Real Ragtime: Disc Recordings from Its Heyday

From the introduction: This CD is the second edition of Archeophone's very first release, which established our mission of providing detailed, scholarly, and unabashed reissues of the early recording industry's product in attractive and generous packages. With this newly remastered, freshly annotated edition, we are bringing our first and favorite release to the standards that you expect from the leader in acoustic-era reissues. To some music fans, the title of Real Ragtime sounded like a battle cry of authenticity, but the aim of the collection was and remains a simple one, grounded in the history of record buying a century ago: to show that the ragtime consumers were likely to find on records for more than 20 years was not the kind of ragtime we think of today. They were more likely to find banjos and brass bands playing ragtime than pianos, and their collections of disc recordings almost certainly had numerous examples of watered-down ragtime--the Tin Pan Alley knock-offs that really had no ragtime but called themselves rags just for the added marketability such a designation would bring. Ragtime was as much about a musical mood, a general feeling in the air, as it was about what scholars would identify as real ragtime. It was a trope that defined the early recording industry and pervaded the entire culture for a generation. These are the recordings people listened to, whether they were really ragtime or not--and they were thought of, no doubt, as the genuine item.

This new edition features fully remastered tracks, expanded notes, and a bonus selection. The sound of these 100-year old records is outstanding, and our understanding of the historical and musical significance of the songs is enhanced by added commentary from noted musician and scholar David Sager. Also, the second edition of Real Ragtime now features the original version of "Dill Pickles Rag" by Chris Chapman from 1908 and a bonus track, "Sugar Plum," by mandolin player Samuel Siegel, along with Roy Butin on harp-guitar.