My guest this week is Ted Olson.

Ted is Professor of Appalachian Studies at East Tennessee State University.  He's also written liner notes and essays for some wonderful projects, including “Doc Watson – Life's Work: A Retrospective,” and the fantastic  “Nothing But Green Willow: The Songs Of Jane Gentry and Mary Sands” by Martin Simpson & Thomm Jutz.

Ted joins me to talk about three wonderful projects he worked on for Bear Family Records, celebrating three key recording sessions that took place in East Tennessee in the 1920s and '30s - The Bristol Sessions, The Johnson City Sessions and The Knoxville Sessions.

Bear Family put out a multi-CD box set for each of these, which Ted did extensive research and  provided some wonderful essays and liner notes for. Each set is also distilled into a single CD release.

We talk about why The 1927 Bristol Sessions, which brought The Carter Family and Jimmie Rogers to the attention of the world, came to be known as the 'big bang' of Country music, why that label doesn't sit quite right with Ted, how the sessions came about, what was happening in the world of commercial recording at the time and why the legacy of those recordings is so important, plus much, much more.

It was a fascinating conversation and put those recordings in a whole new context for me, both helping me understand their importance, but also (thanks in part to the wonderful transfers and re-mastering, as well as the incredible liner notes) helping me realise there's just some great music in there too!

You'll find the single CDs here:

Bear Family CDs

• Bristol Sessions
• Johnson City Sessions
• Knoxville Sessions

and the box sets here:

Bear Family box sets

• Bristol Sessions
• Johnson City Sessions

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Thanks to Bryan Sutton for his wonderful theme tune to Bluegrass Jam Along (and to Justin Moses for playing the fiddle!)

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