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Easr and Eye

CD Americana CD
Flowers in the Wildwood -
Women in Early Country Music
Various Artists
Trikont US-0301
Andy Kershaw's spotlight album of the week: 

"Once again, Germany's ever-idiosyncratic Trikont label brings us another collection to kill for. Neo-hill billies such as Gillian Welch, Natalie Merchant and Freakwater take their musical cues from many of the outfits from this period. It's worth buying this album for the names alone - Fred & Gertrude Gossett, the Coon Creek Girls, Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis, Mr & Mrs J W Baker, and the astonishing Dezurik Sisters, whose yodelling acrobatics will make your hair stand on end. Distributed in the UK by Klang."

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American Yodelling - From 1909 - 1940
Various Artists
American Yodelling - From 1909 - 1940
CD-0246

Yodelling became a craze in America in the late 1920s. In 1924 blind Georgian musician Riley Puckett recorded his first hillbilly song to feature yodelling. However, it was the enormous success of Jimmie Rodgers which kick-started the yodel epidemic. Now everybody who could hold a guitar began to yodel. Whether it was a western swing, rockin' boogie or bluegrass, yodelling suited them all. Black blues artists like Tampa Red yodelled, as did several vaudeville singers. Even in the swamps of Cajun Louisiana you could hear the Alpine call.

Artists include:
George P. Watson Lottie, Kimborough & Winston Holmes, Ramblin' Red Lowery, Patsy Montana, Roy Rogers, Goebel Reeves, Riley Puckett, Les Backer, Girls of the Golden West, Sons of the Pioneers, Mississippi Shieks, Buddy Jones, Cliff Carlisle, Val & Pete, Three Tobacco Tags, Red Foley.

"An album´s worth of yodelling! I can hear you running for the hills already. Fear not, there´s not an alpine caller in sight. The American flatlands is closer to the mark. The loud piercing yodelling sound is a thing of expressive beauty."

Simon Rowland, ROCK 'N' REEL

"The album comes with extensive sleeve notes and 26 gargling falsettos, from the sublime to the ridiculous. The muck from the old 78s makes it sound even more weird and wonderful."

Silvia Simmons, MOJO

"Every track has something of interest, and overall it offers as entertaining an hour and a quarter as you´'l find on CD this year."

Ray Templeton, BLUES & RHYTHM

"It shouldn't have worked, but it did, superbly. An entertaining collection."

John Clarke, THE TIMES

"The historical importance of this disc cannot be over stated."

Pete Smith, COUNTRY MUSIC ROUND-UP

"It´s a veritable who´s who of early country (& western) music with some well selected excursions across the blues line. Among such stellar company it´s hard to pick favourites."

Ian Anderson, FOLKROOTS.

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Prayers From Hell
Various Artists
Prayers From Hell
Various

CD-0246

In the words of one old song, "I'll get drunk on Saturday night and go to church on Sunday.` The hills and valleys of the rural Southern states of '20s and '30s America were no different to anywhere else, with the repertory of songsters frequently reflecting the dual aspects of sin and redemption.
Tales of drunkenness, the despair of imprisonment, betrayal and cold blooded murder, sit edgily alongside visions of the gloryland and eternal bliss. The road may be beset with temptation, alienation, and visions of eternal damnation, but it is also possible to embrace spiritual comfort and social cohesion.
Appropriately enough, trains bound in both directions - up to Heaven, down to Hell - are represented here. In addition to many of the greats of old time music our roster includes a number of more obscure but no less worthy performers.

Artists Include:
Dock Boggs, Frank Hutchison, The Carter Family, The Dixon Brothers, The Monroe Brothers, Cliff & Bill Carlisle

"This is a great record"

John Peel

"It's all a bit Scratchy but what can you expect from material recorded in the late 1920's and early 1930's. There is some fantastic stuff on it."

Mike Harding BBC RADIO 2

"This is a wonderful set of archive recordings."

JOURNAL OF BRITISH COUNTRY MUSIC ASSOCIATION

"A glorious feast of white gospel and inspirational songs. Lots of close harmonies and descant singing with a couple of real rarities. Wonderful."

FOLKROOTS

"An absolute must for any serious country collector, or student of American socioeconomic history."

Pete Smith COUNTRY MUSIC ROUND-UP.

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American Polka - New Sounds and Old Tunes
Various
American Polka
Various

US-0289
The term 'polka' is an umbrella for the dance music of central European immigrants in the US. From the different ethnic music styles of the Polish, Germans, Bohemians, Slovenians and Slovaks developed a pan-American dance music in the fifties. Superstars such as Frankie Yankovic and Li'l Wally penetrated far into mainstream musical culture. At that time polka was so popular in the Midwest that even well known country musicians had to switch to polka to survive. Today polka is back with a vengeance, with a new generation of bands brushing it up with punk, rock and jazz.

