Lead Kindly Light: Pre-War Music & Photo / Various

These set is beautiful. The book itself is beautifully made as are the contents. The sound quality is amazing. Just like everything else from Dust To Digital

This book was so cool. I got it for my boyfriend as a gift and he stayed up all night listening to the CDs. The pictures were very cool as well. The only issue that I had was that the book looked a little beat up when it arrived. The corners were all bent in and the shrink wrap was torn, exposing some of the fabric book cover. It did look a little bit dirty, but I didn't mind it too much. I'm still super happy I bought the book.

This is a wonderful collection.

This was a gift for someone and they love it!

I've had a little time to spend with this book and listen to the CDs, and I know I will keep coming back to them. Photographs take a little time to get to know.The photographs Sarah Bryan has collected each have their own stories that take some serious sitting down to spend time with, in order to hear them. Some are overexposed with mysterious-looking rays of light, many have faded, over the years. These are pictures taken by ordinary folks of ordinary events, for the most part. They were probably taken with inexpensive cameras, and spent years buried away in a crumbling box in someone's attic, before Sarah stumbled across them. I see why she loves them. Like a good song, or a story, they open a window to a life long since gone, but still vital.The recordings in this two CD set have been collected by Peter Honig with the same love, and sense of humor as the photographs his wife Sarah has collected. I'm sure each record tickled Peter, in one way or another. This is not a scholarly collection, dusted off to impress others. It's like listening to a stack of old seventy eights on a wind-up Victrola up in the attic, as I did at my grandparent's house when I was a kid. They're a lot of fun, and transport me back to a time I still remember.Spending time with these photographs and the music is like spending time with Peter and Sarah. It makes me want to share my old family photos and oddities I've accumulated over a lifetime.

I have just received my copy of this fine set of rare tunes and even rarer images from the collections of Sarah Bryan and Peter Honig. The mixing of these two collections which, while it doesn't shed additional light on the musicians who recorded the wonderful discs collected in this anthology, does tell us scores about the collections of the people who listened to those discs. Sarah Bryan's assemblege show us unguarded and casual moments in the lives of the subjects in their southern mountain homes and some, with their imperfections and errors give us a visceral sensation of the hand of the photographer behind the camera. Peter Honig's collection -- even for those of us savvy to the glorious output of the founding hillbilly recording artists -- skews to the refreshingly unusual and unique and speaks volume of his finely seasoned intimacy with the recordings of the period. Again, while the purpose of the set is not to cast additional light on the artists or the subjects in the pictures, they help us humanize the audience for these fine commercial 78s. The package is strong and attractive and the sound quality acutely suits the late acoustic/early electric 78s chosen here. All in all, the choices are wide, creative and satisfying leaving us better for the whole visual/auditory experience and leaving us wanting more. Much more.

I wonder if the soloists and bands had only one chance to get it right at the 78rpm recording sessions?The recordings are rare. The performances are amazing.For instance:A lot of bands back then did something that I have never heard an old time band do today, not yet anyway.They squared off the beat. Every band member pounded whatever they were playing with a right angle. The Skillet Lickers did this sort of thing really well...just from the 2nd CD alone:3.True Friendshiporgan is refreshingcool hymn, great singing/response6. Blackberry Blossoms7. When he diedrelaxednice slide10. Johnny Bring the Juglittle rabbitlove this cut13. Train Carry my girl back homea blast from the past.one of my fav's14. old time breakdownThe photos are full of life: pets, vehicles, houses, yards, commerce and character. Beautiful tones. My favorite is on page 78, "Our Queen."bring back the 78rpm recorder.The mastering is top notch. The recordings sound great.Chad Crumm

. Sarah Bryan loves to collect “vernacular” photos of the first half of the 20th century. Her husband, Peter Honig, loves to collect pre-War 78s. With the assistance Ledbetter they combined their interests to compile Lead Kindly Light, where about 155 of Bryan’s sepia-tone photos of people in the south in daily activities fill a book while 46 recordings transferred from 78s in Honig’s collection fill the two CDs inserted in the front and back covers. Most of the records are of “old-timey” or jug band music and the majority of the artists are ones you’ve probably never heard of. There are two short essays by the authors, though I’d have appreciated a bit more research into who the performers on the recordings are. But, like a few other photo/CD projects from DtD, the book is fun to look through while you listen to the music.It's another fine book and CD release from the well-respected Dust-to-Digital label.I hope you found this review both informative and helpful.Steve Ramm"Anything Phonographic"