Orthophonic Joy: The 1927 Bristol Sessions Revisited is a two-disc set issued on 12 May 2015 by Sony Legacy Recordings as a benefit for the Birthplace of Country Music Museum in Bristol. Carl Jackson produced it, in the place of Ralph Peer, the Victor Talking Machine Company producer who recorded in Bristol between 25 July and 5 August 1927, on the third floor of a hat and glove company building on State Street. Those sessions yielded 76 songs by 19 performers or groups and were the commercial debuts of Jimmie Rodgers and the Carter Family.
Eighteen songs from the 1927 sessions are sung here by Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Marty Stuart, Vince Gill, Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, Keb’ Mo’, Ashley Monroe, Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Steve Martin and the Steep Canyon Rangers, the Chuck Wagon Gang and others, and Eddie Stubbs narrates the story of the sessions in 19 spoken tracks between them. Several songs trace to specific 1927 takes. The Carter Family recorded “Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow” on 1 August 1927, the day they also cut “The Storms Are on the Ocean”; Emmylou Harris sings the first of these on the album and Ashley Monroe the second. Alfred Karnes recorded “When They Ring the Golden Bells” on 29 July, the song Parton takes. Jimmie Rodgers cut “The Soldier’s Sweetheart” on 4 August, the day the Tenneva Ramblers recorded “Sweet Heaven When I Die,” and Gill and the Steep Canyon Rangers sing those two. Marty Stuart’s “Black Eyed Susie” was recorded in Bristol by J. P. Nester on 1 August.
Tracklist
- 1 Don't Deny Yourself the Sheer Joy of Orthophonic Music 4:23
- 2 I'm Redeemed 4:06
- 3 All They Needed Now Was Talent 3:30
- 4 Bury Me Beneath the Willow alt version 3:19
- 5 Tonight He is Playing the Old, Old Tune at Police Headquarters 2:58
- 6 Black Eyed Susie alt version 2:03
- 7 An Early Tradition of Scrapping for Rights and Royalties 2:12
- 8 When They Ring Those Golden Bells alt version 5:09
- 9 I Wish I Had Some Rocks to Throw at Them 3:53
- 10 The Storms are on the Ocean alt version 2:51
- 11 Any Song with a Story Will Go to the People's Hearts 4:12
- 12 I Am Resolved 3:38
- 13 A Hoedown Social In a Mountain Cabin 3:08
- 14 Sweet Heaven When I Die alt version 3:28
- 15 Daddy Never Knew When He Would Come up with an Idea for a Song 3:21
- 16 The Soldier's Sweetheart 3:30
- 17 Where the Blues Meets the Church 2:12
- 18 To the Work 3:23
- 19 Singers Who Had Not Visited Bristol During Their Entire Lifetime Arrived 2:14
- 20 Where We’ll Never Grow Old alt version 2:35
- 21 Love, Loss, and the Perils of the Moonshine Business 2:29
- 22 Darling Cora 3:44
- 23 Ramblers Riding the Longest Train I Ever Saw 2:00
- 24 In the Pines alt version 3:10
- 25 Twenty-One Good Years at the Throttle 3:07
- 26 The Wreck of the Virginian 4:21
- 27 Prized and Practical, Brutal Ballads 2:08
- 28 Pretty Polly alt version 3:33
- 29 Tremendous Heart Punch and Appeal 3:30
- 30 Out in the Cold World alt version 3:10
- 31 Gotta Catch that Train 1:52
- 32 Train on the Island alt version 1:44
- 33 History Saws and Strums Along with Itself 2:15
- 34 Johnny Goodwin / The Girl I Left Behind 2:33
- 35 Introducing the Orthophonic Choir 2:05
- 36 Shall We Gather at the River 3:22
- 37 The Birthplace of Country Music 2:45