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Texas Bohemia
Various
Texas Bohemia
Various

0201-E/U

Ever wonder where cowboys like Jimmie Rodgers got their yodelling from? A town name like Schulenberg, Texas, offers a clue. The truth is, they got it from European immigrants, and even today if you travel through small towns in America's West, sometimes in the middle of Texas, you'll find orderly rows of houses with little gardens and clear German architecture, and authentic Bavarian polka and waltz bands blaring oompah oompah into the night. German journalist/musician Thomas Meinecke (who also fronts the spirited mutant Bavarian post-punk outfit F.S.K.) has travelled around Texas, collecting and recording German music that exists in America's heartlands (his bandmate Michaela took the excellent photographs), and the results shine on this German import compilation, simply one of the most wonderful out-of-the-blue records you'll ever hear. The crowning moment is Adolph Hofner's "Beautiful America," a stomping waltz so full of optimism and patriotism it will bring a tear to the eye of even the most jaded soul. This CD presents a smorgasbord of toodling tubas, stomping oompahs and spirited yodelling: if you like the Latin Playboys, Boozoo Chavis, Tom Waits of Dixieland jazz, it's worth checking out. Ja! Sehr gut!

Artists Include:
Shiner Hobo Band, Adolph Hofner, Ray Krenek and his Orchestra, Vrazels & Majeks & Bobby  Jones Czech Band, Jimmy Brosch and his Orchestra, The Henry Brosch Orchestra, Tuba Meisters, The Fayetteville Flash, Lee Roy Mattocha's Orchestra  Vrazels' Polka Band, Henry Tannenberger & his Orchestra, The Red Ravens, Czech Band, Knutsch Band, Ellinger Combo, Leroy Rybak's Swinging  Orchestra, Joe Patek and Orchestra, The Shiner Hobos, Leo Majek Orchestra

Texas Bohemia II - Slow Music
Various
Slow Musik
Texas Bohemia
Various

0222-E/U

Fresh out of Valium? This record will do just as well. A horribly compelling grab-bag of 70s jukebox hits covered by South Texas Moravian, Bohemian and German bar bands. The Ellinger Combo sound stoned out of their brains droning out the anti-hippy anthem "Okie From Muskogee". Joe Patek's Orchestra are a righteously groove free oompah band hilariously lurching their way through Hank Williams's "Fraufein". Even more of a nightmare, Adolf Hofner. And His Pearl Wranglers transform "I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time" into a threat from a manic depressive. In some ways a wonderful collection, but if you identify with this music, just don't move into my neighbourhood.

Artists Include:
Jimmy Brosh & his Happy Country Boys, Ellinger Combo, Joe Patek & Orchestra, Adolph Hofner & his Pearl  Wranglers, The Red Ravens, The Fayetteville Flash, Central Texas Sounds, Ray Krenek & Orchestra, Henry Tannenberger & Orchestra, Leroy Rybak's Swinging  Orchestra

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Die Reiser der Yaghan isy zu Ende -
Exodus South of Rio Grande
Dario Domingues
0145-E/U
With flutes, stringed instruments and drums Dario Domingues creates a wonderful pan-Indian music as unique and colourful as life is in South America.

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Your Land is Your Mother -
Custer Died For Your Sins
Floyd Westerman
0170-E/U
In Kevin Costner´s movie "Dancing With Wolves" he was Chief Ten Bears, and he is the Navajo linguist whose arcane knowledge keeps "The X-Files" open. But long before those triumphs he had already established himself as a singer and activist fighting against the oppression of his people.

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Black and White Hillbilly Music -
Early Harmonica Recordings

Various
US-0226

Early Harmonica Recordings
The "Old Southern Sound" was a mixture of several traditions and there were no strictly borders between the different styles. Black blues and white hillbilly musicians influenced each other and often shared a common repertoire. DeFord Bailey learned these tunes from his grandfather who called them "black hillbilly music". The harmonica became a link between the races as the first mass produced musical instrument which was cheap enough for everyone to own. It was easy to play and you could carry it around in your pocket. The harmonica was not only popular with soloists who liked to imitate the sounds of trains and fox-chases with it, but was also widely used in many hillbilly stringbands to add a different flavour.

Artist include:
Dr. Humphrey Bate, Crook Brothers, Deford Bailey, The Pickard Family, Karl & Harty, Woodie Brothers, Nelstone's Hawaiians, Riverside Ramblers, Louisiana Rounders, Joe Werner & The Ramblers, Lonnie Glosson, Dave McCarn

"In 1931, at the height of the depression, The Woodie Brothers only sold 864 copies of Their record, but they knew they knew their reward lay in the future: "Now I ran ole Satan Though door/And I'm gonna wear that starry crown over there." (Sounds like Fall lync. In fact, it is a Fall lync-Stunned Ed) In the 1990s the Woodies gain another honour by opening this gritty compilation of guitar and harmonica-toting hillbillies. The album is subtitled "Early Harmonica Recordings From The 1920s And 30s, and there are beautiful photos of harmonicas packaged for the cowboy market, with names like Pioneer and The Lone Star Rider. Expertly researched by Christoph Wagner, author of books (sadly in German only) on the social history of the harmonica and accordion".

The Wire

"A fascinating survey of some of the best harmonica recordings from the pre war years, primarily in the old time idiom, but also straying into blues and Cajun territory as well. There isn't a bad track here. The packaging is superb, with some exceptional photographs"

Ray Templeton BLUES & RHYTHM

"They are all rare recordings not published on previous LPs or CDs. We will be hearing more of it in future programmes because it's excellent."

Andy Kershaw BBC RADIO 1

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For further information, ring 01422 842212 and ask for Christoph Wagner. 

If you would like to be kept informed about new releases or receive a comprehensive catalogue, email us at info@klang-records.co.uk

Recent Releases

Flowers in the
Wildwood

RussenDisco

Africa Raps

Hits and Misses

Black & Proud 1

Black & Proud 2

I'll never get out of this world alive

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