Cheap Times Ain't Like They Used to Be: Early Rural & Popular American Music (DVD) (Jimmie Rodgers) Price

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Customer Reviews of Times Ain't Like They Used to Be: Early Rural & Popular American Music

Folk music at its folkiest
I purchased this disc primarily for the Jimmies Rodgers and Bob Wills footage; I figured the rest would be gravy. I wasn't too far off the mark, either - although I was disappointed with the Wills segment (it's just a basic fiddle tune... no steel guitar or other innovative musicianship found on Texas Playboys recordings), the Jimmie Rodgers footage is priceless. The Singing Brakeman performs the classic "Waiting For A Train", plus "Daddy and Home" and "T For Texas (Blue Yodel #1)". This is essentially "Jimmie Rodgers Unplugged", as Jimmie accompanies himself on guitar on a soundstage made to look like a train depot. Watching this footage, it's easy to see why audiences loved his music - Jimmie Rogers was an unassuming regular Joe who got your attention with lovely melodies sung in a unique style; no fancy lighting or pyrotechnics needed.

As far as the other footage, it's hit-or-miss. Some of the jazz bands are great, some aren't. I was hoping the Lemire Twins would be a brother duet in the vein of the Delmore Brothers or The Blue Sky Boys, but they were some cheesy banjo duo. While I don't have a problem with one banjo, a banjo duo is sort of like a root canal duo. To make matters worse, there's also a banjo quartet.

But it's not all that bad. There are some hillbilly vaudeville perfomances that are highly entertaining and definitely merit repeat viewings. There are several clips of black performers, too. Some anonymous farm hands performs a great version (in spite of not knowing all the words) of "Mary Don't You Weep", but Uncle John Scruggs' otherwise fine performance is marred by its exploitative quality.

This disc would have gotten 4 stars for the Jimmie Rodgers footage alone (the absolute lack of any extras prevent it from getting 5 stars from me), but the dreadful sound quality of this anthology gets a star taken away. Sure, this is some ancient archival footage and some flaws are to be expected, but most of the noise is stuff that could have easily been fixed. The sound is acceptable when there's music, but in the gaps between songs or dialogue the noise is awful. A part of me wants to be extremely grateful that this footage is even available to the public, but another part of me realizes that other companies *cough*BEAR FAMILY*cough* would have taken the time to do a great job, not just a good job.

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Rare footage of Ted Weems and his Orchestra..
The reason I bought this CD was because it was the only thing that I could find showing Ted Weems and his Orchestra on video. Weems, who was popular for a number of years, and whose band had a million copy seller with his hit, "Heartaches" in 1947, never really received the full recognition that he deserved as a band leader and discoverer of talent (Perry Como, Marilyn Maxwell, Red Ingle, etc.). In addition to this, he was also considered by all who knew him as a kind and warm individual. The rest of the video was also interesting, and contains a lot of rare footage of rural American music being performed by the people who originated it and in their natural surroundings. Fine job on the part of producers. It is fortunate that these rare, live musical performances have been preserved so that we can all enjoy them.

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This belongs in the Smithsonian...
This is absolutely priceless footage: jug bands, frailing banjos, old-timey, cowboy music...just unbelievable black-and-white footage. I play banjo and loved the old-time banjo. And the glimpse at early 1900 Americana and culture is beyond interesting. To think our grandparents lived and listened to this music...holy cow.

Highly recommended.