I’ve never much liked country music, but over the last couple of years I started realizing that that’s partly because what I always knew as country music is a particular, slicked-up, pop-music Nashville style, and I’ve gotten interested in investigating the earlier history and roots of country (African-American string bands, Appalachian mountain music, gospel, blues, Hawaiian slack-key guitar, Mexican bandera, Childe-ballad-type folk music of the British Isles, etc). I’m still not all that knowledgeable about it, but I got to talking with my dad about it while I was on vacation, and ended up putting together a quick and dirty 50-minute mix that tries to show some of that early evolution.

You can stream or download it here. Enjoy!