• Track Listing

Rock ’n’ roll could never have taken root in the ’50s without these pre-war songs and sounds. You get 78 songs on 3 CDs broken down by genre themed disc featuring seminal blues, country and folk sides:  "Rambler Blues" Blind Lemon Jefferson; "Too Tight Blues" Blind Blake; "Pony Blues" Charlie Patton; "Walkin’ Blues" Son House; "C & A Blues" Big Bill Broonzy; "Worthy of Estimation" Uncle Dave Mason; "Wildwood Flower" Carter Family; "Time Changes Everything" Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys; "I Ain’t Goin’ Honky Tonkin’ Anymore" Ernest Tubb; "Fireball Mail" Roy Acuff; "The Wayfaring Stranger" Burl Ives; "Song For John Doe" Pete Seeger & The Almanac Singers; "Pretty Boy Floyd" Woody Guthrie; "The Hammer Song" Paul Robeson and more from the likes of Josh White, Merle Travis, The Stanley Brothers, Jimmie Rodgers, Patsy Montana, Bessie Smith, Skip James, Mississippi John Hurt…the list of legends goes on. Rock Beat.