Special Edition 160 gram vinyl LP in gold & black reverse-board jacket
Record/Vinyl + Digital Album
Special Edition 160 gram black vinyl LP in gold & black color reverse-board jacket. Co-release with Mississippi Records.
This beautiful special edition LP was designed by Gordon Ashworth and features never before seen photos of Roscoe Holcomb by the eminent photographer and film maker John Cohen.
The Old Church
by Roscoe Holcomb
Jalopy Records JR011
Mississippi Records MRI-135
Releases Dec. 3rd, 2021
A LOST RECORDING OF UNTAMED APPALACHIAN MUSIC.
In 1972, the renowned and singular folk musician Roscoe Holcomb left his home in rural Daisy, Kentucky and embarked on a west coast tour with Mike Seeger, which included a performance at The Old Church in Portland, Oregon - a beautiful Carpenter Gothic church built in 1882.
Decades later, two particular reels were discovered deep within a pile of 1/4” tape in a shadowy corner of the KBOO Community Radio archives in Portland. Incredibly, those tapes contained the sole surviving evidence of a strikingly intimate and raw performance by Roscoe Holcomb, whose cascading and haunting banjo, guitar and voice echoed and saturated the room and hushed audience.
In contrast to Roscoe’s rarely documented (and at times restrained) live performances at folk festivals and television programs, Roscoe seems to have felt more familiar and spiritually moved in the old church that night. Heard here are standout versions of Appalachian folk-blues classics such as Single Girl, John Henry, East Virginia Blues, Swanno Mountain and more. Once cited as Bob Dylan’s favorite singer, Roscoe Holcomb appears at the peak of his powers here, showcasing his immense vocal talents and deep feeling for the music of his home on an extended a cappella version of “The Village Churchyard”.
The recording itself is warm and mysterious, sounding like the room itself is alive with the spirit, while the rumbles of trucks and hints of city sounds peek through the walls from the outside streets.
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supported by 114 fans who also own “The Village Churchyard”
I have listened to bluegrass and old-timey style banjo music for many years. Nora Brown has the most poetic interpretation of these styles that I have heard so far. She is the John Fahey of banjo (but also with striking vocals). brit_b
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