The companion CD to the four-part PBS TV series and DVD Appalachia: A History of Mountains and People, this wonderfully sequenced set features a mixture of old and contemporary folk performers that only hints at how much haunting, odd, and powerful music the Appalachians have given the world. A lot of real estate and years is collected here, beginning with Carl Martin's acoustic blues "Let's Have a New Deal," which was recorded in the 1930s, and running through Dock Boggs' banjo instrumental "Coal Creek March" (this has to be the brightest Boggs ever sounded), which was tracked in the early '60s, as was Jean Ritchie's gorgeous "Pretty Saro" (from her album The Most Dulcimer), to contemporary fare like Mitch Barrett's ghostly and vital version of the traditional "Shady Grove," and all of it sketches out a marvelous story of a region where multiple traditions, instruments, and songs collided and blended into something that is at the very heart of American music. ~ Steve Leggett, All Music Guide