My wife was the designer of the box set (which is beautiful) and was all for the decision of Lance and April, the Dust To Digital folks...who really are amazing people.
I think this is a needed conversation. The truth is...some of the progenitors of music that we love were just plain ignorant racists. I have gotten rid off all my records that have overt racist songs on them...many comps. I'm embarrassed to have them in the house where my kids could find them. There is plenty of great music out there with the horrific issues.
This calls back the e-mails that went around a while back--not to stir the pot but to acknowledge that who had control of the record button had control of what would be chronicled for the future. Riley Puckett records a racist abomination while others did not get to record at all...and when they were recorded there might have been a fear as to what they performed.
This issue has so many grays...is so complicated.
These are conversations that need to be had while labels like Dust To Digital keep doing heroic work.
David Katznelson
Sent from my iPhone
> On Oct 14, 2020, at 2:01 PM, Giovanni Punto <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I am pretty sure that the subject of the article is relevant to the vast
> majority of collectors and curators on the list and many may have already
> seen it. I am conflicted myself, given that the pros and cons presented
> there both seem valid. I do believe that there is a "good" way to present
> racist (homophobic, antisemitic, etc.) material, I just am not comfortable
> that the alternatives presented seem to be to simply excise all of it from
> its innate context or to segregate it (note the term) and say that, if you
> look for it, you can find it. The real world can get messy and I don't see
> the way to completely square the needs of presenting a segment of history
> with being socially responsible in a fashion that does full justice to both.
>
> This is not something that can be "solved" and it is good that societal
> "norms" have shifted enough that discussion of it has been opened up to the
> general public beyond our insular confines.
>
> My best,
>
> Peter Hirsch
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/14/arts/music/anthology-of-american-folk-music.html?action=click&module=Editors%20Picks&pgtype=Homepage
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