Disc three is far more representative of time and place, save for a lack of songs dealing with the Civil Rights movement. "Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud)" is less a civil rights song and more a statement of Black Power. It's great that it is included, but if you went by history according to this songbook there wasn't a Civil Rights movement.

But the inclusion of songs like "Ohio", "The Times They Are A Changin'", and "The Message" do provide more of a indication of the different peoples and the changes that occurred from the 1960s until the early 1980s. I do wonder about how it was decided to include songs like "Get Together" while not having anything representing Disco or Punk, both of which were significant parts of the musical landscape, but in this the producers are at least consistent in going for the safe pop music over more challenging fare.

While I may have disagreements with the some of the choices made in this collection, the interpretations offered by the contemporary performers are without exception quite extraordinary. Highlights for me included Harper Simon's rendition of "Yankee Doodle Dandy", "Go Down Moses" by the Fisk Jubilee Singers, "Deportee" by Old Crow Medicine Show, "Say It Loud (I'm Black And I'm Proud) by The Dynamites with Charles Walker, Ben Harper's version of Neil Young's "Ohio", and Shortee Wop's take on Grandmaster Flash's "The Message".

While each performer found some new way of approaching the song that made it their own, they also kept in mind they were still honouring someone else's material. Each song was done in a manner that was both inventive and respectful, a very difficult thing to accomplish. The performances provide sufficient reason to purchase this disc alone, in spite of what I've perceived as shortcomings in the selection of material.

The compilers of Song Of America were faced with the formidable challenge of selecting music from a span of five hundred years. While the music they have selected is wonderfully performed, it gives a very narrow view of American history and her people. The title might be Song Of America, but whose America are they referring to?