Greg Stephen's thread with clues about songs that have a geographic location got me thinking. I was suprised to see that he had a clue about Georgia Tom, him(Greg that is) being English. You might think that us folks over here in Amurica would know all about Georgia Tom, and Thomas A. Dorsey(same person, different strokes.) After all, Thomas A. Dorsey is acclaimed as the Father of Gospel. Will all the millions of dollars being made off of gospel music these days, you'd think that there'd be more awareness of all that Dorsey did. Other than people knowing that he wrote Precious Lord, Take my Hand, most people don't know much about him, and even fewer have ever heard a recording of him. In order to get a recording of Georgia Tom/Thomas A. Dorsey, I had to pick one up on the Document label, produced in Austria. One of the best collections of black gospel I have came from Germany. One of the best collections of American folk music, American Roots, was produced in the Netherlands. I'ts much the same with jazz. Many of the great old jazz albums are not available in this country, but are readily available in Japan. In rock, Jimmie Hendrix had to go to England to be appreciated. I guess this just proves the statement about prophets not being recognized in their home town (or country.)

What I'm wondering is whether this whole phenomenon works in the other direction. Do you Irish lads hve to order CDs of traditional Irish folk music through an American country? What about you British folks? Or is it just America what doesn't appreciate their own?

Just wondering...

Jerry