Reviewed by Tony Cummings

More fascinating stuff for the historians. Actually, I thought the Standard Quartette (the first track here) were WHITE Southern gospel pioneers but anyway, as this was taken from a cylinder the sound is so primitive it's hard to tell one way or the other. The Dinwiddie Colored Quartet are normally noted as the first black gospel group to record though again their 78s of old spirituals like "Down On The Old Camp Ground", "Steal Away" and "Gabriel's Trumpet" are distinctly low grade in terms of recording quality. Half of the CD's 23 sides emanate from the Old South Quartette, an important group of singers from Richmond, Virginia who became well known for singing with white banjo player Polk Miller. According to the excellent sleevenotes, the Old South Quartette were much praised in their day with author Mark Twain commenting, after seeing the group and Polk perform at the Carnegie Hall, "about the only thing the country can furnish that is originally and uniquely American." The Quartette's repertoire went beyond spirituals to all kinds of secular stuff including a vocal imitation of cats and dogs on "Oysters And Wine At 2am". Despite the fascinating history, most of the music here is archaic in the extreme.

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