The modern age, driven by science and technology, made a promise: to put an end to all the evils of the past, once and for all. At last mankind would be freed from the horrors of disease, fire, plague, drought, floods and earthquakes. But progress also produced new horrors. Mega-technology in transport, and a drive towards ever larger capacity and higher speeds unleashed catastrophes on a scale previously unknown. Now a railway crash, a blazing zeppelin or a shipping disaster could inflict not dozens, but hundreds or even thousands of casualties. In the 1920s and 30s a series of disasters created a climate of fear, affecting the psyche in a way similar to today, when wars, fanaticism, terrorism, natural disasters, global warming, bird flu, tsunami, hurricanes and tornados all contribute to a gloomy atmosphere of uncertainty and constant dread. Hillbilly and blues musicians in the 1920s and 30s expressed the general mood in a poignant way. They sang of catastrophes and disasters, whether far away or on their doorstep. They talked of the effects these events had on the lives of ordinary people; they described what happened when disaster struck, as seen through the eyes of the victims. Perhaps the articulation of these awful events in songs helped to ease feelings of despair, offering a crumb of comfort to those listeners dealing with the brutal reality.

FEATURING:

BLIND WILLIE JOHNSON - ROY ACUFF AND HIS CRAZY TENNESSEEANS - CHARLIE POOLE WITH THE NORTH CAROLINA RAMBLERS - BIG BILL BROONZY - THE CARTER FAMILY - COFER BROTHERS - CAROLINA TWINS - THE DIXON BROTHERS - THE ALLEN BROTHERS - RICHARD ("RABBIT") BROWN - CASEY BILL WELDON - BESSIE SMITH - CHARLEY PATTON - and many more.

BBC Radio 3
"DOOM & GLOOM on the wonderful Trikont label. They do so many good compilations and this is the latest." Charlie Gillett


VILLAGE VOICE, 28. August 2007
"Man, I almost didn’t want to remove this one from the plastic, such was my sweet anticipation: a picture of what is presumably the Hindenburg airship disaster on the sleeve; 24 songs (with none of this crap digital cleaning up of sound; but none of this crap ‘crackles and all’ stuff, either—pristine, in the right way) with titles like ‘When The Atom Bomb Fell’, ‘High Water Everywhere—Part 1,' ‘Sinking Of The Titanic’ and ‘School House Fire’ by artists like Bessie Smith, Charley Patton, Blind Willie Johnson and Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie. . . how could this even remotely, even possibly fail?. And how could anyone—any fan of music or of human suffering and pain, and furthermore loving a good tale well-spun within a song—resist an album like this once they’d stumbled across it? Don’t bother answering that: if you’re cynical ‘bout this, there ain’t no helping you." Everett True


THE INDEPENDENT, Andy Gill, 28. Sept. 07
"The notion of living on the eve of destruction may have reached its apogee in the Sixties, but apocalyptic fear was a popular interest long before then. Drawing together mostly pre-war folk, blues and country songs, Doom & Gloom confirms that bygone America was smitten by more than enough disasters to warm the heart of the most pessimistic balladeers. Floods were a notable feature, judging by the commentaries, the most notable being Charley Patton’s “High Water Everywhere” and Kansas Joe & Memphis Minnie’s “When The Levee Breaks”. Elsewhere, the downside of the era’s burgeoning prosperity was marked by the series of automobile accidents and train derailments favoured by early country acts such as Roy Acuff & His Crazy Tennesseans, whose “Wreck On The Highway” offers a textbook example of high-lonesome lamentation."


fROOTS, November 07
"Doom & Gloom is worth wallowing in." Jamie Renton.