One hundred years ago, a large group of fiddlers and other musicians gathered at Mountain City, Tenn. They played. That original gathering inspired an annual music festival known as Long Journey Home. John McCutcheon decided the time was right to document the past and the many changes since those days in 1925.

John McCutcheon Long Journey Home: A Century After the 1925 Mountain City Fiddlers Convention (self-released)

For starters, that original convention was supported by the KKK, a fact that hasn't (yet) been whitewashed. Of the many musicians who contribute to this album (all but one of the sixteen songs has a prominent guest), not all are white. Of course. Earlier this year, Ryan Coogler acknowledged in many interviews the commingling of Appalachian folk, bluegrass and the Delta blues in Sinners. Indeed, it's hard to imagine music this rich without such diverse influences. While some may have wanted to skip over that in the past, today is a much more inclusive time (still).

While most of these songs have long histories, many of the renditions here add a few modern flavors. Oh, this is all acoustic, but again, one hundred years of music is bound to influence the most hide-bound traditionalist. In general, as almost any fan could tell you, today's musicians are far better at finding the musical connections in a song, rather than the more stiff and formal renditions that many older recordings feature.

But who knows? Maybe those old-timers got down when they played live. I'm not an expert on this music, but there is a reason why McCutcheon picked these songs and his partners. He wanted to honor the past (warts and all) and celebrate what is obviously a bright future. Will these songs sound the same after another hundred years? Probably not. That's a good thing. People have only so many years. Music has the potential to be forever. This is a document to both of those truths.

Jon Worley