I'm waiting for a chance to do a post about the two-volume Warner Collection (Appleseed Recordings), which I have finally bought (and wow, just wow).

Vol. 1 "Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still"; Vol. 2 "Nothing Seems Better To Me"

It's field recordings of folk songs, mainly sung by people in North Carolina, but also in New York and New Hampshire, made between 1940 and 1966, made by Anne and Frank Warner. I want to do a proper post about the music later, but I want to use an image from the liner notes, and I'm waiting for permission from Appleseed Recordings.

(The liner notes are amazing. They come with photos and a bibliography!)

But this post is about a different kind of magic. I was listening to "When Sorrows Encompass You Round." I have two versions of that already, one from Jean Ritchie and one from Cordelia's Dad, and I'm sure I've heard a Pete Seeger version and probably others as well. It's a lovely song. I'm going to learn to sing it like Jean Ritchie does. Anyway, the Warners had recorded Linzey Hicks singing it.

I turned it up to hear it better, and then:

Suddenly all the sounds in the background came clear, too. I could hear children talking. I could hear an aside from one of the Warners (I imagine), too close to the microphone. I couldn't see anything, but suddenly I felt like I was there, back 40, 50, 60 years ago, in that house or on that porch, where the recording was made.

It's 90 degrees out now, but that made me shiver.