STEVE RODEN : ... I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Trace

'2012 reprint. Subtitled: Music In Vernacular Photographs, 1880-1955. I Listen To The Wind That Obliterates My Traces brings together a collection of early photographs related to music, a group of 78rpm recordings, and short excerpts from various literary sources that are contemporary with the sound and images. It is a somewhat intuitive gathering, culled from artist Steve Roden's collection of thousands of vernacular photographs related to music, sound, and listening. The subjects range from the PT Barnum-esque Professor McRea -- "Ontario's Musical Wonder" (pictured with his complex sculptural one-man band contraption) -- to anonymous African-American guitar players and images of early phonographs. The images range from professional portraits to ethereal, accidental, double exposures -- and include a range of photographic print processes, such as tintypes, ambrotypes, CDVS, cabinet cards, real photo postcards, albumen prints, and turn-of-the-century snapshots. The two CDs bring together a variety of recordings, including one-off amateur recordings, regular commercial releases, and early sound effects records. There is no narrative structure to the book, but the collision of literary quotes (Hamsun, Lagarkvist, Wordsworth, Nabokov, etc.). Recordings and images conspire towards a consistent mood that is anchored by the book's title, which binds such disparate things as an early recording of an American cowboy ballad, a poem by a Swedish Nobel Laureate, a recording of crickets created artificially, and an image of an itinerant anonymous woman sitting in a field, playing a guitar. The book also contains an essay by Roden. Hardback book, 8.5 x 6.5 inches, 184 pages, 150 photographs reproduced in full color and two audio CDs from the author's collection.'




Tracklist
1-1 No Artist - Wind (HMV Weather Effects) - 1:12
1-2 John Jacob Niles - John Henry - 2:29
1-3 Anonymous - Untitled - 1:06
1-4 Reverend Edward Clayborn - Then We'll Need That True Religion - 3:01
1-5 Ernest Thompson - In The Baggage Coach Ahead - 3:15
1-6 Emery Glen - Blue Blazes Blues - 2:53
1-7 No Artist - Walking On Ice (Gennett Sound Effects) - 2:52
1-8 Clara Smith - Kind Lovin' Blues - 3:03
1-9 Nick Lucas - If You Hadn't Gone Away - 3:04
1-10 Anonymous - Beautiful Mansions Of Gold - 2:11
1-11 Eva Parker - I Seen My Pretty Papa Standing On A Hill - 3:13
1-12 Pale K. Lua - The Rosary - 2:56
1-13 No Artist - Mocking Bird (Gennett Sound Effects) - 1:12
1-14 Bradley Kincaid - Froggie Went A-Courting - 2:42
1-15 Sylvester Weaver - Damfino Stump - 3:01
1-16 Seger Ellis - Montana Call - 3:23
1-17 Alfred G. Karnes - When They Ring The Golden Bells - 2:53
1-18 Anonymous - Mandolin - 1:26
1-19 Anonymous - The Stranger - 2:12
1-20 Ex-Governor Alf. Taylor & The Old Limber Quartet - Brother Noah Built An Ark - 2:28
1-21 Ed Lang - A Little Love A Little Kiss - 3:01
1-22 No Artist - Canadian Geese (Standard Radio Sound Effect) - 0:51
1-23 Roy Smeck Trio - Reaching For The Moon - 3:09
1-24 Roland Hayes - I Want To Go Home - 1:31
1-25 Obed Pickard - The Old Grey Horse - 3:19
2-1 No Artist - Walking In Snow And Thin Underbrush (Gennett Sound Effects) - 0:57
2-2 Kelly Harrell - Rovin' Gambler - 2:29
2-3 Sara Martin & Sylvester Weaver - I've Got To Go And Leave My Daddy Behind - 2:42
2-4 Frank Ferera's Hawaiians - Pinin' Hawaii For You - 2:46
2-5 Gabriel Brown And His Guitar - Going My Way - 2:56
2-6 No Artist - Rainfall And Thunder (Thunder Not From Life) (Gennett Sound Effects) - 1:03
2-7 Lew Childre - It Don't Do Nothing But Rain - 3:11
2-8 Bertha Idaho - Graveyard Love - 3:08
2-9 Frank Luther - Pretty Polly - 1:02
2-10 No Artist - Canary Birds: Several Hundred (Gennett Sound Effects) - 1:08
2-11 Roland Hayes - Xango - 1:56
2-12 Dick Reinhert - The Girl I Left Behind Me - 3:20
2-13 Rev. Calbert & Sister Billie Holstein - Yes I Know - 3:05
2-14 Chubby Parker - Bib-a-lollie-boo - 2:53
2-15 Thurlow Lieurance & Clement Barone - Winnebago Love Song (Duet) - 0:46
2-16 Clara Smith - My Good For Nuthin' Man - 3:08
2-17 Sol Hoopii's Novelty Trio - Stack O'Lee Blues - 3:00
2-18 Ukulele Ike - Mokihana - 2:53
2-19 Marc Williams - William & Mary - 3:01
2-20 Anonymous - Way Down Home - 3:04
2-21 No Artist - Night Noises (Gennett Sound Effects) - 0:59
2-22 Gid Tanner & His Skillet Lickers With Riley Puckett - Ya Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Aroun' - 3:09
2-23 Stovepipe No.1 - Cripple Creek & Sourwood Mountain - 3:09
2-24 Goebel Reeves - Cowboy's Prayer - 2:56
2-25 Bill Kearney & Earl Bush - Precious Memorys (Sic) - 3:12
2-26 Carl T. Sprague - O Bury Me Not On The Lone Prairie - 3:14

Credits
Compilation Producer ? Rob Millis, Steve Roden
Design ? John Hubbard
Liner Notes ? Steve Roden
Mastered By [Audio Restoration] ? Michael Graves
Technician [Transfer] ? Jonathan Ward, Steve Roden

Notes
A 184-page white clothbound book of 150 photographs taken from the collection of Steve Roden, with two enclosed compact-discs of recordings spanning from 1925 to 1955 and previously issued on 78rpm records.
Anonymous recordings were pressed on "Recordio home-recording disc" or "Knight home-recording disc".