This invigorating 66-song set of broadside ballads, blues, spirituals and other field recordings from the mid-20th century American south comes with a telling title. It reveals the power dynamics at play when songs performed by African Americans were taped by white male folk collectors. The extensive archives of folklorist Mack McCormick were also selective: he called his subjects “tribal people”, as they lacked middle-class aspirations, and the recordings are also largely of men.
