American epic [DVD video]

The big bang: At the height of the Roaring Twenties, music scouts armed with cutting-edge recording technology set out across America to capture the unsung voices of everyday folk. Blood and soil: America's poor--cotton field slaves, mine workers, sharecroppers--find freedom through music, creating gospel, protest songs, and Delta blues. Out of the many, the one: Exotic cultures spanning America are captured on record for the first time, inventing new instruments and new cultural identities. The American epic sessions: Jack White and T Bone Burnett produce an epic recording session using the only working 1920s recording device in existence in this tribute to the artists celebrated in the American epic documentaries.

General Note:

"PBS"--Container.

Originally broadcast on television in 2017.

Performers:

Narrator, Robert Redford ; commentary, Taj Mahal, Jack White, Charlie Musselwhite.

Featured historical performers: The Carter Family, Memphis Jug Band, Elder Burch, The Williamson Bros. & Curry, Dick Justice, Charley Patton, Hopi Indian Chanters, Joseph Kekuku, Lydia Mendoza, the Breaux Family, Mississippi John Hurt, and Blind Willie Johnson.

Featured performers in the sessions: Alabama Shakes, The Americans, Ana Gabriel, Ashley Monroe, The Avett Brothers, Beck, Bettye LaVette, Elton John, Frank Fairfield, Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton, The Hawaiians and Bobby Ingano, Los Lobos, Lost Bayou Ramblers, Nas, Pokey LaFarge, Raphael Saadiq, Rhiannon Giddens, Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Taj Mahal, Jack White, Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.

Contents:

disc one: The big bang. The Carter Family ; Field recordings ; The Bristol sessions ; The Carter Family legacy ; Beale Street ; The Memphis Jug Band ; A feeling of the past -- Blood and soil. Elder Burch ; The triumph church ; Dizzy Gillespie ; Music from the coal mines ; Charley Patton and Dockery Farms ; Patton's thumbprint -- Out of the many, the one. The deepest roots of American music ; Joseph Kekuku and the steel guitar ; The first Tejano superstar [Lydia Mendoza] ; A musical jambalaya ; Mississippi John Hurt ; Lost and found ; The sounds of earth.

disc two: The American epic sessions. Matrimonial intentions (Jack White) ; If the river was whiskey (Frank Fairfield) ; On the road again (Nas) ; Killer diller (Alabama Shakes) ; El cascabel (Los Lobos) ; Two fingers of whiskey (Elton John) ; Jubilee (Ashley Monroe and the Americans) ; High water everywhere (Taj Mahal) ; St. Louis blues (Pokey LaFarge) ; The cuckoo (Steve Martin & Edie Brickell) ; Candy man (Jerron "Blind Boy" Paxton) ; Tomi tomi (the Hawaiians and Bobby Ingano) ; Tain't nobody's business (Bettye LaVette) ; Just a closer walk with thee (the Avett Brothers) ; Mal hombre (Ana Gabriel) ; Fourteen rivers fourteen floods (Beck) ; One hour mama (Rhiannon Giddens) ; Allons à Lafayette (Lost Bayou Ramblers) ; Stealin' stealin' (Raphael Saadiq) ; the final session (Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard) / writers, Bernard MacMahon, Allison McGourty, Duke Erikson.

Technical Details:

DVD, NTSC, region 1; wide screen ; uncompressed theatrical mono mix.

Subject Term:

Sound recording industry -- United States -- History.

Popular music -- United States.

Genre:

Documentary television programs.

Televised performances.

Filmed performances.

Nonfiction television programs.

Television mini-series.

Video recordings for the hearing impaired.