Product Description Earning Their White Stripes. "But what I'm listening to most of the time at present is an album called Good For What Ails You, which is an album of songs that people used to listen to at medicine shows all over the States. It's quite an interesting album and I think that people would be well advised to pick it up." Jack White - Sunday Mail (Australia) Dec 18, 2005 Five Stars. Groundbreaking. "Fans of Nick Tosches' Where Dead Voices Gather will lap up this extraordinary snapshot of an America that is still shrouded in shadow. Good For What Ails You supplants the Harry Smith collections by surveying the people's music of the day, some of which sounds like nothing you have heard before." Jon Savage - MOJO Dec 2005 Before motion pictures, before radio, before television, the traveling Medicine Shows brought entertainment to America! Flamboyant pitch doctors roamed the land, hawking their tonics, elixirs, and miracle cures, and with them came a host of singers, dancers, comedians, banjo pickers, blues shouters, jug blowers, string ticklers, and minstrel men. The shows died out by mid-20th century, but not before a handful of seasoned veterans left their musical legacy on phonograph records. Here are classic performances by such colorful names as Pink Anderson, Daddy Stovepipe, Gid Tanner, Blind Sammie, Bogus Ben Covington, Fiddlin' John Carson, Banjo Joe, Shorty Godwin, Beans Hambone, Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers, the Three Tobacco Tags, and many more! Two-CD Set / 48 Songs Digitally Remastered / Over 2 Hours of Music / Six-Panel Digipak with 72-page Full Color Booklet A Profusely Illustrated History of the Medicine Shows, many Rare Photographs and Firsthand Accounts never before published, plus full discography and song descriptions. Review A Sonic Tonic: One of the fall's more curious and enlightening CD sets comes from acclaimed reissue label Old Hat. -- Todd Martens - Billboard/Reuters Oct 15, 2005Annual Critics' Poll of the year's best records. -- Top 20 Reissues of 2005 - No Depression Jan/Feb 2006As academia continues to pry open American show business' minstrel past, Ails is a fascinating illustration of its musical appeal. -- Michaelangelo Matos - City Pages/Seattle Weekly Nov 30, 2005Fans of Harry Smith's Anthology of American Folk Music may well find that this one is even wilder. -- Steve Leggett - All Music Guide Nov 2005Good For What Ails You is just amazing - expansive, odd, moving, confusing, glorious. -- Greil Marcus - author The Old, Weird America Oct 2005Listening, one can almost smell the Kickapoo Indian Salve. Pitches may have been purest snake oil, but music still delights. -- Chris Morris - Hollywood Reporter/Reuters Dec 29, 2005Rare tracks from the heyday of the snake oil vendors. Weird folk and blackface balladry for Harry Smith Anthology addict. -- Top 10 Reissue of the Year - MOJO Jan 2006 P.when('A').execute(function(A) { A.on('a:expander:toggle_description:toggle:collapse', function(data) { window.scroll(0, data.expander.$expander[0].offsetTop-100); }); }); About the Artist Interview / Spotlight on Marshall Wyatt It's a funny thing. As we embark further on our journey into the new century, we are just now starting to rediscover all the long-forgotten, wonderful things about the 20th. Whether it's bluegrass or early jazz, many music lovers have developed a growing fondness for the musical styles of yesteryear. The result has been a slow but growing interest in older recorded music, music trapped on 78 RPM records, just waiting to be unleashed by modern technology. Enter Marshall Wyatt. His Old Hat label seeks out obscure vintage tunes and releases them in compilation form on CD, opening up a world unknown to our time - taking us back to the basic roots of popular entertainment that still impact the contemporary world. So how does Wyatt go about giving this music new life? We ask him about his mission and the love he has for the music of long ago. Mark Hodges - Mish Mash Feb 2002 See more
M**R
Brings Back Memories to the Old (and Young)!
'Good For What Ails You' is a great set of cd's with old songs that were sung at old medicine shows. I remember some of those songs from records and radio programs from my childhood - songs that I had totally forgotten!I lent the cd's to my father, and they brought back fond memories of his childhood in western OK when the medicine shows would come to town and set up on the square. Everyone would attend the "show" and listen to the music, sales pitches, and go home with something! He truly enjoyed the cd's, also.Even if medicine shows are new to you, the music is worth the time to listen. Lot's of fun, interesting lyrics, and you might even hear something that has come back again!?
D**N
Great music evocative of another time.
I LOVE this set. I have a large collection of early and vintage music and field recordings and this fills a unique niche. As a lover of literature from turn of the century (that's turn of the 20th century) and early films I have always been curious about the music from this time. This set audibly fleshes out what my mind's-ear had surmised. The fidelity is surprisingly good for the time period and the performances are all lively and fun. The booklet is incredibly well done with a super informative essay detailing the Medicine Show circuit and the track-by-track info is thorough and adds a lot to the listening experience.
L**N
Instant Joy
I must own 40 collections of old timey music and this is the most consistantly delightful and the best annotated of the lot. 48 numbers and each one brings a smile. Each one teaches you just a bit about what Greil Marcus has called "The Old Weird America".Sure, there's a time for appreciating the hardships of the early 20th century, but how much fun is it to hear the light side that must have helped keep people sane and hopeful. Hooray for Old Hat!
J**E
I loved it and heartily recommend this and suggest you try ...
If you have any interest in early country music recordings this is a remarkable collection of well known and lesser known performers but all top notch talent. I loved it and heartily recommend this and suggest you try other offerings from Old Hat Records.
S**Y
Excellent
Excellent. Great music, great liner notes. So much fun!
B**T
Music and history all in one package
This is not only entertaining , but gives insight into what these old medicine shows were about. Really it is the beginning of our entertainment business today.
B**T
Just git it
A ton of great, lesser known artists.
M**N
Old Time Music
This gave us 50 tracks of original music. Along with it you get a nice booklet that tells the history of the medicine shows and individual descriptions of each track and it's performers.
M**Y
Wonderful
Very good 2-CD set - varied and entertaining; with a substantial booklet explaining it all. Another five words you are wanting?
A**R
Great old timey songs
Bought this cd for the old timey songs and music and wasn't disappointed absolutely love it
H**Y
Great to hear original music
I sat back and thoroughly enjoyed this music. Original music played and sung with great gusto. I imagined being in the wild west being sold all kinds of tonics. The best tonic of all is the variety of this album.
R**S
Five Stars
good fun music
T**E
a good addition to my CD library
always enjoy a change of music styles
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