One of the great things about my town is that we have a Border's Outlet - a store that collects and sells all the unwanted inventory of Border's stores in our region. Great bargains and surprising finds can be found there. Border's, evidently, has a policy of quick inventory turn around.

Lately, they've been selling three CD's at the price of two. Here's my latest round-up from the bargain bin:

Best Of The Best Of The Carter Family

Before there was June Carter, before there was Johnny Cash, there was A.P. Carter, his wife Sara, and his sister-in-law Maybelle. An excellent sample of the roots of country music, though the recordings are a little grainy.

Bluegrass Mountain Style

Samples of bluegrass music from the Rounder label.

Liberty Tree: Early American Music 1776 - 1861

The Boston Camerata sings everyday songs from everyday life in early America. My personal favorite, "Rights of Woman" from 1793, sung to the tune of "God Save the King":

God save each female's right
Show to her ravaged sight
Woman is free;
Let freedom's voice prevail
And draw aside the veil
Supreme effulgence hail,
Sweet Liberty.

Woman aloud rejoice
Exalt to they feeble voice
In cheerful strain.
Let woman have a share,
Nor yield to slavish fear
Her equal rights eclare
And well maintain.

By the Rivers of Babylon

An attempt by twentieth century composers at the American psalmody tradition. Fails miserably. They forgot about two essential ingredients to psalmody - melody and harmony. Probably shouldn't have listened to it after listening to The Liberty Tree.

Jane's Hand: The Jane Austen Songbook

Songs that Jane Austen played and sang. We know this because they came from her own songbooks. It's like getting a chance to browse through her book collection, or through someone's CD collection today. It gives us a glimpse of the inner woman, who, although she wrote happy endings for her novels, was destined to be disappointed in love. No surprise, then, that her songbook includes "Sound Argument":

We Bipeds made up of frail clay,
Alas are the children of sorrow.
And though brisk and merry today,
We all may be wretched tomorrow.