Carolina Breakdown – Etta Baker & Cora Phillips

etta baker and cora phillipsIn bluegrass we think of banjo in terms of what Earl did with the instrument. Sometimes we consider the claw-hammer style used by old time players. But rarely would we think of banjo and associate it with the blues. But here is a CD of a recording made about 16-18 years ago with two sisters Etta Baker and Cora Phillips who play what can best be described as a mixture of appalacian old time and blues music.

If you have a love of traditional blues and old time country music, you will probably love this album. But there’s another good reason for buying this album aside from the great music: The Music Make Relief Foundation.

These folks have produced this and countless other albums of musicians who might otherwise have been forgotten. The money made from the sale of these discs, and other ventures, is used to help support some of these people who have ended up with nothing.

Here are two articles about this CD.

nashvillenews.net and desicritics.org