Some eight or so years ago, as part of the annual "Meltdown" music/arts festival at London's Royal Festival Hall, there was an evening of music dedicated to, and inspired by, Harry Smith's Anthology. The show was put together by Hal Wilner, and had been touring (with different guests) in the USA. The show I saw included a great variety of musicians, each doing two numbers, mainly from the Anthology. I remember: Geoff Muldaur, Bob Neuwirth, Eliza Carthy, Gary Lucas, Jarvis Cocker, Bryan Ferry, Nick Cave (who was the Meltdown curator that year), Jimmy Scott, Syd Straw, Van Dyke Parks, Roswell Rudd......phew. A great and memorable concert.

The show that appeared in the USA had a varying cast, I know it included Elvis Costello, and probably Richard Thompson, and I would think it is performances from then that might be included. As much as I don't go for Nick Cave, his performances were very strong, and in the tradition of the music, and he certainly did not hog the limelight.

There was an art exhibition up in Glasgow recently - 94 paintings each inspired by one of the anthology songs. A friend went to see it, and in fact reported back to me just before I started typing this. Sadly, there was no catalogue available, but she now wants to buy a copy of the Anthology.

Norman