*** The Hammons Family

THE TRADITIONS OF A WEST VIRGINIA FAMILY AND THEIR FRIENDS

(Rounder)

One of the great things about recordings is that they routinely put you in the middle of experiences you'd otherwise never have. Like sitting down in the home of an Appalachian mountain family to hear them spin tales of their past generations and play the music that's nurtured their clan through hundreds of cruel winters and gentle springs. That's what happens on these two discs of the songs and lore of the Hammons family and their friends, which were originally recorded for the Library of Congress in the early '70s. And the result is fascinating, as well as one of the few first-hand narratives of the daily lives of poor Appalachians in the first half of the 20th century.

But beyond their historic and cultural value is the riveting nature of the Hammonses' handed-down tales of murder, romance, war, and rural intrigues. And the quality of the music. Mountain winters provide plenty of time for honing one's chops, and the fiddling -- straight out of the European folk tradition, of course -- is especially raw and fiery. And when the singing creaks with age like old, iced windowpanes, well, that's how it should be. This is a fragile echo of a not-too-distant past that's nonetheless been laid to rest forever -- save in efforts like these.

-- Ted Drozdowski