Friends of Old Time Music: Folk Arrival 1961-1965 on CD

From 1961 to 1965, New York city's trailblazing Friends of Old Time Music presented 14 concerts that brought dozens of legendary traditional musicians before city audiences for the first time, and helped spark the folk revival. Now, famed folk producer Peter K. Siegel, who personally recorded most of the concerts, has handpicked 55 tracks (53 unreleased!) from the original master tapes for this amazing 3-CD set. It's hard to appreciate just how monumental these shows were; here are the first concert appearances by Doc Watson, Roscoe Holcomb and Joseph Spence, as well as the triumphant returns of Dock Boggs and Mississippi John Hurt, both of whom had made influential recordings in the city 40 years earlier. A 60-page booklet puts it all in context. Other artists include Fred McDowell, the Stanley Brothers, Hobart Smith, the Greenbriar Boys, Bill Monroe and Maybelle Carter... what a treasure for folk and country fans!