This four-disc, 87-track retrospective covers the first four decades of one of the most successful "folk" labels in history. Co-founders/owners Ken Irwin, Marian Leighton Levy, and Bill Nowlin assembled a collection that showcases -- one disc per decade -- how deeply entrenched the label was in the 1970s in exposing various forms of folk music from traditional to emergent ones, and how its focus expanded. Disc one includes tracks by newgrass outfit J.D. Crowe & the New South, outsider songwriter
Michael Hurley, banjoist
Ola Belle Reed, Appalachian traditionalists
Hazel Dickens and
Alice Gerrard, and ace superpicker
Norman Blake and the Cajun sounds of D.L Menard & the Louisiana Aces. It also reveals the label's first big directional shakeup by including
George Thorogood & the Delaware Destroyers' scorching read of
Bo Diddley's "Who Do You Love." The '80s reflect a wider reach still, with tracks by soulman
Ted Hawkins, the
Klezmer Conservatory Band, polka revisionists
Brave Combo, country songwriter
Keith Whitley, and blues artists
Rory Block and
Johnny Copeland. There's also a deeper step into Louisiana traditions with music by
Professor Longhair,
James Booker, and
Buckwheat Zydeco included, too. This decade also signaled the arrival of
Nanci Griffith on Rounder's Philo imprint. In the '90s, Rounder's profile was enhanced by the arrival of bluegrass queen
Alison Krauss, who has been a best-selling artist for them ever since. There were more singer/songwriter types on the imprint too, such as
Bill Morrissey,
Tish Hinojosa, and
Jimmie Dale Gilmore; more modern electric blues and R&B talents were showcased too in
Marcia Ball,
Irma Thomas,
Tracy Nelson,
Ruth Brown,
Johnny Adams, and
Wilson Pickett; and the label still held traditional sway with bluegrass mainstay
Krauss and uber-tradtionalist
James King. The first decade of the new century reveals Rounder's wide range in embracing everything they felt they could sell: from Americana-drenched rock acts such as
Son Volt and the
Cowboy Junkies to uber-rockers
Rush; the vanguard pop of
They Might Be Giants and jazzy chanteuse
Madeleine Peyroux; to British folk maven
Linda Thompson, as well as experimental projects like the Grammy-winning
Raising Sand by
Robert Plant and
Krauss. Country-pop legend and stalwart
Willie Nelson also recorded for them. But no matter their genre extensions, bluegrass is still part of Rounder's mix, as cuts by
Dailey & Vincent,
Rhonda Vincent, and
Blue Highway attest. It's impressive to be sure. That said, despite the range of music here and the fine historical essay by Geoffrey Himes, two chapters are missing: a disc that focuses on their vast licensing of traditional music, and the essential collection of tracks by American songwriting icons such as
Tom Russell,
Ray Wylie Hubbard,
Guy Clark, rockabilly queen
Rosie Flores, and R&B legend
Eddie Hinton, most of whom recorded multiple albums for the label and its subsidiaries. Here's hoping Rounder will consider a second collection to showcase these lesser-selling projects from essential artists who are an indelible part of its story. ~ Thom Jurek