessions. Conducted by Victor Records A&R producer Ralph Peer, this seminal event from the early years of commercial recording in the 1980s was nicknamed ’’the Big Bang of Country Music,’’ while the city in which the event occurred - Bristol, Tennessee/Virginia - was officially dubbed “the Birthplace of Country Music.” Featuring 15 key recordings made in Bristol during late July and early August 1927 - including first-ever recordings by the now-legendary Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers as well as recordings by several important early country musicians, including Ernest Stoneman, Henry Whitter, Blind Alfred Reed, and others – ‘We Shall All Be Reunited’ revisits and reinterprets that 1927 event. To provide a holistic portrayal of Peer’s recording work in Bristol, this album includes 11 stand-out selections - including several classic recordings of old-time and gospel music by such musicians as Uncle Eck Dunford, Ernest Phipps, and Alfred Karnes - from Peer’s overlooked but equally worthy October and November 1928 recordings in Bristol.
The album was produced by Ted Olson (producer of ‘The Bristol Sessions, 1927-1928: The Big Bang of Country Music’, Bear Family Records’ Grammy-nominated 2011 boxed set), ‘We Shall All Be Reunited’ features new liner notes written by Olson in which the 1927 sessions are reassessed based on recent scholarly research and discussion. The liner notes recount what happened in Bristol, who participated in the sessions, and why those recordings were historically significant, but also how that event was romanticized and distorted by myth, hyperbole, and hype.
To contextualize the 1927 Bristol sessions the liner notes for ‘We Shall All Be Reunited’ explore ’’the rest of the story’’—the related cultural occurrences all-too-often ignored or marginalized during mainstream public discussions about the Bristol sessions. In his liner notes, Ted Olson tells the real story of the Bristol sessions - a story that proves to be much more interesting than that told in the popular ‘Big Bang’/’Birthplace’ myth.
Track List:
01 Sweeping Through The Gates Ernest V Stoneman & His Dixie Mountaineers
02 The Wreck Of The Virginian (Take 2) Blind Alfred Reed
03 Narrow Gauge Blues El Watson
04 The Soldier's Poor Little Boy Johnson Brothers With Tennessee Wildcats
05 Oh Molly Dear BF Shelton
06 Black-Eyed Susie JP Nester
07 Johnny Goodwin Bull Mountain Moonshiners
08 The Poor Orphan Child The Carter Family
09 I'm Redeemed Alcoa Quartet
10 Rain Crow Bill Henry Whitter
11 Susanna Gal Dad Blackard's Moonshiners
12 Sleep Baby Sleep Jimmie Rodgers
13 The Longest Train I Ever Saw Tenneva Ramblers
14 Your Blue Eyes Run Me Crazy West Virginia Coon Hunters
15 Standing On The Promises Tennessee Mountaineers
16 My Name Is Ticklish Reuben Smyth County Ramblers
17 Shine On Me Ernest Phipps & His Holiness Singers
18 I Cannot Be Your Sweetheart Howard – Peak (The Blind Musicians)
19 Little Bunch Of Roses Clarence Greene
20 Old Shoes And Leggin's Uncle Eck Dunford
21 My Mother Is Waiting For Me In Heaven Above Smith Brothers
22 We'll Sing On That Shore The Palmer Sisters
23 Unknown Blues Tarter & Gay
24 New Orleans Is The Town I Like Best Carolina Twins
25 I Truly Understand, You Love Another Man Shortbuckle Roark & Family
26 We Shall All Be Reunited Alfred G Karnes
