Every once in awhile an article means something to me personally. This is one of those.
Yahoo! News reported the Library of Congress' 2006 "inductions" to their sound archives. These are recordings that are considered historically significant. The article: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070306/ap_en_ot/sound_archive
The selections this year include the following:
_"Uncle Josh and the Insurance Agent," Cal Stewart (1904).
_"Il mio tesoro," John McCormack, orchestra conducted by Walter Rogers (1916).
_National Defense Test, September 12, 1924 (1924).
_"Black Bottom Stomp," Jelly Roll Morton's Red Hot Peppers (1926).
_"Wildwood Flower," The Carter Family (1928).
_"Pony Blues," Charley Patton (1929).
_"You're the Top," Cole Porter (1934).
_"The Osage Bank Robbery," episode of "The Lone Ranger" (Dec. 17, 1937).
_Address to Congress, Dec. 8, 1941, Roosevelt (1941)
_Native Brazilian Music, recorded under the supervision of Leopold Stokowski (1942).
_"Peace in the Valley," Red Foley and the Sunshine Boys (1951).
_Chopin Polonaise, op. 40, no. 1 ("Polonaise militaire"), Artur Rubinstein (1952).
_"Blue Suede Shoes," Carl Perkins (1955).
_Interviews with William "Billy" Bell, recorded by Edward D. Ives (1956).
_"Howl," Allen Ginsberg (1959).
_"The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart," Bob Newhart (1960)
_"Be My Baby," The Ronettes (1963).
_"We Shall Overcome," Pete Seeger (1963) recording of Pete Seeger's June 8, 1963, Carnegie Hall concert.
_"(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction," Rolling Stones. (1965)
_"A Change Is Gonna Come," Sam Cooke (1965).
_"Velvet Underground and Nico," Velvet Underground (1967).
_"The Eighty-Six Years of Eubie Blake," Eubie Blake (1969).
_"The Wailers Burnin," the Wailers (1973).
_"Live in Japan," Sarah Vaughan (1973).
_"Graceland," Paul Simon (1986).
Now, I'm happy to see Paul Simon get his due for an incredible album. And Pete Seeger's another one. And the Stones' hit is so iconic that it simply can't be missed. But to me, the star that shines the brightest is the Carter family rendition of "Wildwood Flower". Partly because of my love of Johnny Cash and his music. But even more because of the influence that song had over one of my icons, one Woodrow Wilson Guthrie. One of Woody's best known songs, "The Sinking of the Reuben James" was written to that tune, modified slightly to add a chorus, and several other of Woody's songs, including "Pastures of Plenty" can be modified easily to be played with that arrangement.
A.P. Carter is regarded by many as the father of country music. But the Carter family was more than that. They were a voice of hope in one of the 20th Century's darkest hours, as so many Americans tuned in to hear the Carter family's folksy arrangements. Not one folk guitarist of much accomplishment has not heard the patented "Carter lick" (although I personally ain't that good at playing it!) And some of AP's signature tunes, including "Will the Circle be Unbroken" (which, for you trivia buffs, AP played as "CAN the Circle be Unbroken") are embedded in many of our memories. And now, one of AP's standards will be preserved for all time.